Hannah had a problem. Two in fact.
She was desperate for a child but nothing was happening.
Her husband took to himself another wife and she had no problem on that score.
Hannah was specially loved by her husband. The second wife knew it and was jealous and continually subjected Hannah to provocation and humiliation over her inability to conceive.
That was her second problem.
One day she snapped, she had had enough.
Off she went to have it out with God. In tears of desperation she pleaded with God to grant her wish. If he would she would dedicate the child to God’s service.
God saw it as an opportunity. And the result! Samuel who was to play an important part in God’s story.
A preacher saw an opportunity too.
Hannah! A palindrome.
Hannah’s Agenda and Needs – the Needs and Agenda of Heaven.
There is an old hymn about Samuel’s story. Only one or two in the group knew it. Grace one of our oldest members at City did. By the end of our meeting she had written down the words of the first verse:
Hushed was the evening hymn, the temple courts were dark,
The lamp was burning dim before the sacred ark,
When suddenly a voice divine
Rang through the silence of the shrine.