I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

     Here we have the story of how Samuel was born and how he came to be raised to serve God. Hannah, his mother, was desperate to have a child. She prayed to God and poured her whole heart into it, with no consideration of how she might appear to those witnessing her actions. She promises God that if he gives her a son, she will give him back to the Lord and dedicate him to God. In due time, God grants her request. The passage makes little reference to Samuel’s father, except to make clear that he loved his wife, Hannah. After Samuel is born, Hannah, with her husband’s assent, turns Samuel over to Eli to raise him as a servant of God. The scripture is clear that Eli had done a poor job in raising his own sons, that they had grown to be men who held God in contempt. The story tells us what a difference a mother who is dedicated to serving God and to raising a son dedicated to serving God can make. After bearing Samuel and dedicating him to God, God blessed Hannah with more children.
     Hannah’s prayer of praise contains an important lesson for us. It says that we should not hold the good things we have over those who do not have them, because those good things are a gift from God. It tells us that “no one will succeed by strength alone.” Whether we are rich or poor, it is as God has willed. We should take our lot in life and seek how we can use that to bring glory to God. If we faithfully seek to use what is in our life to bring glory to God, God will give us that which will bring us happiness. In part that is because as we seek to use what is in our life to bring glory to God, more and more that which brings the most glory to God becomes that which brings us the most happiness. But, nevertheless, as we seek to bring glory to God, God will bless us.

     In this story, Jesus tells the lame man to stand up, pick up his mat and walk. This is despite the fact that carrying his mat was a violation of Jewish rules against carrying a sleeping mat on the Sabbath. One thing this passage points out is that helping people is about empowering them to act independently. When Jesus asked this man if he wanted to be healed, he responded by saying that he had no one to help him get into the pool when it bubbled up and someone always beat him into the water when it had healing properties. Jesus’ answer is to tell him to get up and “get to work”(pick up his mat). This is not the heartless yelling at a beggar, “Get a job.” But rather it is the giving of a hand up and then encouraging the person to stand on their own and move forward.
     When confronted by the Jewish leaders over telling this man to “work” on the Sabbath, Jesus tells them that “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” We are called on to be imitators of Christ, so we should strive to do whatever the Son does. In America, many Christians are afraid to ask God for miracles (I know that at times I am), we should work to overcome this fear and fully trust in the power of God. Jesus routinely performed miracles during His ministry on this earth, we should expect them to be a routine part of ours.

     This psalm tells us that God takes care of His people and remembers His promises. The people of Israel did not come out of Egypt on the basis of their own power, but because of the power of God. God brought them into the promised land and gave it to them so that they would obey His instructions. When we are blessed, it is for the same reason.

     The first of these two proverbs is one that those who favor zero population growth should consider. The second is the one that all of us must remember. Anger is not bad in and of itself, but when it is allowed to control us, rather than us controlling it, it leads to foolish actions.