The Price of Keeping Promises
Opening Prayer
Faithful Lord, I praise You as the greatest promise-keeper. I know I can trust Your Word completely.
Read 1 Samuel 1:21-28
[21] When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, [22] Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.” [23] “Do what seems best to you,” Elkanah her husband told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. [24] After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. [25] When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, [26] and she said to him, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. [27] I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. [28] So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
Reflect
How did Hannah fulfill her vow to the Lord?How Hannah rejoiced when she finally cradled her promised infant! Her faith doubtless overflowed. God had come through for her.
And yet her heartache wasn’t over. As she nursed her precious baby, at the back of her mind must have been the memory of that promise she’d made. Who would be there to comfort Samuel in the dark of night? Who would see he ate and behaved well? Eli’s two sons, both priests, were notorious for their ungodly behavior (1 Sam. 2:12). Would this be the future for her son?
Did she ever think of reneging on the promise? Surely God would understand and forgive her as long as she brought the child up to honor him? Elkanah’s comment (23) indicates he knew how hard it would be to surrender their little boy into the arms of the aged priest.
When the time came and they took their little boy to the tabernacle, Hannah had to remind the aged priest who she was. Did she think of grabbing her son and running home? No, they made a promise to God. They weren’t going back on it (28).
Apply
Have you remembered promises you made to God? Ask him to forgive you where you’ve failed and show you how to move on.
Closing prayer
Lord, just as You keep all Your promises to me, may I faithfully keep my promises to You and others.
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