A Longing Fulfilled

Scripture Text: 1 Samuel 1:1-28

Quotes for Reflection

C.S. Lewis, Letter to Joan Lancaster, June 1956
Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, “Please will you do my job for me.”

Eugene Peterson, 1 and 2 Samuel
Story doesn’t just tell us something and leave it there, it invites our participation. A good storyteller gathers us into the story. We feel the emotions, get caught up in the drama, identify with the characters, see into nooks and crannies of life that we had overlooked, realize there is more to this business of being human than we had yet explored. If the storyteller is good, doors and windows open. The Hebrews were good storytellers, good in both the artistic and moral senses.

Heath Thomas and J.D. Greear, Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel
The question that needs to haunt us as we look at the whole of the book is this: if we are going to do a character study, which character should we study as most important?

Charles Wesley, Selected Writings and Hymns
I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

Application Questions

1. Consider a story that made an indelible impression on you. Why do you think story was so important for God’s people in the ancient Near East?

2. Hannah’s shame arose from her barrenness. How can shame help you identify your barrenness?

3. How do you find Jesus revealing himself at the beginning of this story?