Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
— John 12:24-25

The Lord spoke of the need to put His life down staring at the cross before Him. He was so fixed on the Father’s will for Him to drink the cup of wrath on behalf of humanity that this was evident on His countenance. The Samaritans refused to host Jesus because they saw how determined He was to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus knew that the only way to bring life abundantly was to die and become the First Fruit of the resurrection. His eyes were focused on the cross yet his heart was fixated on glory. We must fall to the ground and let mortality takes it course for the life of Jesus Christ to rise through the “body of this death”.

Vanity of Solitary Existence

The corn of wheat must fall to the ground and die, or loneliness will be its inheritance. Death was the cost Jesus paid to bridge the abyss of sin that we may be with Him. A Savior who cannot bear to be alone without the love of His life, He is willing to strip Himself of His divinity, take on the form of sinful flesh, and die to redeem an unworthy reprobate like me.

The barrenness of a Christian’s life is an open shame to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
— Romans 7:4

Everything that Christ did for us in the redemptive work of Calvary was so that we might bring forth fruit unto God. Unless our lives are in pursuit of this great transformation, we are but in a state of sterile desolation.

The state of Israel in the time of Eli the priest was sterile. God’s chosen nation has a form of religion but it was corrupt at its core.

And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.
— 1 Samuel 1:3

Elkanah represents the faithful populous. He comes to offer sacrifice, a form of religious rite unto God, much like many people coming to church to pay their dues. They worship God with their lips and offer sacrifices but their hearts are far from Him.

The old religion has taken on a form that is both easy for the people and comfortable (profitable) for the priest. Eli represents the apathetic and indolent leaderships, they wear the priestly robes, they sit at the door to judge, and lay in the same comfortable place every night. They watch and pass condemnations on hurting people yet allow depravity and wickedness to flourish in the house of God.

In the state of barren desolation, Hannah was provoked by Peninnah and grieved because “the Lord had shut up her womb”. It is the mercy of God that draws us to the wilderness, to pull us out of the flood of life in order to witness the salvation of a generation. God raises up adversaries to draw us out of complacencies, away from the status quo and into the Cave of Adullam where the training of our character can begin.

Offerings and sacrifices to God have been systematically institutionalized to become religious science; worship can now be downloaded, updated or refreshed on a weekly basis and wrapped in the skin of innovation and present it as an elegant package ready to be offered to God.

Worthless Sacrifice

In this time of spiritual wretchedness, even the barrenness of the glory of God is not part of the social consciousness. God shut up the wombs of those whom He favored—Hannah—to cause them to recognize the desperate state of sterility and grieve.

Elkanah gave Hannah a greater portion than Peninnah yet she was unable to conceive. She was mocked and derided even by her own family for her barrenness year after year until she was so vexed that she did not eat.

The scornful mocking that is most hurtful comes from people who are closest to us. Rejected and mocked by men, denied by His closest friend and betrayed by His own disciple, Christ epitomized this agonizing loneliness. Upon seeing Hannah soul miserable, the only comfort that came from the most loving source, Elkanah, was a hopeless and pathetic effort to substitute a man for God’s salvation.

Some Christians come to God with the offerings that have been prepared by their loved ones; they want to give to God — even in the best intentions — the sacrifices that they did not pay the cost themselves. When the favor of God is not seen, they come to the Christian’s rescue by offering themselves as blessing in place of God’s.

Hannah must pay the price and offer God the sacrifice that is the cost of her very life—the broken spirit and contrite heart.

Derision, The Cost for Sincerity

When Hannah, walked out of the comfort of her loving husband, she enters into the view of the priest Eli. Before only person whom she could come to pour out her soul, he condemned her as being a drunkard.

And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
— 1 Samuel 1:14-16

The place that should have been spiritually supportive for Hannah became an open court of derision; the one person that should have prayed for her became the judge that condemned her.

The sincerity of the cry of her heart was the strength that yielded the complete sacrifice unto the Lord and the Sovereign God heard her cry. For a broken and contrite heart, God will never despise.

After Hannah had offered the prayer of sacrifice unto the Lord, “the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.” When you offer your heart unto God, He will satisfy your soul with supernatural peace that passes all understanding.

The calling of God is without repentance, we should not be too quickly dismissive of the church, in this case, Eli for by his blessing that Hannah was blessed by God.

Travail for Christ

My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
— Galatians 4:19

Our lives should bear this mark that we would carry this burden of glory until seeing Christ formed in the lives of people.

Christians should fall into the ground and allow all of our natural resources to fail. Count our lives not dear unto ourselves but that we would be willing to pay the price to see the glory of God revealed.

Hannah’s prayer that if God would grant her request then she, “will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no rasor come upon his head.”

That we might have the same cry as Hannah; For Your glory, and for Your name’s sake let me be the one that will carry the child that bears the mark of Christ who will change the course of humanity.

Oh God give me this burden of life! Give me the strength to lay down my own life as a living sacrifice that will die and become the tree that bring forth fruit unto eternal life.