Wed.’s Devo - Hannah and Samuel

Read: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21; John 5:1-23; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 14:28-29 This was the time of the judges when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Elkanah had two wives named Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was barren. Every year this became very obvious when they went to Shiloh to worship the Lord and bring their sacrifice. Elkanah gave meat for Hannah and Peninnah to offer only Peninnah was give more to cover her children. Peninnah would always make a big deal about how small Hannah’s sacrifice was since she had no children. This upset her so much she was unable to eat. *** One year, Hannah left the feasting and went to pray. Eli the high priest saw her and thought she was drunk. She explained she was not drunk, but in great turmoil and was praying. Eli told her to go in peace and may God grant the request she had asked him for. Hannah got up and joyfully went back to enjoy the festivities. *** She returned home and soon became pregnant. She had vowed to give the baby to the Lord. Samuel was born and when he had weaned, she took him to the Tabernacle and offered him to Eli. Eli had two sons who were now men and they didn’t honor God or the people. They stole people’s sacrifices for themselves. Samuel became like Eli’s son and grew up in the Tabernacle. Hannah visited every year and brought him a coat she had made. *** God blessed Hannah with three more sons and two daughters. Hannah prayed a prayer that Mary, the mother of Jesus, would quote from many years later. *** In John, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the feast and went to the pool of Bethesda where the blind, lame, and paralyzed gathered waiting for the pool to bubble up. They believed that when it did, the first one into the pool would be healed. Jesus saw a man who had been sick for 38 years. He asked him if her would like to get well. He explained that he would but he couldn’t get to the water quick enough when the water bubbled up. Jesus told him to stand up and pick up his mat and walk. The man was instantly healed. He rolled up his mat and began walking. The Jewish leaders saw him carrying his mat on the Sabbath and rebuked him. He told them he was just doing what the man who healed him told him to do. When they asked who healed him, he didn’t even know. Later, Jesus found him and told him to stop sinning or something even worse may happen to him. *** The man went to the leaders of the Jews and told him it was Jesus who had healed him so they came to Jesus to rebuke him for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus told them that his Father was always working and he was just doing what he saw Him do. Jesus was calling God his Father and healing on the Sabbath, giving the religious leaders two reasons for wanting to kill him. *** Jesus told them that God was going to show him how to do even greater things than what they had just seen. God, the Father gives life to the dead, but the Son gives life to the living. God is not the one who will judge because he has given that right to Jesus. So everyone will honor the Son as their judge just like the honor God, the Father. If they don’t honor the son, they cannot honor the Father. That statement confronts every religion who doesn’t worship Jesus. Jesus is the only way to the Father. *** Lord, we honor you by honoring Jesus as our Christ, the only begotten son of yours. Through Him, we become your sons and daughters. May we see what you are doing and follow your lead.