the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 2 of 5
1 Samuel 1:12-28
God cannot answer prayers which only have in view our personal satisfaction (James 4:3). But if, on the contrary, our aim is His glory, He will never hesitate to answer our prayers (John 14:13). It is so in Hannah’s case. She asked for a son not so that she could selfishly keep him with her, but so that he may become a servant of God "all the days of his life". This is also the dearest wish of Christian parents, that their children, from an early age, may be consecrated to the Lord Jesus. Without a doubt, such has been the prayer of the parents of many of you, my young readers, even from before your birth. But the answer also depends on your own personal desire. If, like Samuel, you have a believing mother who, day after day, presented you to the Lord, you are privileged but you also have a great responsibility.
Hannah laid her request before God "by prayer and supplication" as Philippians 4:6 exhorts. But she also understood the preceding verse when she replied with gentleness* to Eli, who unjustly accused her of being drunk. Now she no longer has the same sad countenance. The peace of God fills her heart (Philippians 4:7) even before she has received the answer to her prayer, which would not be slow in coming. "Asked of God" is to be the name of little Samuel.
*JND. New Translation.
