Tony Whalen
3.16.2020
1 Samuel 1-3
Summarize what you read in one paragraph:
Hannah was without a child, she was struggling with that fact and prayed to the Lord about the struggles of her heart. The Lord responded to her prayer by providing her with a son Samuel. She responded to God giving her a son by giving Samuel up to serve the lord. He ended up responding to the Lords call and serving in place of the priest Eli’s disobedient sons.
What is one key verse?
1 Samuel 1:27-28 “I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked him for, I now give the boy to the Lord.”
How does what you read change your vision of God?
I think what I read gives a generous picture of God. He saw Hannah with a heart that wanted to rely on him and was pouring everything out to him to the point where she was mistaken for being drunk. God saw her in the tumultuous state and decided to be graceful and grant her the ability to have children.
How does what you read change your vision of yourself or others?
I think the verse before gives a good picture of the response to have to the gifts that God gives me. So often it is easy to just want and ask something from God to have it for selfish reasons, or comforts. In the scripture Hannah receives a son from God and her response is to give him to service for the Lord with a heart of thanks. I feel that’s very convicting seeing as when I receive from God my heart can go to a selfish place.
How will you Go with God because of this reading?
I want to Go with God by having an enduring perspective that looks at the things God has done in my life and wants to respond gratefully to them. I want to not take for granted what God has done and be able to appreciate all of the different aspects of my life the God has graciously given me.
Where did you see Jesus in these chapters?
I see Jesus in the heart Hannah’s response to God in her prayer in 1 Samuel 2. She prayed a prayer of confidence and rejoicing in God. Which is the way that Jesus lived his life in full knowledge and confidence of God’s glory and power.
2020 Bible Vision 
Great job, Tony. I love your response on how thia can also apply to any gift we are given. Great reminder!
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Really good. How grateful are we for what God provides, even a short time after we get it? Very convicting.
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I find Hannah so inspiring because of her faith and obedience. She prays with confidence for God to give her a child, and then fulfills her promise to dedicate that child to God. Dedication meant that the child would live in the temple and away from the family. Later on, God blesses Hannah with more children, but Hannah didn’t know that He was going to do that. For all she knew, Samuel was the only child she was ever going to have. But she still gave him to God, because she wanted to honor her promise. This story reminds me God expects us to keep our promises, and that God gives back to us tenfold whatever we give to Him!
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Thank you for your thoughts! So true and great reminder!
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Likewise I was impacted by Hannah’s heart to give back to God. Thanks for your reflections this morning.
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