THE MATRIX

But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. —1 Samuel 1:5

It is consistent with the teaching of the scriptures to believe that before Hannah ever received the seed of Elkanah, she had received the seed of promise from the Lord. How her heart must have leaped in faith when the Lord assured her that her son would be used mightily of the Lord: after all, Elkanah was a Levite. No doubt she remained strong during the first few years when nothing happened, probably reminding herself of Sarah and Rachel’s testimony of birthing Isaac and Joseph after years of waiting. The trouble with patience however, is that it has a tendency to wear thin.

At some point Elkanah gave up on obtaining children by Hannah which means grace. If it is true that Elkanah married Peninnah in order to have children by her—a compromised grace— how devastating this must have been to Hannah. It magnified her barrenness and amplified her fears that something was obviously wrong with her: “I must be worthless.” This was echoed when Elkanah asked: “Am not I better to thee than ten sons?” What he was really saying was, “Come to grips with the fact that you are barren and appreciate what you do have. Start a new career: Not everybody can have a baby.”

To make matters worse, the yearly trip to Shiloh was the national holiday for Israel. Holiday’s are always extremely difficult for the “have not’s” because those that have tend to take inventory:

“Isn’t he adorable Peninnah!”
“Yes, but after ten sons, I wish I could give Elkie more daughters: He so loves the twins.”
“What color did you paint the new baby room?”
“I got Hannah to paint it for me. She picked out a pretty pink.”
“Oh: Hi Hannah, almost didn’t see you hiding back there. Anything going on with you?”

Year by year this had been going on. Hannah no doubt had voiced her vision: "The next Christmas will be different,” but here she was again. Same song, still out of tune.

Everyone has a breaking point. Hannah’s expectation had suffered postponement after postponement to the point of wounding her heart to the point of death: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). Sick is translated wounded in 2 Chronicles 35:23-24: “And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded…and he died”. Could this be where God was leading Hannah all along? Is not resurrection only possible after death?

Hannah would later testify that this indeed was the case: “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill…”(1 Samuel 2:6-8). David Wilkerson preaches that God always follows a promise with a corresponding sentence of death upon the very thing He has promised. But the way he says you can know that it is of God, is that it keeps coming again and again, because on the other hand it refuses to die.

Has God shut your womb and brought it to the grave? Womb is also translated matrix: “a situation or set of circumstances that allows or encourages the origin, development, or growth of something.” In God s wisdom, Samuel was growing more and more in Hanna’s spiritual womb before he ever grew in her natural womb. All the suffering, all the heartache, and all the persecution worked together to form a prayer within her that changed everything: “And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (1 Samuel 1:11).

What is it that keeps kicking in your matrix? “And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine” (Numbers 3:12). Vow to give it back to the Lord and may the Holy Ghost bring glory, honor, and praise to the name of Jesus Christ!!!