Faith-lessons from Hannah

   I mentioned last evening — during out consideration of Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2 — that Dr Laura ends her recent book, Finding Your Child's Way on the Autism Spectrum, by drawing out some faith-lessons for us from the experiences of Hannah and Samuel.  Here's a little taste:

Hannah's story inspires me because of her faithful response to her suffering.  The Bible tells us that when Hannah delivered Samuel to the tabernacle in Shiloh, it was a time of rejoicing, not of grief.  Isn't that remarkable?  Can you imagine how you would feel if you were about to leave your baby with strangers, far away from your home?  How could you face knowing that you'd only see him once a year after that?  You certainly wouldn't feel like throwing a party, but that's just what Hannah did.  She worshiped the Lord by sacrificing a bull, which was a very expensive offering for one family to make, and then she brought Samuel to Eli, and gave him to the priest.  Hannah said, “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.  Therefore I have lent him to the Lord.  As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:27-28).

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Do you see what Hannah learned through her suffering?  She learned that we can't get what we long for by our own strength, but God delights to exalt the weak and make them strong.  Hannah could have become bitter because of the lot the Lord ordained for her life.  It could have seemed unfair to Hannah, first to be infertile, and then to be set free from the shame of her infertility only through the sacrifice of her precious son.  I know that I often struggled with this same sense of unfairness in the early days after Eric's diagnosis.  But instead Hannah chose to glorify the Lord for the way He exalts the godly and punishes the wicked.  She chose to believe that God was doing something good in her suffering, and to praise Him for it, even though she didn't yet understand why He had ordained the events that He had.  (pp. 105-106)