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Thine handmaid

1 Samuel 1:11
"11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give unto Thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head."

We are studying Hannah in the first chapter of the book of First Samuel. She was a young wife, married to Elkanah, who had another wife named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. This situation weighed heavy on Hannah. The other wife would ridicule Hannah for not having children. This made Hannah ANGRY and STRESSED. This motivated Hannah to PRAYER.

Every year this faithful family made a pilgrimage to Shiloh to worship GOD and offer sacrifices. On these trips Hannah is taking the opportunity to pray to GOD at the tabernacle. She caught the eye of the priest Eli, probably her strong crying was inescapable. She would have been bitter and fervent in her prayers punctuated by strong crying and tears!

In today's verses we read some of what Hannah prayed; "And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of THINE HANDMAID, and remember me, and not forget THINE HANDMAID, but wilt give unto THINE HANDMAID a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." It is NOT uncommon for a person to make promises to GOD in their hour of desperation. It is remarkable that Hannah's will is aligned with GOD'S plan! Her will must have been tempered by MANY hours of prayer. Like Kind David, she had a firm grasp on her own shortcomings and the holiness of GOD. She knows she is a servant to the one true GOD and wants to do her part to advance the Kingdom of God in her world. 
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