To those reading my blogs. It's been a tough six weeks. It began with a sinus infection our Kaiser doctors wouldn't treat with antibiotics since they mis-diagnosed my condition as covid-19. It then continued with a periodic loss of peripheral vision in the right eye. My ophthalmologist encouraged a visit to Emergency. Tests there proved I had a stroke in my cerebellum. Thankfully, it didn't strike my eyes. I have residual imbalance and occasional eye symptoms. I'm back preaching and writing blogs. Hope to continue both.
* * * * * God answered Hannah's prayer for a son she promised to dedicate as a life-long Nazarite. Then, once giving him birth, delayed for three years fulfilling her vow. Husband Elkanah grew concerned when she stayed home the first two years of their annual migration to Shiloh. Knowing that her motherly instinct GREW more tenaciously each month, he warned her to remember her vow. Finally, in the third year, to his relief, she accompanied the family to their annual rendezvous, a tiny tailor-made ephod tucked among Samuel's clothes. What shuddering motherly instincts she must have stifled as she gave the lad to Eli and the women at the Tabernacle. (And we're not told what the lad thought. Did he throw his little arms around Hannah's legs, begging her to take him home? This writer remembers doing that when his mom left him at first grade.) We're not told...God knows the price he paid to send Jesus. Who knows the price he paid to save us? Why should we pay no price to serve? I Samuel 2:1 answers the question, "what did Hannah feel when leaving her son?" She felt JOY, "rejoicing in the Lord." There she left her little boy...the one prayed for, the one sought and desired. And as she left him she "rejoices in the Lord"! Hannah experienced what mystic Madame Guyon discovered: she wanted to KNOW the God of peace, not merely the peace of God. The God of mercy, not merely the mercy of God. The God of comfort, not merely the comfort of God. As we face the challenges of life, do we ask God only for answers, or do we seek a deeper faith in him, whatever his answers are? Knowing as we experience HIM, all he IS becomes ours?
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