December 2, 2025 • 19 mins
The story of Hannah and the child she prayed for is beloved among the pregnancy accounts contained in Scripture. We continue to use Marie Bowen's book, Pregnant With Promise, to explore the theme of rejoicing in answered prayer.
Scripture references contained in this episode include:
I Samuel 1:1-2:20 Numbers 30:10-15 Psalm 37:4; 103:5
Matthew 19:28-30 Romans 8:5, 28 Matthew 3:3
Genesis 15-21; 29:18-30; 42-45 Joshua 4:19
Matthew 24:8, 26 I Thessalonians 5:3 Rev. 19:7
Luke 2:1-20 2 Timothy 4:8 Malachi 3:1
https://www.ppl.org/baby-chris
Abortion is never medically necessary
Abortion Pill Reversal https://abortionpillreversal.com 24/7 Helpline at 877.558.0333 Email: help@apr.life or Chat at the weblink above
Post abortion recovery for both women and men at https://www.rachelsvineyard.org
Life Training Institute https://www.prolifetraining.com
Charlotte Lozier Institute https://lozierinstitute.org
Guttmacher Institute https://guttmacher.org
Compelled by the gospel, PPL equips Presbyterians to champion human life at every stage. PPL.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Host (00:16):
Welcome back to the ProLife Kitchen Table.
I'm your host, DeborahHollifield, and I'm hoping that
you will welcome a little breakfrom all the busyness of
cleaning up from Thanksgivingand preparing for Christmas.
I know it's not easy to take aminute for yourself.
All my life I've been busymaking this season special for
others whom I love, and I canfind it hard to sit for long
(00:38):
without feeling guilty.
But this is what God wants usto do in the weeks coming up to
Christmas, that time of Adventwhen we settle our hearts and
admit some of the expectation ofholy presence into our homes
and our hearts.
This week's lesson is aboutHannah, who is an exceptionally
(00:59):
precious woman among all thepregnancy stories of the Bible.
The life of Hannah shows howGod knows our deepest longings
and hears our prayers andprompts us through his
faithfulness to worship.
We have left the book of Judgesbehind, that time when there
was no king in Israel, andeveryone did what was right in
(01:21):
his own eyes, and it was chaoticand it was violent, and it was
especially a trial for women whosuffered a lot of abuse during
those dangerous days.
The story of Hannah is set inthe Bible's book of first
Samuel.
Samuel is Hannah's son, andduring his lifetime he would
anoint the first two kings ofIsrael, and he defined much of
(01:45):
the transition time from rule byjudges to the rule of kings.
Hannah was married to afaithful man named Elkanah.
Every year Elkanah took hiswives and children to the
festival of tabernacles, held atthe tent of meeting in a place
called Shiloh, where all Israelassembled.
(02:06):
The purpose of the Feast ofTabernacles was to remember
God's care for his people duringtheir desert journey from Egypt
to the Promised Land.
It was also a time when theyexpressed their gratitude to God
for the years of crops andfertility of the people.
It would have been a difficultoccasion for Elkanah's wife,
(02:27):
Hannah, who, like a lot of womenwe have been reading about, was
barren.
Elkanah had two wives, Hannahand Paninah.
Once again we see how polygamy,having more than one wife, set
up a conflict in the homebecause of mutual jealousy
between his wives.
The Bible describes Paninah asHannah's rival.
(02:50):
Paninah had children, butHannah did not.
And like Jacob loved Rachelmore than he loved Leah,
Elkanah loved Hannah more thanhe loved Paninah.
Paninah, though, was not a womanof good character and went out
of her way to irritate Hannahand provoke her over her
childlessness until Hannah criedand wouldn't eat.
(03:12):
Elkanah saw Hannah's pain, andthis distressed him.
He tried to comfort her bysaying, "Hannah, why do you weep
and why don't you eat, and whyis your heart sad?
Am I not more to you than tensons?" in the hope that she
would find some satisfaction inhis love and care for her.
(03:33):
So when Elkanah took his familyup to Shiloh to the Feast of
Tabernacles, Hannah went intothe tabernacle to pray.
Verse 10 says that she wasweeping "in the bitterness of
her soul," and out of her deepdistress she prayed to the Lord.
She prayed and cried so hardthat the Bible says that the
(03:53):
priest, whose name was Eli,thought she was drunk.
