Leadership Principles from 1 & 2 Samuel
Hannah was barren and desperately wanted to have a child. This is a difficult situation for any person to be in, but especially for a woman in ancient times when being a homemaker and mother were a very large part of a woman’s identity. Not having a child weighed heavily on Hannah. She was “downhearted” and found herself at times weeping and not eating.
But in spite of this difficult season in Hannah’s life (a season that lasted years), there is much to admire in and learn from Hannah. In difficultly, Hannah didn’t run away from the Lord, instead she chose to devote herself to him. Take note of what this passage says about Hannah’s time of prayer in the Lord’s house.
“In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.” (1 Sam. 1:10) and that “Hannah was praying in her heart…” (1 Sam. 1:13)
As Hannah explained what she was doing to Eli the priest, she said: “I was pouring out my soul to the Lord…I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” (1 Sam. 1:15-16)
Eventually, the Lord was gracious to Hannah, and she ended up getting pregnant and giving birth to the future prophet Samuel. But her devotion didn’t stop once God answered her prayer. Hannah ended up dedicating her one and only son to the Lord and sent him off to enter the Lord’s service at a very young age.
As she gave her son to Eli the priest she said: “I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord. Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord…” 1 Sam. 1:27-28 – 2:1
Hannah gave back to the Lord the one thing that she so desperately longed for. She didn’t do so begrudgingly, but rather with a heart rejoicing in the Lord. Hannah is a true example of devotion.
Devotion is foundational to leadership
Oswald Chambers once said – “the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus.” And if this is true about our Christian faith, then it is equally true that the underlying foundation of our leadership as Christians should be personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus.
It’s so easy to get caught up in all the cares of life, family, and ministry each day that we forget the basics a times – personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. Recently, I’ve found myself straying from the basics as I’m guilty of letting the busyness of life eat me up at times. I’m trying to work on this though by carving out more time for Scripture reading, meditation, and prayer.
As followers of Jesus and as leaders, let’s make sure that we don’t forget the basics by keeping our devotion to him center stage.
Questions to reflect on…
What do you need to do to cultivate and strengthen your devotion for Jesus? How does our devotion to the Lord correlate to our service of him and others? How does devotion to Jesus influence our leadership?