1 Samuel 1:4-8 – Making the most in the experience of lack

In an atmosphere that was becoming increasingly godless and chaotic, a godly man like Elkanah was like a breath of fresh air. While others would pander to their carnality, he would find time to order his life around honoring God. He would take his family to the Sanctuary in Shiloh. And there they would worship and make a sacrifice to the one God that matters most in life. His worshipful life should be a model that is worth our emulation. We must learn to schedule times in our life to connect with God.

Without a doubt, like Elkanah’s day, we too have many godless activities that seem palatable and alluring to our natural man. They are constantly beckoning us to join in and have the pleasure they promised to offer. But we need to know that making time to interact with God is a decision. It is one that we all will have to make volitionally. The wonderful news for us today is that we have God with us all the time. He is always available. And we can cultivate the awareness of His presence each moment in life. What can prevent us are the pressing activities of daily living. But no matter how legitimate they may seem to be, we must not neglect to make time to worship God. We must make time for church weekly, and we must also make time for devotion and prayer daily.

In these verses, we find that Elkanah made sure that his family joined him in this annual pilgrimage to Shiloh.  He would take his wives, Hannah and Peninnah, along with him. Hannah seems to be the first wife. But she was barren, and this could be the reason Elkanah took for himself another wife. His intention we surmise must be to ensure that he had a posterity. This arrangement was allowed in the Old Testament. However, the difficulties and disruption of harmonious living within a family were far too common in such an arrangement. Peninnah, the second wife, though she could bear children, was not Elkanah’s favorite. Verse 5 tells us that he loved Hannah more although she could not bear him a son. We are also told that her barrenness was a divine act. It is explicitly clear that God had closed her womb. But we have the advantage of knowing that she eventually conceived and bore Samuel. Her experience helps us to see that her condition was what made her seek the Lord even more earnestly. It suggests to us that our lack in life need not be a deficit, it could be a call to draw even closer to God. It could be God’s way of helping us to clarify our vision and increase our trust in Him.  

Two lessons to be learned. Firstly, we must all make time to be with God regardless of the many vying activities of life. Take time to join with the larger fellowship of saints in venerating God each week, but we must also make daily private devotional time for God. Secondly, our lack in life need not be a deficit or a disadvantage to God’s plan in our life. When we see it in perspective, it can be a God-allowed catalyst to drive us to seek Him, all the more earnestly. We must trust Him to work out His plan for our life!