Her prayer was, "O LordAlmighty, if you will only look
upon your servant's misery andremember me, and not forget your
servant, but give her a son,then I will give him to the Lord
for all the days of his life,and no razor will ever be used
(04:14):
on his head."If the promise that she made at
the end of her prayer, not toever cut her son's hair, seems
familiar to you, it's becausethat is part of the Nazarite vow
that we learned about when weread about when the angel of the
Lord told Samson's mother shewas not to cut his hair, because
he was to be a Nazarite fromthe w omb.
(04:38):
Another thing we shouldunderstand about a married
Hebrew woman's vow to God isthat in the book of Numbers,
chapter 30, verses 10- 15, itexplains that her husband can
render her vow void when hehears it if he chooses to do so,
and she will not be bound byit, and the Lord will forgive
(04:58):
her for breaking her promise.
But if her husband hears aboutit later on and then makes the
vow null and void, the Lord willhold him responsible for
breaking her promise.
So her prayer is a very bigdeal.
First, she's offering to giveaway the child she's praying
for; and second, she is boldlymaking this offer without
(05:21):
consulting her husband; andthird she is taking a risk that
when her husband learns that shehas made this promise, that he
will render it null, and thenGod will punish him for doing
so.
In short, she is offering Godher family, her future, and her
husband's very life.
To make such a prayer tells us alot about the depth of Hannah's
(05:44):
despair over her barrenness andher trust in her relationship
with the Lord.
Well, God did grant Hannah'spetition to "remember me and not
forget your servant," becauseI Samuel chapter 1
verse 19 records, "and the LORDremembered her, and Hannah
conceived and bore a son."It must have been hard from the
(06:08):
moment that Hannah was awarethat she had conceived, to think
of giving her son back to theLord.
The first year after Samuel'sbirth, the Bible says she did
not go with Elkanah and the restof the family back to the
festival of tabernacles atShiloh.
In fact, Hannah keeps Samuel athome until after he was weaned,
which was probably three tofive years o ld.
(06:31):
But eventually Hannah andElkanah do take Samuel to the
house of the Lord at Shiloh,along with the sacrifice of a
bull and some flour and wine.
Hannah can hardly wait to tellthe priest, Eli, what God has
done.
She says, "O my Lord, as youlive, my Lord, I am the woman
who is standing here in yourpresence, praying to the Lord.
(06:54):
For this child I prayed, andthe Lord has granted me my
petition that I made to him.
Therefore I have lent him tothe Lord, and as long as he
lives, he is lent to the Lord."I don't know what it was like
for Hannah to keep that vow andgive her son over to the service
of God.
But I remember being a youngmother myself and reading this
(07:18):
story when my own son was aboutthe age of Samuel when Hannah
released him to God.
It struck me that while not allof us make such a vow, that
eventually all of us must giveour children and their lives
over to God.
I realized that none of us canprotect our children from
everything or prepare them foreverything that will come their
(07:41):
way in life.
I realized that as much as Iwanted to, I could not keep my
son close to me forever, eventhough it seemed like a long
time before he would be grown.
But somehow in my spirit I knewthat our children are only on
loan to us from God.
We only have them for a shorttime, and then we do give them
(08:05):
back to God.
And so at his young age, Iprayed and gave my son over to
God with the prayer that Godwould continue to watch over him
and guide his life, and that mymain job would be to love and
pray for him and watch God workthrough him.
I won't say that I've nevertried, or at least wanted to
try, to influence his choicesmore than I should have.
(08:26):
But it was always in the backof my mind that he belonged to
God and that God's love for myson was more vast than even my
own.
As Hannah left Samuel with Eli,she returned to her home with a
prayer of rejoicing that isrecorded in 1 Samuel chapter 2,
(08:46):
verses 1- 11.
I'm going to read her prayerfrom The Message version of the
Bible because it seems like ithas a little more energy in this
modern paraphrase: "I'm bursting with good news, (08:56):
undefined
I'm walking on air, I'm laughingat my rivals, and I'm dancing
at my salvation.
Nothing and no one is holy likeGod, no rock mountain like our
God.
Don't dare talk pretentiously,not a word of boasting ever, for
(09:17):
God knows what's going on.
He takes the measure ofeverything that happens.
"The weapons of the strong aresmashed to pieces while the weak
are infused with freshstrength.
The well fed are out begging inthe streets for crusts of bread
while the hungry are gettingsecond helpings.
The barren woman has a housefull of children while the
(09:39):
mother of many is bereft.
