1 Samuel 1:21-28

 

These estimates are based on a year’s salary

 

Daycare Teacher, 13.7 hours per week: $9,213

 

Chief Executive Officer, 3.2 hours per week: $9,163

 

Psychologist, 7.6 hours per week: $14,573

 

Cook, 13.9 hours per week: $9,487

 

Housekeeper, 14.8 hours per week: $7,511

 

Laundry Operator, 6.3 hours per week: $3,229

 

Computer Operator, 8.9 hours per week: $7,142

 

Facilities Manager, 10.7 hours per week: $17,735

 

Janitor, 7.7 hours per week: $3,908

 

Van Driver, 7.9 hours per week: $5,688

 

All told, in one year, the average salary would be $112,962

 

Why does a mother sacrifice so much? Because of love!

 

 

A bull would have been an offering from a wealthy person. One bull of three years old would run around 2,000 to 7,000 in today’s standards. I’m sure that you could buy one for less, but on average, this would be the cost. An Ephah of flour equaled about 6 gallons or 30 pounds of flour. That would cost about $60 in today’s cost. A skin of wine would be around 6 gallons of wine. If in today’s standards 1 gallon averaged $20, 6 gallons would equal $120. Let’s just suppose that they got the best bull with the best bloodline for 7,000 plus the flour of $60, plus the wine at $120, that comes to a total of $7180. Where am I going with this? Most of us can think immediately of what we could do with $7000. We could think of the security that would give us, the ease of financial anxiety it would provide for a time. That wasn’t her concern. Her concern was sacrificing to God! She realized that what we’ve been given is His already! He is the Provided, He is the Sustainer and Supplier! Her sacrifice revealed her security was in God, not in the stuff of this world! You realize what you hold most dear when you examine where your time is spent and what your money is spent on. Jesus tells us very plainly, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matt. 6:21

 

How old was Samuel when she brought him to Eli? Some scholars use 1 Sam. 2:5 to indicate that Hannah had 6 other children before taking Samuel to Eli, so he was maybe over 6yrs old. Others believe he was at least 3yrs old. That’s hard to imagine brining your child and dropping him off. Mary gave up her child didn’t she! There are some similarities aren’t there.

 

 

Hannah prayed to God because she realized that God was the only one that could change her circumstance. She did what Peter tells us to do in 1 Peter 5:7 “cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”  Even if she was not given Samuel, we know that God’s ways are just. We may not ever see His sovereign purpose. He is unfolding everything for His glory! Do you trust His authority? I’m not asking if you believe in God! I’m asking if you trust His authority? When we seek, savor, and serve God, we realize that He has something far better in store for us than we can imagine. It’s rigged for our good and His glory!

 

 

What is the product of obedience to God? Joy!

 

Hannah was satisfied in God! She didn’t worship the gift over the Giver! Her satisfaction was in living for the Lord, the Giver! John Piper says: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” When your satisfaction is found in something in or someone, you will sacrifice for that something or someone. Mothers obviously sacrifice for their children, their husbands, their families. Why? It gives them great satisfaction! Why do we sacrifice so much in serving Christ? It gives us great satisfaction!

 

Let’s look at verses 27-28 again. She dedicated Samuel to the Lord. When we dedicate children to God, we are not baptizing them. We believe in believer’s baptism, in which they confess Christ as their Savior and are baptized by immersion. A dedication is a public confirmation that the parents will raise this child in a Christ-Centered home. The Jewish culture understood this: Deuteronomy 6:5-7 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”