Waiting at the airport - the birth of Samuel and Hannah's song

Flight is leaving in about an hour to San Diego. Getting here was quite stressful. Was up 5 hours ahead. It was not bad for rush hour traffic - got cut off only a couple of times. Got through the line up for Air Canada check in pretty quickly only to discover that the American Immigration was only letting people through who were two hours before boarding time. So Jane and I did our power walk with our luggage around the airport. The rest of check in was quite uneventful. It was particularly pleasant to have met a few friendly passengers and cheerful American Immigration service staff.

This should be a very nice vacation. We made the exact trip last year - will get off in San Diego and drive down to Yuma to visit Jane's relatives for a few days then back to San Diego for a few days of R&R. We enjoyed San Diego the last time and are expecting the same this time.

Today's scripture is from 1 Samuel 1-3 and Luke 8:26-56.

The first thing that strikes me is the familiar story around the birth of Samuel. His mother Hannah was not able to produce a child for many years. Her husband Elkanah had another wife who had several children. But Elkanah loved Hannah. He gave her a double portion of meat whenever it was his turn to offer sacrifice. However, his love was not sufficient to keep Hannah happy. She was barren and she suffered humiliation from her competition. Through her prayer, God eventually gave her a son whom she named Samuel, a declaration that Samuel was the result of an answered prayer.

There are several stories in the bible that have the same theme. Sarah gave birth to Isaac in her old age as a result of God fulfilling his promise to Abraham (Genesis 21:1-3), even though Abraham's first wife Hager had already produced a son for him (Genesis 16).  Rachel was in the same situation when she could not bear any children for Jacob (Genesis 30). God eventually answered Rachel's prayer and gave her a son whom she named Joseph.

The second thing that strikes me in this reading is Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). This beautiful song reminded me of Mary's song (Luke 1:46-55) which I had written in an earlier blog. Both songs begin with an outburst of praise. Both women acknowledged their humbled state and their need for divine intervention. God was the God Almighty who had delivered them from their enemies.

The lesson I learned from this reading:

• We are constrained by our culture in various ways (similar to Hannah's need to bear children as a woman which was considered a sign of God's blessing).
• God will answer our prayers in due time according to His purpose.
• In our prayers (and our song of praise) we would do well to remember our humble state and that He is God and we are NOT! And it is only by His power that we can accomplish our purpose.