Jeff Adams

When will I realize that God is at work in every detail of life? When will I stop fretting about the very things that God uses to mold me and channel me into his perfect plan?

The first chapter of 1 Samuel is powerful drama. Try to put yourself in the following soap opera of life.

Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons? 1 Samuel 1:1-8

Enemies are often born of envy. Penninah has children, but not the special affection of her husband. Hannah had the special affection of her husband, but could not have children. Elkanah had two wives, but had no idea of what he was getting into when he decided two wives were better than one.

Elkanah sound likes a decent enough man, but he indiscriminately followed his culture allowing for polygamy. God tolerated polygamy in ancient times (God tolerates a lot of sin!), but made clear through Jesus Christ that this was never his plan. Anyone foolish enough to think it may be neat to have two wives deserves all he has coming to him!

Elkanah lovingly tried to compensate for Hannah’s inability to bear children by giving her a special portion every year when they went up to the temple to worship. This, of course, infuriated Peninnah, who determined that her best course of action was to make Hannah’s life a living hell. She relentlessly tormented Hannah to the point she was an emotional mess and could not even eat. She made her “fret.”

Her husband could not fail to notice her anorexic state of depressed defeatism and grief. How could you dislike a man who tells his childless wife that she means more to him than any ten children? That’s an amazing statement in a culture where women found their identity and self-worth almost entirely in bearing children.

Can you even imagine how it must have been to sit around the dinner table with this family? Peninnah is envious of Hannah’s loving relationship with their common husband. She is obviously the dominant of the two women and pushes Hannah to the edge of despair. Hannah would give anything to give her husband a child. She is envious of Peninnah and reaches out desperately, but what she wants is always just beyond her reach. Peninnah can’t stand it that Hannah has the affection she thinks she deserves, so she becomes a bitter, petty, vindictive person.

Enemies are never the root cause of our frustration and grief. What did our text say? God had shut her womb! God is always opening and shutting things in our lives. Our fulfillment depends our how we respond to God’s work of opening and shutting.

Hannah is cornered. Not even the amazing love of Elkanah can compensate for the hole in her heart. He can love her, but he can’t open her womb. Hannah has one to run to except God. That’s exactly where she needs to turn. God shut her womb; he alone can open it. Through all her frustration and misery she finally comes to the place where God desires all of us to arrive sooner or later — to realize that nothing we have, or nothing we lack or think we have to have is anyone’s fault. When God shuts something, no one can open it. When God opens something, no one can shut it. It’s no one’s fault but God’s.

Enemies are often the very ones who push us to God’s purpose. Hannah is beat. She has no choice but to surrender completely. She throws herself upon God’s mercy and vows that if God will give her a son she will give it right back to him. Bingo! This is what God has wanted all along.

And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 1 Samuel 1:11

Consecration, surrender. This is the plan. Hannah wanted a son. God wanted to give her a son, but not just any son. He wanted to give her a son who would become one of the most remarkable leaders in the history of Israel. First, Hannah would have to have a kingdom mentality, a mind that puts God’s purposes over individual purposes. It was frustration that drove Hannah to this point of surrender and realization. She finally realized that no one but God would do.

When things don’t go our way, we can always blame something or someone, even ourselves. But it is God who opens and shuts. Only God can help — not friends, family or church. Clearly God can use friends, family or church, but he also has our enemies on his payroll. They are other instruments he has to drive us right smack into his perfect purpose. Peninnah bitterly thought she was making Hannah miserable in her vengeful attempt to find some satisfaction or perverted justice. She was really God’s puppet to drive Hannah to enough frustration to surrender everything.

When you surrender everything to God, you never just have a son; you have a special son. When you surrender everything to God, you never just have a job; you have a special job. When you surrender everything to God, you never just have anything; everything is special. When you surrender everything to God; you have nothing, but you have everything because everything is his.

Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD. 1 Samuel 1:20

Samu-el. It’s not uncommon for a Jewish name to have some form of God’s name. El is the basic Hebrew root word for God. Samuel might literally be translated “The God-heard.” Whatever the literal meaning, what she meant was to say that her son’s name would be “the answered prayer.” Every mention of his name would remind her that this was God’s work alone.

Hannah would follow through on her vow to God. Immediately after the child was weaned, she delivered him to the temple for the service of God. That’s what happens when we really do surrender, totally surrender. She would not hold on to her son selfishly, but would give him to God in recognition that everything belongs to him anyway. She would have the satisfaction that few mothers have — her son was God’s instrument to lead an entire nation in time of great crisis.

We can fight people and events and become bitter and small-minded. We can blame our enemies for everything that is wrong in our lives. Or, we can follow frustration to fulfillment, recognizing that God is the one who opens and shuts and that full joy is found in full surrender to his purposes.