The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 Samuel 1:19-20, “Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
20 It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the LORD.”

It is the purpose of the LORD that women should bear children and so populate the human race. Hannah was one of Elkanah’s two wives, but she was baren. Women are often troubled when they do not have children, and such was the way with Hannah. Every year Elkanah would go to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the LORD. Hannah, however, refused to go. She was in great distress and prayed fervently to the LORD that she might have a child. In due time, Hannah conceived a son and named him Samuel, because she had “asked him of the LORD.”

The lack of children is but one of the distresses familes encounter. Still, the answer to any and all of the difficulties we face lies in our relationship and fellowship with the LORD. Relationship always precedes fellowship, because there is no fellowship with the LORD until we have become a spiritual member of His family. Thereafter, we must maintain an acceptable fellowship with Him, prayer being a heavy part of that fellowship.

The LORD knew Hannah’s distress, and she sought to erase it through her fevent prayers. Untimately, in the LORD’s own timing, He answered her prayers and gave her a son. She named the son Samuel, meaning “name of God.” Hannah loved her son, but she doubtlessly loved the LORD more. For when the boy was weaned, she gave him to the prophet Eli and he trained the boy for service in the house of the LORD.

Not all family situations conclude as well as this one did; nevertheless, the principle of substantial prayer is borne out for all of us to see. Hannah’s prayers persisted. She did not give up until she had what she asked. How often we pray a pithy prayer and then seek to blame the LORD for not answering. When we follow the life of Samuel, we clearly see the value of his life and of his mother’s prayers. Don’t give up praying! Keep on keeping on. The LORD wants to know how serious we are before He replies.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom