1 Samuel 1:2-8 – “…He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah.  Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.  Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.  Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.  But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.  And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.  This went on year after year.  Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.  Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping?  Why don’t you eat?  Why are you downhearted?  Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

The story of Hannah is a teaching about 1) our struggle to see the Lord’s Work established, 2) the Lord’s reward for the sacrifices we make, and 3) our daily devotion and attention to the well-being of the Work of the Holy Spirit.   continue