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Meditative Reflection
Prayer Changes our Countenance

“She said, ‘May your servant find favor in your eyes.’ Then she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast.” (1 Sam. 1:18)

Have you ever been so burdened in your heart that you prayed like Hannah, pouring out your soul (1:15), weeping much (1:10), to the point that those who did not know better thought that you were drunk?

You probably have, except that when you rose from your knees, your heart was just as heavy and your face was just as downcast.

Indeed, Hannah was an exceptional woman of faith.

We have to understand that she lived in a time when Israel was at the bottom of their spiritual condition as “Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (Jdg. 21:25). Even worse was the fact that the high priest gave no spiritual direction or leadership, and allowed his two wicked sons to act as priests of the Lord (1:3). The result was that “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions” (3:1).

It was under such a pitiful spiritual condition that she bore the shame of barrenness, a sign that she must have done something wrong to incur the curse of God. I have no idea what Eli and his sons might be teaching as Hannah and her family went up year after year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord in Shiloh. It appears whatever these priests taught and however these priests lived their lives, she was able to overlook the follies of these human agents. She kept going to Shiloh every year; she kept presenting her sacrifices and partaking in the fellowship meal; and she kept presenting her prayers to the Lord. In other words, in spite of all the spiritual decadence around her and the apparent disfavor she received from the Lord, she was determined to trust in Him. All she was still hoping and waiting for was God to answer her prayers.

Eventually her pure heart was able to discern the answering voice from the Lord, even from the mouth of an undiscerning high priest, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him” (1:17). It was obvious in years previous, Eli had never noticed her (he was too busy dozing off in his chair or too focused on what meat he might be getting from her sacrifice), and he never bothered to talk to the woman until now!

Once she discerned this misunderstood communication as a divine response to her prayer, she knew her prayer had been answered and her face was no longer downcast and she was even able to eat!

We who have the written Word of God, who have far more teachings and understanding of the Word, should learn to pray like Hannah, trusting that God cares about our plight and every time we pour our hearts to Him, He listens! There is no more reason to be downcast, no more reason not to eat!

Meditative Reflection
The Impact of a Godly Mother

“So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” (1 Sam. 1:28)

It is not an exaggeration to say of Hannah that the prayer of a woman changed the fate of an entire nation. Allow me to share the following excerpt that speaks of the impact of some of the mothers in history:

“Gordon Parks was the youngest of fifteen children born of a poor farmer in Kansas. He never completed high school, yet he has written several books and directed films. He never took a music lesson, but has composed a symphony and several sonatas.

“Gordon Parks attributes his broad-ranging accomplishments to his mother, Sara Parks — a poor, uneducated black woman who often had a Bible tucked under her arm. Just before her death when Gordon was fifteen, she called him to her and said,

‘Son, I think you're going to be a great man. But I want you to work at it. Mind your sisters. They'll tell you what is right because I've taught them what is right. Then go north. Take advantage of everything. Do things a little better than the best. Do things a little bigger than the biggest. But always remember this place — I want this house to be your learning tree.’

“Have you ever thought of your home as a learning tree — a place where you provide spiritual and intellectual stimulation for your children? Do you consider your home as a setting in which to encourage their dreams and inspire their creativity? Is your home a safe place for sounding out new ideas? Is it a launching pad from which your children can go out to explore the world beyond?

“In Roots of Success, authors Leslie Elliott and Trudy Schlacter explore the role of the mother in the lives of gifted children. Almost without exception the mothers of these boys and girls involved themselves intensely in their children's lives to encourage, stimulate, and develop them. This earnest attention by the mothers was evident regardless of their social or economic backgrounds, and seemed to be a common denominator among these gifted individuals.

“In Behind the Ranges we gain insights into the home life of pioneer missionary J. O. Fraser. His mother taught her children drawing and music, and passed on to them her own concern for missions. Annie Fraser studied the Scriptures diligently in order to effectively communicate spiritual truth to her children. The Fraser family even published a monthly magazine, and together pursued interests such as photography and cycling.

“While still a boy, J. O. Fraser caught from his mother a love for missions, for learning, and for life.

“Can we dismiss Sara Parks and Annie Fraser as exceptional women, too gifted to be models for us? Are their ideas only for the few mothers who possess extraordinary talents or vision? No! They are examples for all of us.”

(From A Mother’s Heart, by Jean Fleming)

Meditative Reflection
The Song of the Great Reversal

“She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.” (1 Sam. 2:5)

The song of Hannah was indeed a remarkable song which became kind of a model for psalms and poems in the Bible, and its influence on the song of Mary at the birth of Jesus is unmistakable (Lk. 1:46-55). Both songs highlight God as the champion of the “underdogs”.

