Thur.’s Devo - Samuel is Born

Read: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21; John 5:1-23; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 14:28-29 Elkanah from Ephraim had two wives. One of them was Peninnah and the other was Hannah. Peninnah had many children, but Hannah was barren. Every year Elkanah would take his family to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord. As they sat to eat their sacrifice, Peninnah would provoke Hannah to tears about having no children. Elkanah tried in vain to comfort Hannah. *** One year, Hannah cried out to the Lord because of her bareness. She promised the Lord if he gave her a son, she would lend him to the Lord all the days of his life. *** Eli was the priest at that time. He saw Hannah whispering to herself and thought she was drunk. He confronted her about it and she explained that she was pouring her heart out to the Lord because she was very distraught. He prayed that God would grant her her petition. Hannah went home glad. *** She did become pregnant and had a son and named him Samuel. As she had promised, when Samuel was weaned, she brought him to Eli to raise in the service of the Lord. Every year she would bring him a new coat she had made. Eli would always pronounce a blessing on her to grant her more children. God blessed her with three additional sons and two daughters. *** In John, Jesus was in Jerusalem for a feast. There was a pool there called Bethseda that was by the Sheep Gate. Many invalids lay there waiting for the waters to be troubled because they believed that the first into the water, when this happened, would be healed. Jesus walked through this place and saw a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed. The sick man explained how he couldn’t get into the water fast enough when it was troubled. Jesus told him to get up, take his bed and walk. The man was instantly healed and took his bed and walked. *** Of course, it was the Sabbath which stirred up the jealousy and religious spirit in the Jews. They wanted to know why he was carrying his bed on the Sabbath and who told him to do it. He didn’t know who had healed him. *** Later, Jesus found him and told him who he was. Jesus told him to sin no more so that nothing worse would happen to him. The man went and told the Jews that Jesus had healed him. When they confronted Jesus about it, he said that his Father was working on the Sabbath, so so would he. They were so mad that Jesus called God his Father. *** Jesus told them that he could only do what he saw his Father doing. His Father raises the dead, so so will he. His Father had given him the job of judging so that people would honor the Son like the honor God. If they don’t honor the Son, then they don’t honor God. I bet this really got them upset. *** I love that Jesus just speaks the truth, even though he knows they don’t understand it then. He knows that one day people would understand all he said. *** Lord, help us to be like that. May we speak the truth even if people think we are crazy and it makes them upset. May we speak what the Sprit tells us to speak and leave the outcome to the Lord.