Blessing After Sacrifice

Blessing After Sacrifice

Hannah

Read: 1 Samuel 2:20-21

The woman walked from the doctor’s office in stunned silence. She sat in her car, staring at the ultrasound picture and letting it sink in. Just five years ago, she and her husband had been praying for a sibling for their three-year-old daughter. When the doctors gave them no hope of conceiving, they felt God directing them to adopt a baby from China. After working through all the red tape, they finally arrived at the orphanage to find that God had twin boys waiting for them. Now, three years later, a checkup showed that she was pregnant—with twins.

After Hannah fulfilled her promise to dedicate Samuel to God’s service, God blessed her with more children. She had begged God to give her one son; he gave her three more sons and two daughters. The years of yearning for a child while enduring the taunts of Elkanah’s other wife faded from her memory as more children were born. With visits to the Tabernacle to tend to Samuel’s needs and caring for five children at home, Hannah enjoyed a full life. The pain she had suffered in relinquishing her firstborn after only a few years with him eased as she enjoyed the blessings that God sent to reward her faithfulness to him.

God delights in rewarding his faithful children. Jesus promised that whoever gives up anything for God will enjoy eternal life and be richly blessed in this life. Although we may not be compensated by the same thing we’ve given up, God blesses any sacrifice motivated by love and a desire to be obedient to his will. His rewards are often far beyond anything we would have thought to ask for. Like Hannah, we will discover that the more we relinquish for God, the more room there is in our lives for him to fill with blessings.

Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.

Matthew 19:29