ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE

Many years before Jesus was born there was a man who lived in the land of Israel whose name was Elkanah and his wife’s name was Hannah. They were good people but did not have any children. Now Hannah was very sad because she had no children, so she thought she would ask God for one. She knew that God would hear her so she went to church to pray. The church in her days was called a temple and they didn’t have a minister in those days but a priest instead. The priest lived in the temple and also slept there at night.

One day Hannah came to the temple and walked to the front and knelt down to pray. The priest was in the back of the temple and he saw Hannah come in. He watched her and while she prayed he saw her lips moving. (The priest’s name was Eli.) Now Eli thought she was drunk. We all know that that would be a big sin for Hannah to pray to God in His house if she was drunk, but Hannah was not drunk. Eli came up to her and scolded her, but she said to him, “I am not drunk, but I am so very sad that I have come here to pray and ask God to give me something I long for.” Then Eli said to her, “Go in peace lady, and I hope God gives you what you have asked for.”

Some time later Hannah had a little baby boy and she was very happy. She called the baby’s name Samuel because she said, “I asked God for him and He gave him to me. So always remember children that Samuel means, “Asked of God.”

Now when Hannah prayed to God in the temple for a baby she promised Him that if He gave her a baby boy she would leave him work in the temple for God and live there with Eli. So Hannah had to keep her promise to God. She took care of Samuel until he was a little boy and then she went back to the temple where she had prayed to God. Eli saw her come and when she went into the temple she took Samuel by the hand and said to Eli, “Oh, my lord, this is the little boy I prayed for that morning when I was here and you thought I was drunk. God has heard my prayer and answered me and now that he is old enough I have brought him here to live with you and to help you with your work in the temple.” Then Eli took little Samuel by the hand and kept him with him in the temple but Hannah went back home. Every year she would make Samuel a nice little coat and she would bring it to him to wear. Some time later Samuel had three more brothers and two sisters but he stayed with Eli and worked in the temple. Eli was getting to be a very old man by this time and Samuel was a big help to him in his work.

Now Eli had two boys of his own, but they were very bad boys and did not listen to their father at all. They did a lot of naughty things too which made God very angry with them, because we must always remember that God sees and knows everything that we do.

One night when Samuel was sleeping in the temple he heard a voice calling him. The voice said, “Samuel, Samuel,” and Samuel thought it was Eli calling him. So he jumped out of bed and ran to Eli’s bedroom, but Eli was sleeping. Samuel said to him, “Did you call me,” but Eli said, “No my boy, I did not. I guess you were dreaming,” so Samuel went back to bed. But Samuel was just in bed again when he heard the voice again, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel jumped out of bed again and ran to Eli, and said, “What do you want my lord.” Now in those days God would talk to His people if He wanted to tell them something and remember children, that Samuel was a little child of God, and God could talk to him if He wanted too. But Samuel did not know that God did this, although Eli did. When Samuel came to Eli the third time to ask him what he wanted Eli knew it was God calling him. Eli answered Samuel, “Go back to bed my child and when you hear the voice again you must say, “Speak Lord, and I will hear you.” Samuel went back to bed and he was only there a little while when he heard the voice again, “Samuel, Samuel.” Samuel sat up in bed and said, “Speak Lord, and I will hear you.” Then God spoke to Samuel and said, “Listen to me Samuel. I have looked down from heaven and I see that a great number of the people of Israel are very bad people. Eli’s two boys are among them and I am angry with them so I am going to send a war and in the war Eli’s two boys will be killed.” After God was finished speaking Samuel went back to sleep until morning. When he got up he started to do his work but he didn’t say anything to Eli because he was afraid to tell him his two boys would be killed. But Eli watched Samuel and at last he said to him, Samuel, come here to me. Samuel said to him, “What do you want my lord,” and Eli asked him saying, “What did God want to tell you last night when he called you. Don’t be afraid to tell me Samuel but speak out everything that God said and don’t keep anything back.” Then Samuel told Eli everything God had said to him. When Eli heard what God was going to do, he said to Samuel, “It is God who speaks and what He does is good.”

Eli knew his two boys were very bad and God was going to punish them. Our mothers and fathers punish us when we are naughty, do they not boys and girl, and God can and will punish us too children. He can do anything to us that He wants to. You are not too young boys and girls to stop and think a minute what will become of you when you die. We all know that God says we must die and then if God does not give you a new heart, where will you go. Surely he does not take naughty children to heaven does he? It would be good for you to pray every day and ask God to give you a new heart before you die. He tells us to ask Him, and we shall receive. (1 Sam. 1:20, 26 and 27.)

Now when God sent the war in the land of Israel Eli’s two boys were killed. The same day Eli was sitting on a chair in front of the temple and he saw a boy come running to him. When the boy reached him, Eli said to him, “What news do you bring from the war,” and the boy answered, “The Israelites lost the war and your two boys were killed.” When Eli heard this he fell back over his chair and he broke his neck and died. When Eli died he was ninety-eight years old and a good man. After he was dead the people had to have a new priest and God looked down from heaven and saw that Samuel was a very good young man (Samuel had grown up to be a young man by this time) and so he was made high priest in Eli’s place.

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