"God brings death and God bringslife, brings down to the grave
and raises up.
God brings poverty and Godbrings wealth, he lowers and he
also lifts up.
He puts poor people on theirfeet again, he rekindles burned
out lives with fresh hope,restoring dignity and respect to
(10:00):
their lives, a place in thesun!
"For the very structures ofearth are God's.
He has laid out his operationson a firm foundation.
He protectively cares for hisfaithful friends step by step,
but leaves the wicked to stumblein the dark.
"No one makes it in this life bysheer muscle.
(10:22):
God's enemies will be blastedout of the sky, crashed in a
heap and burned.
God will set things right overall the earth, he'll give
strength to his king, he'll sethis anointed on top of the
world!"This prayer of rejoicing speaks
to more than just childbirth.
This is far and away differentfrom the message of social
(10:43):
justice that we hear so often inchurch and culture.
First, it points to God as thebringer of justice and not just
ourselves or the government.
Some might say that this feelsmore like a personal prayer of
God's protection for a singleperson and not God's care for
all of the poor and the weak.
But the prayer makes clear thatGod is in control of wealth and
(11:05):
poverty, hunger and provision,vindication and restoration of
dignity for the oppressed, andall life and death.
Second, it reminds God's peoplethat no matter what personal
privation we face, that God isindeed in control, and that God
is for us, and that God is good,and that God's judgments are
(11:26):
always perfect, and that as Paulwrites in the book of Romans,
chapter 8, verse "We know thatfor those who love God, all
things work together for good,for those who are called
according to his purpose."And third, the final portion of
her prayer where she says thatGod's enemies will be blasted
(11:47):
out of the sky, crashed in aheap and burned, and that God
will set all things right overall the earth, give strength to
his king, and set his anointedon top of the world, that is
prophetic.
She had no way of knowing thatone day her son Samuel would
anoint the first king of Israel.
In a time when Israel only knewthe rule of judges, Hannah
(12:10):
proclaimed that God is the giverof strength to his king.
T his is not the end of theHannah story.
God will bless her again, andshe will conceive and bear three
more sons and two daughters,and the young man Samuel would
grow in the presence of theLord.
Again, this story brings intofocus how significant the lives
(12:32):
of ordinary men and women are inGod's plans to redeem us from
the curse that humanity and theworld are experiencing because
of the crashing fall in Eden.
The day will indeed come whenJesus returns in glory, God's
enemies will be crushed for afinal time, never to rise and
torment us again, and the wholecreation will be restored to
(12:55):
health and order.
In that day all God's peoplewill enjoy eternity on the new
earth and fellowship with oneanother in the presence of
Christ and without the burden ofsin, when God remembers
Hannah's prayer that he will setthings right over all the
earth, give strength to his KingJesus, and set his anointed on
(13:16):
top of the world.
What a day that will be! Thanksbe to God!
And now we have reached ourbreak, so take a moment to
stretch and pour yourself a sodaand marvel for a minute about
the unseen ways that God mightbe using ordinary you and your
most difficult challenges in hisplans to redeem the world.
(13:39):
And when you come back, we willbegin our countdown to baby
Chris's birth by reading abouthis 37th week in the womb.
Announcer (13:49):
Presbyterians Protecting Life has the
resources you need to equipyourself and your congregation
to champion life at every stage.
We have answers to yourquestions, referrals to
specialized care like abortionpill reversal and post-abortion
recovery, current statistics andinformation, discussion
starters, and devotionals tohelp you think about and share
about pregnancy and abortion,adoption, foster care, and even
(14:11):
suicide, assisted suicide andend-of-life challenges.
Visit PPL.org to learn more.
Host (14:19):
This week 37 Baby Chris devotional is titled Prepare the
Way.
Hear the Word of the Lord (14:24):
" Make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his path straight."Matthew 3:3.
Thanks be to G od.
At 37 weeks, Baby Chrisrecognizes familiar voices and
turns towards them in the womb.
The umbilical cord is nowpassing his mother's antibodies
(14:46):
to him to protect him fromdiseases and germs he will be
exposed to after birth.
This week or next, his motherwill feel the baby drop, helping
her to breathe easier with moreroom for her lungs to expand.
Although some mothers may makeappointments for an induced
labor or cesarean section, mostmothers don't know the day or
(15:08):
the hour when labor will begin.
When it comes, labor proceedsin stages, called prelabor,
comma, then the first, second,and third stages.