In the case of Hannah, she was despised by the society as a cursed barren woman, and she was bullied by the other wife of her husband, and there was nothing she could do about it. However, just as she thought she was destined to live a life of defeat and shame, her faith in the Lord paid off. She was blessed with a child and deep in her heart she knew that although she was giving this child, Samuel, back to God, He would multiply His blessings upon her. No, God did not give her exactly seven children as her song said, but six; however, seven obviously is the symbol of perfection. Whatever God gives is perfect for her.

Her song was obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit, because it ends with the prophetic words that God will exalt the horn of His anointed which is the word for Messiah. Indeed, it would be through her son that David would be anointed king, and through his line would come the Messiah of the world.

But this song, first and foremost, reveals how she had come to know who God is through her journey of faith and struggles. She had come to know that God is the One who fends for those who belong to Him, the “saints” (v. 9). As long as we belong to Him, consider the following:

- We can be victorious in battle over the strong, even though we may stumble (v. 4);

- Our hunger can be filled while the full will go hungry (v. 5);

- The barren will have children while those with many sons will not lead a happy life (v. 5).

And thus her song concludes these things (2:2):

- There is no one holy like the Lord. This means that He sets Himself even apart for those who belong to Him.

- There is no one besides Him, not only in might but in His care for those who belong to Him.

- There is no Rock like our God: Hannah experienced this first-hand as she poured her troubles before Him, taking shelter in no one else!

Reflecting on this song of Hannah, one writer recalls the lyrics of a Christmas carol by Henry W. Longfellow:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, goodwill to men'.

Meditative Reflection
It is a Matter of Time

“Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.” (1 Sam. 2:12)

When we see blatant rebellions against God and His words, or gross injustice in society, we often wonder why God does not intervene and punish the wicked right away. Perhaps, that was the question that many people had when they saw how wicked the two sons of Eli were.

When the two sons of Aaron used “unauthorized fire”, they were immediately punished by God and were consumed by fire from the presence of the Lord (Lev. 10:1-2). By comparison, the sins of the two sons of Eli were much more wicked: They treated the offerings brought by the people to the Lord with contempt. Not only did they pick whatever part of the raw flesh they desired, but they ate the fat which was clearly mandated by law to be burnt up, as they belonged to the Lord. Just as wickedly, they polluted the temple of the Lord by committing adultery with the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. So, why didn’t God smite them dead right away, but allow them to continue to insult His name and pollute His sanctuary for years?

One possible and obvious reason was that, when God struck dead the two sons of Aaron, there were other sons of Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar, who had not committed the same sin and they could take their place.

But in the case of Eli’s two sons, Eli was blind and far too old to perform the duties of the priest, and Eli had no other sons to take their place. While Eli belonged to the family of Ithamar, it appears that none from Eleazar’s family was also old enough to take their place either (eventually Solomon would depose of Eli’s descendants from the high priesthood and put Zadok, a descendant from the family of Eleazar as the high priest in 1 Ki. 2:27). As a result, God had to wait till Samuel grew up before He could put the two wicked sons of Eli away for good.

In this case, we could find historical and practical reasons that might help us understand the “delay” in God’s judgment, but more often than not, we may not be able to see the hidden reason for God’s apparent delay in action. But that does not mean God does not care, or His arm is shortened. His judgment will come upon the wicked; it is only a matter of time.

Meditative Reflection
Honoring Children above God

“Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?” (1 Sam. 2:29)

The sins of the two sons of Eli were obviously heinous — the blatant contempt toward what clearly belonged to the Lord; robbing the portions of the sacrifice that were to be totally burnt; and committing adultery with women serving at the entrance of the tabernacle. However, the Lord placed the blame squarely on their father as well, charging that he honored his sons more than Him.

To be fair, the moral and spiritual decadence did not begin with Eli as the judge of Israel, it began a long time ago. Eli inherited a basically godless society in which everyone did as he saw fit (Jdg. 21:25). In other words, his two sons were born into an era of godlessness and immorality. What they did, to a large extent, was a reflection of the world they lived in. But they were not just any young men, they were the sons of the high priest and they did take on this priestly duty as Eli was very old and obviously immobile. In trying to understand the failure of Eli, perhaps the following factors played an important part in this respect:

(1) The two sons of Eli were born to him in his old age: 2:17 describes the two sons as young men while Eli was very old (2:22). This is such a common phenomenon that children, especially sons, born to someone at his old age are normally very spoiled. As Eli’s wife was not even mentioned once, she could have been dead by the time these wicked incidents happened. Without his wife, Eli obviously treated the sons with kid’s gloves.

