1 Samuel 1:9-18 - Exposition

Trial sanctified.

The main facts are—

1 . Hannah, impelled by trouble, goes to the sanctuary and records her wish in a vow.

2 . Eli misjudges her character, but hearkens to her self-defence.

3 . Eli discovers therefrom her real piety, and helps to create within her heart an assurance of answer to prayer.

4 . Hannah enters on a brighter path.

I. IT BRINGS THE SOUL DIRECT TO GOD . It was doubtless good for Hannah to join the family worship, and derive all possible comfort from the festivals which to the devout mind told of a "mercy" which "endureth forever;" but when sorrow is of the godly sort, when the gentle or heavy hand of God has been duly recognised in trial, the soul needs more than the prayers of others. Heart and flesh then cry out for the living God. There are clearly traceable stages in trial before this result ensues. In the case of Hannah, which is typical of many others, it began with a fond hope deferred, awakening only the anxiety common to such domestic incidents. Then, as time wore on, grief was generated, wearing away the strength of the spirit. Years of silent waiting on Providence followed—wonder, doubt, occasional hope, and corresponding despair filling up the experience. The weary heart would turn sometimes to God, and social worship would be valued as a means of grace, but without relief. Sadder and sadder, increasingly sensible of dependence on God, and impelled by the discovery that not even a husband's love can enter into the deepest sorrow, a strong resolve is taken to seek refuge in God by an act of urgent appeal to him. Such is the proper issue of all trials when sanctified. There is no morose repining, no internal war against the Supreme Will, no utter abandonment to despair, no resting in the sympathy and counsel, or even prayers, of the Church; the soul wants God, and, as never before, carries its load straight to him.

II. IT LEADS TO THE MERCY SEAT . There is all the difference between fleeing to God in ignorant desperation, and recognising his covenant mercies in Christ. No doubt there is compassion forevery poor dark creature who under the impulse of trouble cries out to the invisible God; but it was not without a reason that the devout Hebrew preferred to retire to the place where the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat were kept. She knew, as the most enlightened of her people knew, that there was a way to God, and drawing nigh towards the mercy seat was a distinct recognition of One in whom the troubled might expect to be blessed. Trial still leads us to God, not trusting in our righteousness, but by the "new and living way" consecrated by Christ. And though that invisible mercy seat is ever near, it is the wont of those who are being blessed by trial to seek the house of God, and there, pleading his mercy, find relief and lay off their burdens.

III. IT MAKES NATURAL DESIRES FOR AN EARTHLY GOOD SUBORDINATE TO HIGH RELIGIOUS FEELING . It is not certain at what stage in the providential discipline the event occurred, but the fact is clear that there was a time in the process when a natural love of offspring, per se, became absorbed in a passion for devoting the most precious of gifts to God. It is difficult to trace the purifying process by which pure and lofty spiritual feeling emerges out of the fires, but experience in all ages attests the fact that it does. It is an evidence that trouble is blessed when one can say, "There is none on the earth that I desire beside thee." All good things are intended to be helpful to our higher spiritual life, and it is a sign of spiritual health when the possession of them is sought primarily for the furtherance of religious ends, either in self or in the world. Religion is not in antagonism with nature. It rather purifies and ennobles it. Personal endowments, reasonable desires for family, or influence, or wealth, are laid at the cross when self is lost in zeal for God. There were a few features in Hannah's experience which correspond with the action of sanctified trial on others.

1 . She learnt the vanity of life apart from God's blessing. Unless he made life rich with the desired good, there was no sense of joy or perfection in life. It is a great gain to learn the lesson of our need of God in order to feel life to be a daily bliss.

2 . She, by the action of long trial, was being weaned from dependence on earthly good for the joy of life, and hence was more free to cherish awakening sympathy with the enduring kingdom of God. Disappointment in temporal affairs has often been blessed to a deepened interest in the unseen realities of Christ's kingdom.

3 . Her religious sensibilities, being gradually quickened and refined, rendered her increasingly sensitive to the terrible abominations of the age, and hence opened her eyes to see the need of some great reformer of the nation. Thus would the natural desire for offspring merge into the hope that she might send forth the man. It is when souls are more alive to their own spiritual condition that they long also for means by which to check prevailing sin.

IV. IT ISSUES IN THE HIGHEST FORM OF PERSONAL CONSECRATION . Solemn vows are the strongest expression of self-surrender. In Hannah's case a mother gives up her body and soul, her present powers and future possessions and influence, specifically to God. It was not possible for female service to go further. The routine service of the Levite, to be entered on at a definite age, was not enough for the now sanctified woman. Her heart was not satisfied even with the prospect of a son who should grow up in blamelessness of life. It was not the personal comfort of the presence in the house of a loving, pious child that stirred the soul to pray: a vision, given of God, of the coming Messiah imparted spiritual tone to her nature, and nothing would, therefore, give satisfaction short of the consecration from infancy, to the service of the sanctuary, of a son, to be thus prepared for holy labours among the degenerate people, and to be a faint type and useful forerunner of a still more blessed Child. Thus, the limits set by nature, the requirements of an emergency, and the prospective honour of Christ are recognised in an intelligent consecration brought about by the all-wise discipline of him who knows how to qualify for noble service. The exalted ideal of life attained to by this "sorrowful woman" bespeaks the thoroughness of the discipline through which she passed. A young life habituated to the calm and elevating influences of the sanctuary, separated from the sad and sorrow producing evils of the age, untouched by the artificial appliances of man, and nourished in health without the man created stimulants which give so much unreality to conduct—a very Nazarite in spirit and in body—this rose before the mind as an object of fond desire, and was laid lovingly at the throne of God; doubtless, also, in prediction of the One true and perfect life.

V. IT QUALIFIES FOR RENDERING CONTINUOUSLY IMPORTANT SERVICE TO THE CHURCH . No better service can be rendered to the Church than to nurture a life in such a way as to impart to it a tone far above the average of spirituality, and while doing that to pour forth from the heart sentiments that shall act as an inspiration to the wise and good in all ages. It was worth while for Hannah to spend years of sorrow, to issue, under the blessing of God, in the superbly beautiful nurture of a son like Samuel, and in the lofty strains of her celebrated song. Sanctified affliction enriches the soul with qualities permanent in value. The invalid gains spiritual power which in daily prayer brings down blessings on those nigh and afar off. The devout mother who has quietly borne reproach for Christ's sake, sweetens home all the rest of her days by her calm faith in God and ever present gentleness. The merchant who has endured adversity as befits a child of God, gathers from the deep sorrows of his life power to pray and live for imperishable good far in excess of his former capacity. It is good to be afflicted.

If these things be so, there arise several Practical questions deserving conscientious replies:—

1 . Is desire for temporal good toned and regulated by regard for spiritual usefulness?

2 . Do the private unspeakable sorrows of life draw us nearer to God, or render us sullen and bitter?

3 . In our approaches to God do we sufficiently recognise the mercy seat of the New Testament?

4 . Have we ever consecrated ourselves or our belongings to God by deliberate vow, and as far as nature permits, and the claims of religion require?

5 . Does our personal consecration, or the devotion of our offspring to God, approach toward the Nazarite ideal consecration of perfect freedom of life from all that is artificial and unwholesome—a holy simplicity?