Prelabor is a latent phasewhere the mother's body makes
its final preparations foractive labor.
Throughout pregnancy, thecervix is closed to protect
(15:30):
against infection.
During prelabor, the cervixwill soften, sometimes it's
called ripening, preparing it toopen when contractions begin.
Prelabor changes may takehours, days, or even weeks,
sometimes without notice, andsometimes with occasional
contractions.
In the meantime, expectantmothers can only wait as their
(15:52):
bodies prepare for birth.
The Old Testament has a seriesof descriptions of the
preparation necessary for God'speople to be ready for
deliverance, from Abraham andSarah's long wait for their
promised child in Genesischapter fifteen twenty one,
Jacob's years of servitude as hewaited for Rachel, Joseph years
(16:15):
of captivity in Egypt beforerising to a position to deliver
his family from a famine, theHebrew nation's wanderings in
the desert before theirdeliverance into the promised
land, Ezra and Nehemiah'scareful plans before the
rebuilding of Jerusalem,Esther's preparation in the
king's harem before her role indelivering the Jews from an
(16:38):
extermination plot, and more.
Between the testaments was thefour hundred year silence of
God, as God's people awaited aword from the Lord, until at
last the voice of John theBaptist could be heard calling
Israel to repentance and baptismin preparation for the coming
of the Messiah.
Like the antibodies thatprepare the unborn infant's
(17:02):
immune system for life in thepetri dish of the world outside
the womb, John urged sinfulIsrael to receive the baptism of
repentance, for the kingdom ofheaven was about to arrive.
Since the resurrection andascension of Christ, God's
people continue to wait for thereturn of Jesus for his church,
(17:24):
the end of the effects of thecurse, and the restoration of
the world.
But not just yet.
Like an impending birth itcould be another minute, another
day, another week or more.
No one knows the day or thehour.
And in the meantime, weexperience the increasing chaos
(17:45):
and distress of the world whichJesus compared to the beginning
of the birth pangs.
This pre labor will be followedby the inescapable labor pain,
that is the judgment thataccompanies the return of
Christ.
As we enter into the new churchyear that begins with Advent,
the Christian world waits andprepares for the return of
(18:07):
Christ and for our anticipatedredemption, by remembering his
first coming and celebrating hisbirth.
For those who love hisappearing, like a much loved and
long awaited child, he will bereceived with joy.
Hear the word of the Lord: "Behold, I am going to send my (18:24):
undefined
messenger, and he will clear theway before me, and the Lord
whom you seek will suddenly cometo his temple.
And the messenger of thecovenant in whom you delight,
behold, he is coming, says theLord of hosts." Malachi 3:1.
(18:48):
Thanks be to God.
Announcer (18:56):
We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection.
We encourage you to share itand join us next time on Pro
Life Kitchen Table.
May God bless you.
Welcome back to the ProLife Kitchen Table.
I'm your host, DeborahHollifield, and I'm hoping that
you will welcome a little breakfrom all the busyness of
cleaning up from Thanksgivingand preparing for Christmas.
I know it's not easy to take aminute for yourself.
All my life I've been busymaking this season special for
others whom I love, and I canfind it hard to sit for long
(00:38):
without feeling guilty.
But this is what God wants usto do in the weeks coming up to
Christmas, that time of Adventwhen we settle our hearts and
admit some of the expectation ofholy presence into our homes
and our hearts.
This week's lesson is aboutHannah, who is an exceptionally
(00:59):
precious woman among all thepregnancy stories of the Bible.
The life of Hannah shows howGod knows our deepest longings
and hears our prayers andprompts us through his
faithfulness to worship.
We have left the book of Judgesbehind, that time when there
was no king in Israel, andeveryone did what was right in
(01:21):
his own eyes, and it was chaoticand it was violent, and it was
especially a trial for women whosuffered a lot of abuse during
those dangerous days.
The story of Hannah is set inthe Bible's book of first
Samuel.
Samuel is Hannah's son, andduring his lifetime he would
anoint the first two kings ofIsrael, and he defined much of
(01:45):
the transition time from rule byjudges to the rule of kings.
Hannah was married to afaithful man named Elkanah.
Every year Elkanah took hiswives and children to the
festival of tabernacles, held atthe tent of meeting in a place
called Shiloh, where all Israelassembled.
(02:06):
The purpose of the Feast ofTabernacles was to remember
God's care for his people duringtheir desert journey from Egypt
to the Promised Land.
