“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6 ESV.

What is so hard about responding to that verse? I have it on a plaque in several of my rooms. It is such a good reminder to move my thoughts into wanting what God wants for me. Peace floods my heart and soul when I yield to that verse.

This morning as I was reading in the book of 1 Samuel, my thoughts were drawn to a lady who was unable to have a child. Year after year she would travel with her husband and his other wife who had many children to the temple at Shiloah. There Elkanah would sacrifice and make offerings for all of his family. The Bible records that Hannah was greatly distressed that she didn’t have any children and was harassed by the other women who told her God had closed her womb.

This particular year while they were at the temple, she became so overwhelmed with grief that she went to the temple steps and began praying to God. Samuel records his mother’s vow to the Lord.

“O Lord of Hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

She was praying so fervently that the priest Eli thought perhaps she was a drunken woman. Her answer to the priest was that she was a woman troubled in spirit and had been pouring out her soul before the Lord. The priest bid her go in peace and that the God of Israel grants her petition.

Hannah left with peace in her heart and early the next morning before leaving to go back to their home she went one more time to the temple to worship the Lord.

I believe she committed all of her ways to the Lord and the Lord gave her such a strong desire in her heart for a child that she was overwhelmed to pray back to Him that desire. In due time, she conceived and bore a son whose name she called Samuel. The meaning of the name is “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

She nursed the child until he was old enough to be weaned from her. Probably 2 or 3 years of age. At that time, she took the child, and the offerings for temple worship to Shiloah where she reminded the priest Eli, that she had been the distressed woman that had prayed to the Lord for a child and that the Lord had granted her petition. Because of that, she was there to lend her child to the Lord for as long as he lives.

This is Hannah’s prayer at the time that she left Samuel at the temple to serve God. You can read this in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. I can only assume that she shared this prayer with him on the many occasions that she went to worship the Lord at Shiloah where he served.

“My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation.

There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides You; there is no rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him, actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

The Lord kills and brings to life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He exalts.

 He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s and on them, He has set the world.

He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them, He will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed.”

What happens when we get our heart and soul in line with God? Our desires of the heart become more like the pathway that God has already created for us. We don’t have to have a clear understanding or have everything in place. We just have to get our heart and soul and mind tuned to the direction of the One who created us.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV