“I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshipped the Lord there. Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong,
Now I have an answer for my enemies,
I rejoice because you rescued me.
No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
There is no Rock like our God.” – 1 Samuel 1:27-2:2
As we talked about yesterday, Hannah prayed for a larger sacrifice and God answered her prayer. After giving her son to the Lord, Hannah was filled with joy as she worshipped God – a much different emotion for Hannah then the bitter anguish she was experiencing before God answered her prayer. After making what had to be a difficult sacrifice for a mother, God faithfully gave Hannah joy in place of her sacrifice. Her faith was strengthened and she knew the Lord, the Rock, was the source of her strength.
But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice (1 Sam. 2:18-19).
Last year my dear friend, Dave Brown, gave me this passage of Scripture as I was grieving the loss of one ministry and preparing for the next. He pointed out that the coat Hannah brought Samuel each year must have been too big for him in order for him to be able to grow into it by the end of the year. As soon as the coat fit, she’d give him a new one.
Sometimes God gives us a new coat, a bigger coat. The price of our faithfulness in what God has given us is that sometimes He takes that away and gives us something new that requires that same faithfulness. He moves us out of our comfortable, broken-in coat into a new “bigger coat.”
This was a great reminder for me this morning as our family experiences the mixed emotions of having last year’s comfortable coat removed and God placing on our shoulders a new coat that doesn’t seem to quite fit yet. Perhaps God is trying to place a new coat on you as well, one you are resistant or uncomfortable in. Like Hannah, we can rejoice with confidence that we serve a holy God who is strong like a Rock and gives us strength for whatever sacrifice He is asking us to make.
I am reminded of a song today as I drink my morning coffee – “Strong Enough” by Matthew West. There are times when we may feel like we are not strong enough, but perhaps it is in these weakest moments that we begin “looking up and reaching out.” God’s hands of mercy will cover us and be strong enough for both of us. We don’t have to be “strong enough.” We need to give up and let God be “strong enough.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8JsRxVczmQ&feature=related
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13).