It was also a time when theyexpressed their gratitude to God
for the years of crops andfertility of the people.
It would have been a difficultoccasion for Elkanah's wife,
(02:27):
Hannah, who, like a lot of womenwe have been reading about, was
barren.
Elkanah had two wives, Hannahand Paninah.
Once again we see how polygamy,having more than one wife, set
up a conflict in the homebecause of mutual jealousy
between his wives.
The Bible describes Paninah asHannah's rival.
(02:50):
Paninah had children, butHannah did not.
And like Jacob loved Rachelmore than he loved Leah,
Elkanah loved Hannah more thanhe loved Paninah.
Paninah, though, was not a womanof good character and went out
of her way to irritate Hannahand provoke her over her
childlessness until Hannah criedand wouldn't eat.
(03:12):
Elkanah saw Hannah's pain, andthis distressed him.
He tried to comfort her bysaying, "Hannah, why do you weep
and why don't you eat, and whyis your heart sad?
Am I not more to you than tensons?" in the hope that she
would find some satisfaction inhis love and care for her.
(03:33):
So when Elkanah took his familyup to Shiloh to the Feast of
Tabernacles, Hannah went intothe tabernacle to pray.
Verse 10 says that she wasweeping "in the bitterness of
her soul," and out of her deepdistress she prayed to the Lord.
She prayed and cried so hardthat the Bible says that the
(03:53):
priest, whose name was Eli,thought she was drunk.
Her prayer was, "O LordAlmighty, if you will only look
upon your servant's misery andremember me, and not forget your
servant, but give her a son,then I will give him to the Lord
for all the days of his life,and no razor will ever be used
(04:14):
on his head."If the promise that she made at
the end of her prayer, not toever cut her son's hair, seems
familiar to you, it's becausethat is part of the Nazarite vow
that we learned about when weread about when the angel of the
Lord told Samson's mother shewas not to cut his hair, because
he was to be a Nazarite fromthe w omb.
(04:38):
Another thing we shouldunderstand about a married
Hebrew woman's vow to God isthat in the book of Numbers,
chapter 30, verses 10- 15, itexplains that her husband can
render her vow void when hehears it if he chooses to do so,
and she will not be bound byit, and the Lord will forgive
(04:58):
her for breaking her promise.
But if her husband hears aboutit later on and then makes the
vow null and void, the Lord willhold him responsible for
breaking her promise.
So her prayer is a very bigdeal.
First, she's offering to giveaway the child she's praying
for; and second, she is boldlymaking this offer without
(05:21):
consulting her husband; andthird she is taking a risk that
when her husband learns that shehas made this promise, that he
will render it null, and thenGod will punish him for doing
so.
In short, she is offering Godher family, her future, and her
husband's very life.
To make such a prayer tells us alot about the depth of Hannah's
(05:44):
despair over her barrenness andher trust in her relationship
with the Lord.
Well, God did grant Hannah'spetition to "remember me and not
forget your servant," becauseI Samuel chapter 1
verse 19 records, "and the LORDremembered her, and Hannah
conceived and bore a son."It must have been hard from the
(06:08):
moment that Hannah was awarethat she had conceived, to think
of giving her son back to theLord.
The first year after Samuel'sbirth, the Bible says she did
not go with Elkanah and the restof the family back to the
festival of tabernacles atShiloh.
In fact, Hannah keeps Samuel athome until after he was weaned,
which was probably three tofive years o ld.
(06:31):
But eventually Hannah andElkanah do take Samuel to the
house of the Lord at Shiloh,along with the sacrifice of a
bull and some flour and wine.
Hannah can hardly wait to tellthe priest, Eli, what God has
done.
She says, "O my Lord, as youlive, my Lord, I am the woman
who is standing here in yourpresence, praying to the Lord.
(06:54):
For this child I prayed, andthe Lord has granted me my
petition that I made to him.
Therefore I have lent him tothe Lord, and as long as he
lives, he is lent to the Lord."I don't know what it was like
for Hannah to keep that vow andgive her son over to the service
of God.
But I remember being a youngmother myself and reading this
(07:18):
story when my own son was aboutthe age of Samuel when Hannah
released him to God.
It struck me that while not allof us make such a vow, that
eventually all of us must giveour children and their lives
over to God.
I realized that none of us canprotect our children from
everything or prepare them foreverything that will come their
(07:41):
way in life.