(2) Eli was not a godly example: The blatant violation of the sacrificial law by the two sons was wicked, not only in the sense of its violation, but in that they were robbing what belonged to the Lord. But the question is this: Did they invent such a breach of the sacrificial law or did they simply follow the example of their father? The fact that Eli was very heavy (4:18) and that the Lord pointed out clearly he had a part in taking the choice part of the sacrifice to fatten himself (2:29), such wicked practices might not have begun with the sons, but with Eli, albeit, he did not do it as blatantly as his sons. The bottom line is, he ate what the sons had wrongfully seized from the people. When the father had a part in the wicked deeds, who was he to tell his sons to stop!

(3) Eli shirked his primary responsibility to God: As the high priest, he was entrusted with both the teaching and the exercising of the Law. The Law gave him clear authority to deal with adultery; and coupled with such a serious breach of sacrificial law, Eli should have punished his sons by death. The least he should do was to take away their priesthood. Unfortunately, all he did was to rebuke them verbally, without even threatening any action of punishment.

As guilty as Eli was, I can see that God gave him many opportunities to take action against the sons. The man of God came to point out his sins and to pronounce the impending judgment. The bottom line was, it was an invitation to repent, and yet there was no response from him, even though he knew his sons were in deep trouble. Then came the calling of Samuel by God at night. The message was given to him as much as to Samuel, and there were still time for action. Again, there was no response from him. Perhaps, he knew that his sons were beyond repentance already, but he was not. One wonders, how could he wait for God’s execution without even pleading with God? The only answer I can think of is that he did not want to offend his sons. Does it mean that he really loved his sons? Or, did he love himself so much that he did not want to lose his sons? In the end, he lost both himself and his sons!

Meditative Reflection
Will God Speak to Us?

“In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.” (1 Sam. 3:1)

Samuel, the little boy, began his ministry before the Lord at an all-time spiritual low in the history of Israel, marked by these words, “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.” (1 Sam. 3:1) How tragic these words were!

Given what we know about the period of the Judges, we understand why the word of the Lord to them was rare: The people basically ignored God in their lives, everyone did what he saw fit (Jdg. 21:25). In other words, they had pushed God out of their daily lives.

- How could God speak to them, if they were too busy to listen?

- Why would God speak to them, if they had no intention to obey?

- Whom could God use to speak for Him, if no one set themselves apart to be used by Him?

- How could God even draw close to them in their sinful and rebellious state?

But this was about to change when Samuel came into the scene:

- He was not too busy to listen: As young as he was, he understood that his whole life was dedicated to God and His temple.

- As a child, he was most obedient, even to the least-worthy superior, Eli, the priest — three times, he did not complain about being waken up in the middle of the night and he made himself available saying, “Here I am; you called me".

- He certainly had set himself apart for God, without being polluted by the wickedness of the two sons of Eli whom he had to put up with every day.

Has God been speaking to you lately? Or, have you not been touched by His Word and His presence for a long, long time? Take time to examine yourself in these ways:

- You are too busy to stick around to read His Word and listen.

- You have sin that has yet to be confessed and dealt with.

- You lack the willingness to obey even if He speaks to you!

Meditative Reflection
Change is a Process

“Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines?” (1 Sam. 4:3)

Yesterday, we reflected on the change that would come because of Samuel. The end of chapter three presents such a big contrast to the beginning of the chapter — from the word of the Lord being rare, to Him speaking through Samuel to “all Israel” (1 Sam. 3:20-21). It was in such an exciting time of revival that they faced their constant enemy, the Philistines. One would think that victory would be a certainty under the circumstance. Not so!

As much as God had resumed revealing Himself to them through Samuel, the people had yet to experience genuine transformation through repentance:

1. Their relationship with the Lord remained that of manipulation: As God allowed them to suffer the initial defeat, they asked a rather interesting question, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines?” (4:3). The good thing was that they seemed to understand victory had to come from God, but somehow they thought that having chosen them as His people, God was obligated to give them victory. The question they asked seemed to be a rhetorical one, because they immediately answered it with bringing the ark of covenant to the battle front. In other words, if God decided not to go to war with them, they could manipulate His presence by forcing Him to go by bringing the ark with them. These were the problems:

a. They did not appear to have asked God whether they should go to war in the first place — they acted on their own; they were being presumptuous.

b. They reduced God into an idol — the ark was their God who could only reveal His presence and His power at a certain locality.

c. They also reduced God as their servant — instead of being His servant.

2. They had yet to deal with the sins in their midst: Eli was still the judge and his two wicked sons continued to serve in the sanctuary. How then could they expect God to be with them, especially in their battle!

As tragic as the consequences of their action were — Israel lost another 30,000 lives and the ark was captured by the Philistines, the sins of their leaders were dealt with. The two sons of Eli were killed in the battle, just as prophesied, and Eli literally dropped dead as well.

On the surface, the name of God was blasphemed with His ark captured, but such a humiliating defeat had led to genuine repentance among the people as we read, “It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord“ (1 Sam. 7:2).

I am often amazed how patient is our God who, indeed, is “long”-suffering, always waiting for our repentance!