Continual Burnt Offering: Daily Meditations, February 12 (2:1)
“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy, salvation” ―1. Sam. 2:1.
THE story of Hannah and her son Samuel is one of perennial freshness and beauty, and is designed of God to be an encouragement and to some degree an example to all mothers. From the primeval promise as to the Seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head, motherhood has ever been hallowed and safeguarded in the Word of God. Because the Eternal Son of God chose to come to earth as a little helpless babe, to all outward appearance dependent on a mother’s care, all mothers have a peculiar place in the divine economy. Who can tell the far-reaching effects of a godly mother’s prayers, counsel, and example? The most hardened men melt when reminded of a good mother, no matter how far they have strayed from her precepts.
Surely, if anyone on earth needs really to know God and to live for Him before others, it is the mother of children, whose eternal destiny depends so largely upon their early training. As we study the story of Hannah’s yearning, her prayer, her promise, and her faithfulness, it should draw out all our hearts to that God who has said, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you” (Isa. 66:13).
—Isaac Watts.