God Gives Grace
God’s grace gets delivered to us in a myriad of ways. .
In the first two chapters of 1 Samuel we’re introduced to Elkanah and Hannah, the prophet and priest, Samuel’s parents. We are also introduced to Peninnah who is Elkanah’s other wife. It’s very interesting how the Bible reports the facts, sometimes without comment.
Elkanah is a man of God who goes up to worship God at Shiloh for an annual festival, taking both wives with him. Though culturally accepted, as the story unfolds it is evident why God does not encourage it.
When we obey God’s ways we are blessed and so are others. The opposite is equally true. If we fail to follow His ways, we may receive a curse and others may also suffer. Elkanah’s two wives are a case in point.
According to the scriptures, children are a blessing from God. Hannah had no children but Elkanah’s second wife had many children. This is part of the Biblical account of the family’s trips to Shiloh to worship at the festival:
“On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb” (1 Samuel 1:4-6).
It would be bad enough to be broken hearted, wondering why God would close her womb, and to think she was disappointing her husband by not having any children, but for Hannah to have to tolerate this provocation of a second wife? The pain was multiplied exponentially! Poor Hannah.
Quite frankly, Peninnah doesn’t have it any better. How painful would it be to have to watch and listen as your husband lavishes love and affection on another woman, especially when you are the one doing all the work to raise his children?
If Elkanah would have obeyed God’s intended pattern of one wife, neither of these women would have suffered as they did. As He can do, God used this whole situation for the good of His people, whom Samuel served and saved from their enemies. But on a personal level, this got ugly and painful.
I praise the Lord that He’s able to take our hardness of heart and bring about something good from it. How much more He might bless us if we would conform to His laws!
Will you take time today to stop and think about the consequences of not doing things as God intends? It is an insidious problem. God gave us great love and mercy in His Word He protects us through it and gives us plenty of evidence about the consequences of both obedience and disobedience. (Proverbs 28:9; Deuteronomy 11:27-28; Isaiah 59:1-2; Hebrews 5:9)
God has delivered grace to His people by giving us His Word It is in obedience that we show our love for Him (John 14:15). Can we even imagine the different state our nation would be in if the generations that are now adults had been taught their responsibility to obey God?
Who needs to hear the truth taught in Psalm 119:1? “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!”