I realized that as much as Iwanted to, I could not keep my
son close to me forever, eventhough it seemed like a long
time before he would be grown.
But somehow in my spirit I knewthat our children are only on
loan to us from God.
We only have them for a shorttime, and then we do give them
(08:05):
back to God.
And so at his young age, Iprayed and gave my son over to
God with the prayer that Godwould continue to watch over him
and guide his life, and that mymain job would be to love and
pray for him and watch God workthrough him.
I won't say that I've nevertried, or at least wanted to
try, to influence his choicesmore than I should have.
(08:26):
But it was always in the backof my mind that he belonged to
God and that God's love for myson was more vast than even my
own.
As Hannah left Samuel with Eli,she returned to her home with a
prayer of rejoicing that isrecorded in 1 Samuel chapter 2,
(08:46):
verses 1- 11.
I'm going to read her prayerfrom The Message version of the
Bible because it seems like ithas a little more energy in this
modern paraphrase: "I'm bursting with good news, (08:56):
undefined
I'm walking on air, I'm laughingat my rivals, and I'm dancing
at my salvation.
Nothing and no one is holy likeGod, no rock mountain like our
God.
Don't dare talk pretentiously,not a word of boasting ever, for
(09:17):
God knows what's going on.
He takes the measure ofeverything that happens.
"The weapons of the strong aresmashed to pieces while the weak
are infused with freshstrength.
The well fed are out begging inthe streets for crusts of bread
while the hungry are gettingsecond helpings.
The barren woman has a housefull of children while the
(09:39):
mother of many is bereft.
"God brings death and God bringslife, brings down to the grave
and raises up.
God brings poverty and Godbrings wealth, he lowers and he
also lifts up.
He puts poor people on theirfeet again, he rekindles burned
out lives with fresh hope,restoring dignity and respect to
(10:00):
their lives, a place in thesun!
"For the very structures ofearth are God's.
He has laid out his operationson a firm foundation.
He protectively cares for hisfaithful friends step by step,
but leaves the wicked to stumblein the dark.
"No one makes it in this life bysheer muscle.
(10:22):
God's enemies will be blastedout of the sky, crashed in a
heap and burned.
God will set things right overall the earth, he'll give
strength to his king, he'll sethis anointed on top of the
world!"This prayer of rejoicing speaks
to more than just childbirth.
This is far and away differentfrom the message of social
(10:43):
justice that we hear so often inchurch and culture.
First, it points to God as thebringer of justice and not just
ourselves or the government.
Some might say that this feelsmore like a personal prayer of
God's protection for a singleperson and not God's care for
all of the poor and the weak.
But the prayer makes clear thatGod is in control of wealth and
(11:05):
poverty, hunger and provision,vindication and restoration of
dignity for the oppressed, andall life and death.
Second, it reminds God's peoplethat no matter what personal
privation we face, that God isindeed in control, and that God
is for us, and that God is good,and that God's judgments are
(11:26):
always perfect, and that as Paulwrites in the book of Romans,
chapter 8, verse "We know thatfor those who love God, all
things work together for good,for those who are called
according to his purpose."And third, the final portion of
her prayer where she says thatGod's enemies will be blasted
(11:47):
out of the sky, crashed in aheap and burned, and that God
will set all things right overall the earth, give strength to
his king, and set his anointedon top of the world, that is
prophetic.
She had no way of knowing thatone day her son Samuel would
anoint the first king of Israel.
In a time when Israel only knewthe rule of judges, Hannah
(12:10):
proclaimed that God is the giverof strength to his king.
T his is not the end of theHannah story.
God will bless her again, andshe will conceive and bear three
more sons and two daughters,and the young man Samuel would
grow in the presence of theLord.
Again, this story brings intofocus how significant the lives
(12:32):
of ordinary men and women are inGod's plans to redeem us from
the curse that humanity and theworld are experiencing because
of the crashing fall in Eden.
The day will indeed come whenJesus returns in glory, God's
enemies will be crushed for afinal time, never to rise and
torment us again, and the wholecreation will be restored to
(12:55):
health and order.
In that day all God's peoplewill enjoy eternity on the new
earth and fellowship with oneanother in the presence of
Christ and without the burden ofsin, when God remembers
Hannah's prayer that he will setthings right over all the
earth, give strength to his KingJesus, and set his anointed on
(13:16):
top of the world.
What a day that will be! Thanksbe to God!
