SATURDAY, JANUARY 9
Scripture: I Samuel 1:23-28

Simple, ordinary folk like Samuel’s parents can make a huge difference in regions and nations by discerning God’s voice and obeying. Hannah and Elkanah chose to obey God. God gave them a strategy for Samuel’s birth and destiny. Eli’s sons completely corrupted religious life making church services as pornographic encounters. As a parent, could we drop our five year old son off to live in that environment? How much faith did Hannah have? Samuel’s birth was the product of a vow. Elkanah, as her husband and Samuel’s father could have released her from that vow but he did not. Both parents trusted God beyond reason, logic and circumstances. To obey God in that environment was epic in the magnitude of faith required, much like Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. We can develop the faith to do all that God is prompting us to do! And we must develop the faith to walk through the fire of unrighteous persecution and still declare the Word of the Lord and the judgment of our God. Will we trust God to anoint and make a difference through our righteous seed in the same manner that Samuel confronted evil and shaped his generation? Do we have the faith of Hannah and Elkanah? It is time we pondered the religious environment and moral corruption of Israel’s world at that time of Samuel’s birth.