TEXT
1 Samuel 1:1–18
KEY VERSE
“And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh.”
1 Samuel 1:3, KJV
CONTEXT
Every year, Elkanah went to Shiloh to worship God. Hannah went with him.
But going to Shiloh was not easy for Hannah. She was barren, and Peninnah used that pain to provoke her. Year after year, the same journey brought her into the presence of God and face-to-face with the thing she desperately wanted God to change.
Still, she went.
REFLECTION
There is something about Hannah’s story that we may easily overlook, and it is that she kept doing it.
Year after year, she went up to Shiloh.
The situation did not change. Her prayer hadn’t yet been answered. The same woman continued to provoke her. However, Hannah did not give herself any good-sounding reason not to still involve herself in Shiloh.
For us, it might be a little bit different, but there is something here that is proven to be true if you trace it from Genesis to Revelation. It is the power of consistency. From Daniel to the persistent widow to Cornelius, we see people who continued in their pursuit of God. Elkanah went up yearly, and this time, amidst the routine, Hannah was moved to pray extraordinarily, and her story changed.
Are you used to doing something and suddenly or gradually stopped? Maybe you used to attend church early, or pray with some group of friends, or you used to fast once a week, or create time weekly to spend time in Scripture. Maybe you used to tell people warmly about Jesus. Or before you sleep at night, you pray some minutes with your spouse. You may have done it for days, weeks, or even years, but now you no longer do them.
This is not maturity. It is not growth. It is the attempt of the enemy to keep us perpetually stunted.
You may have named your dropping of those practices nicely so as to calm your conscience. “I’m in a different season.” “I don’t need to do those things the way I used to.”
Not every good practice we abandon is something we have matured beyond. Sometimes we have just become tired, and disappointment has made us less hungry.
Hannah’s story reminds us that faithfulness to some routine is sometimes extraordinary. Something like simply going back to the place where you have always sought God. One day, the same one-hour prayer you used to do every evening when you return from work may turn your life upside down in the positive sense.
She went to Shiloh while she was still hurting.
She prayed while she was still waiting.
She sought God before anything around her had changed.
And perhaps this is the question for us today:
What have you stopped doing because you stopped seeing the point?
Don’t be too quick to call it maturity.
Hebrews says, “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”
KEY TAKEAWAY
Maturity is not always leaving old practices behind; sometimes it is having enough love for God to keep returning to Him.
PRAYER
Lord, show me where I have mistaken spiritual drift for maturity, and give me grace to return to You.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE
Read 1 Samuel 1:3–18. Ask yourself: What have I stopped doing that once helped me seek God, and why did I stop?
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