⁹ Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle. ¹⁰ Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. ¹¹ And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”

¹² As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. ¹³ Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. ¹⁴ “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”

¹⁵ “Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. ¹⁶ Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”

¹⁷ “In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”

¹⁸ “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.

²⁴ When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basket of flour and some wine. ²⁵ After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. ²⁸ Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there.

2¹¹ Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.

1 Samuel 1:9-18, 24-28, 2:11

Dear God, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m going to teach for Sunday school this Sunday, and I think I’ve found it. As I’ve asked you about what I should do, it seems like Eli has been bubbling to the surface. But before I go any further in this prayer, I want to stop and thank you for the rain. It has rained overnight here the last two nights, and it has been wonderful. Thank you. We need it. We are helpless without it. We need you to provide it. Thank you for your goodness and for sending rain. We treat your earth foolishly. I treat your earth foolishly. Yet you are good. Thank you.

Back to Eli. I noticed this morning when I read these verses that the first thing we see him do is make a mistake. He’s not an especially perceptive person. He was quick to judge Hannah when he saw something he didn’t understand. And then he just kind of blanket-blessed her prayer request while having no idea what she was asking. She could have been asking you to kill Peninnah for all he knew. So Eli was already not the best when we met him. But Hannah didn’t let that stop her from fulfilling her vow to you. She offered up Samuel to you even though some people would have said it was a mistake because, well, we’ll find out in the next verses tomorrow that Eli didn’t have such a great track record in raising boys.

So the questions for me are 1.) how do I prejudge situations without fully understanding them, and 2.) how do I allow conventional wisdom to get in the way of what you’re calling me to do? The answer to the first one is ALL of the time. I prejudge situations without fulling understanding them ALL of the time. The answer to the second one is SOME of the time. There are times when I will make a quick decision based on worldly wisdom and let it get in the way of what you’re calling me to do, but there are other times when I am able to look beyond what logic dictates should be done and can mercifully see what your Spirit might be urging me to do.

Father, I give everything to you this day. Help me to see what you have for me to see. Help me to hear what you have for me to hear. I need your discernment, wisdom, and perception. Help me to do that. And help me to do the job you have for me to do this day. I still have so much to do at work. Help me to do it well and for your glory–not mine.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen