For By Strength, No Man Shall Prevail - by Vincent A. Artese

Hannah was a faithful woman who had no children because the Lord had closed her womb. She was exposed to the religious hypocrisy of her time at the tabernacle at Shiloh. But she knew God as the Lord of Hosts. God had closed Her womb for His own glory. Hannah’s situation year by year made her grow in desperation. In addition to seeing religious hypocrisy at Shiloh she was being provoked by her husband’s other wife who had many children. All of this led Hannah to a state of bitterness of soul and of anguish. But from this place she prayed a prayer of faith and looked to God in her affliction. She humbled herself before Him and entirely consecrated her life to Him. She then began walking by faith in the promises of God. The desperation of her situation compelled her to turn nowhere else but to pour herself out entirely to the Lord. And she was even willing to consecrate her deepest longing over to the Lord and made a vow that she would give her son to the service of God if He gave her one. And then the Lord remembered her. Hannah bore a son and named him Samuel, “Heard by God.” Samuel was the son of humility, poverty, bareness, weakness, desperation, and hunger. Another son was also born a few chapters later, his name was Ichabod: “the glory has departed.” Ichabod was the son of pride, riches, selfishness, fullness, religious hypocrisy and complacency. Ichabod was the offspring of the false religious system that God was about to bring to an end. But Samuel, the son of Hannah, was used by God to bring about a revival in Israel that took place at Mizpah! What son will be born to you? Will his name be Samuel? Or will his name be Ichabod? For by strength no man shall prevail.

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