And now we have reached ourbreak, so take a moment to
stretch and pour yourself a sodaand marvel for a minute about
the unseen ways that God mightbe using ordinary you and your
most difficult challenges in hisplans to redeem the world.
(13:39):
And when you come back, we willbegin our countdown to baby
Chris's birth by reading abouthis 37th week in the womb.
Announcer (13:49):
Presbyterians Protecting Life has the
resources you need to equipyourself and your congregation
to champion life at every stage.
We have answers to yourquestions, referrals to
specialized care like abortionpill reversal and post-abortion
recovery, current statistics andinformation, discussion
starters, and devotionals tohelp you think about and share
about pregnancy and abortion,adoption, foster care, and even
(14:11):
suicide, assisted suicide andend-of-life challenges.
Visit PPL.org to learn more.
Host (14:19):
This week 37 Baby Chris devotional is titled Prepare the
Way.
Hear the Word of the Lord (14:24):
" Make ready the way of the Lord.
Make his path straight."Matthew 3:3.
Thanks be to G od.
At 37 weeks, Baby Chrisrecognizes familiar voices and
turns towards them in the womb.
The umbilical cord is nowpassing his mother's antibodies
(14:46):
to him to protect him fromdiseases and germs he will be
exposed to after birth.
This week or next, his motherwill feel the baby drop, helping
her to breathe easier with moreroom for her lungs to expand.
Although some mothers may makeappointments for an induced
labor or cesarean section, mostmothers don't know the day or
(15:08):
the hour when labor will begin.
When it comes, labor proceedsin stages, called prelabor,
comma, then the first, second,and third stages.
Prelabor is a latent phasewhere the mother's body makes
its final preparations foractive labor.
Throughout pregnancy, thecervix is closed to protect
(15:30):
against infection.
During prelabor, the cervixwill soften, sometimes it's
called ripening, preparing it toopen when contractions begin.
Prelabor changes may takehours, days, or even weeks,
sometimes without notice, andsometimes with occasional
contractions.
In the meantime, expectantmothers can only wait as their
(15:52):
bodies prepare for birth.
The Old Testament has a seriesof descriptions of the
preparation necessary for God'speople to be ready for
deliverance, from Abraham andSarah's long wait for their
promised child in Genesischapter fifteen twenty one,
Jacob's years of servitude as hewaited for Rachel, Joseph years
(16:15):
of captivity in Egypt beforerising to a position to deliver
his family from a famine, theHebrew nation's wanderings in
the desert before theirdeliverance into the promised
land, Ezra and Nehemiah'scareful plans before the
rebuilding of Jerusalem,Esther's preparation in the
king's harem before her role indelivering the Jews from an
(16:38):
extermination plot, and more.
Between the testaments was thefour hundred year silence of
God, as God's people awaited aword from the Lord, until at
last the voice of John theBaptist could be heard calling
Israel to repentance and baptismin preparation for the coming
of the Messiah.
Like the antibodies thatprepare the unborn infant's
(17:02):
immune system for life in thepetri dish of the world outside
the womb, John urged sinfulIsrael to receive the baptism of
repentance, for the kingdom ofheaven was about to arrive.
Since the resurrection andascension of Christ, God's
people continue to wait for thereturn of Jesus for his church,
(17:24):
the end of the effects of thecurse, and the restoration of
the world.
But not just yet.
Like an impending birth itcould be another minute, another
day, another week or more.
No one knows the day or thehour.
And in the meantime, weexperience the increasing chaos
(17:45):
and distress of the world whichJesus compared to the beginning
of the birth pangs.
This pre labor will be followedby the inescapable labor pain,
that is the judgment thataccompanies the return of
Christ.
As we enter into the new churchyear that begins with Advent,
the Christian world waits andprepares for the return of
(18:07):
Christ and for our anticipatedredemption, by remembering his
first coming and celebrating hisbirth.
For those who love hisappearing, like a much loved and
long awaited child, he will bereceived with joy.
Hear the word of the Lord: "Behold, I am going to send my (18:24):
undefined
messenger, and he will clear theway before me, and the Lord
whom you seek will suddenly cometo his temple.
And the messenger of thecovenant in whom you delight,
behold, he is coming, says theLord of hosts." Malachi 3:1.
(18:48):
Thanks be to God.
Announcer (18:56):
We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection.
We encourage you to share itand join us next time on Pro
Life Kitchen Table.
May God bless you.
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