‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬ ‭ Voice “Hannah: Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, if only You will look down at the misery of Your servant and remember me—oh, don’t forget me!—and give Your servant a son, then I promise I will devote the boy to Your service as a Nazirite all the days of his life. [He will never touch wine or other strong drink,] and no razor will ever cut his hair.

God initially blocked Hannah from having a child because she was making it her idol. This means perhaps we are not getting what we desire, whether it be children, a spouse, finances, deliverance, or breakthroughs because we would use it for our own greed and pride.

Hannah had to pray much, and through her prayers, she came to surrender. She let go of the need to have a child for the reasons of her personal insecurity or greed. After all, she wanted to prove to her husband and to the other wife, Peninah, that she was not a loser in their eyes. After all, in that culture, and in those days, if you could not bore a child, you were considered a loser and under a curse. Therefore, it would have appeared that Hannah wanted to have a child to prove to the people around her life and in her culture.

Through prayer, she realized that in order to have the blessings of a child, she needed to give back and dedicate the child to God. She literally gave the child to God’s temple. Perhaps, this is not for everyone since Peninnah already had much children. But Hannah was chosen to give birth and have the boy and prophet, Samuel.

In our church, you are all chosen for some purpose, but if the land does not produce the fruit required, then the axe is ready to cut the tree that is occupying the fruitless land so another may be planted. In any story, there must be villains and heroes, goats and sheep, righteous and wicked, and vessels of honor and dishonor. There must be ornaments made of gold and silver, and toilets must be made of porcelain. Would you like to be the ashtray since you smoke crack? Would you like to be the urinal since you like Jim Beam or Jack Daniels? Which would you like to play in the story of creation and redemption? Many are called, but few are chosen.

Pastor Steve Kim