Hannah and Susannah, Two Saintly Moms
--I Samuel 1:9-28
Since my teenage years, when I first heard it on Mothers’ Day as a quartet number in my home Church, I have appreciated the Hymn “God, Give Us Christian Homes” by the great Baptist hymn writer B. B. McKinney. The prayer in the third stanza is this petition:
God, give us Christian homes!
Home where the mother, in queenly quest,
Strives to show others Thy ways is best,
Homes where the Lord is an honored guest;
God, give us Christian homes;
God, give us Christian homes!
I trust that is the prayer of each one of us on this Mothers’ Day 2006. Two saintly moms who remain prime examples not only for Mothers today but for parents of either gender are Hannah, the Mother of Samuel, who was the last Judge and first Prophet in the Old Testament, and Susannah Wesley, the Mother of John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the worldwide Methodist Movement. Truly they were Mothers who “in queenly quest” showed others that the Lord’s way is best. They remain role models for us as parents today to emulate.
I have long admired Hannah as an outstanding example of a godly Mother. Hannah was a woman of prayer. She knew the One to whom to turn in times of distress. The story of Hannah reminds me of the earlier story of the struggle between Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob.
Just as Jacob loved Rachel, so Elkanah loved Hannah, as we see clearly in I Samuel 1:4-5, “On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb.” Like Rachel before her, Hannah was barren, and in Israel, a thousand years before the birth of Jesus, barrenness brought real stigma to a woman. It was seen as a curse from God according to such passages as Genesis 16:2, “. . . And Sarai said to Abram, ‘You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”
The elderly Elizabeth too endured the suffering of such stigma, for we read in Luke 1:24-25, “After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’” In Old and New Testament times a barren woman was seen by society as being cursed by God because of some great sin. Barrenness brought disgrace, reproach, and misery to a woman.
Reminiscent of the sibling rivalry between Leah and Rachel in bearing Jacob children, Hannah’s rival Peninnah taunts her: “Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb.” Elkanah sought to console Hannah with his love and testimony, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” Hannah still had no peace.
Deeply distressed and weeping bitterly, Hannah turns in prayer to the God of grace and humbly prays, “O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head (I Samuel 1:11).” In her prayer Hannah dedicated her son, who as yet had not been conceived, to serving the LORD all the days of his life.
America and the world need more wives and mothers, and husbands and fathers, like Hannah--holy parents who will be women and men of prayer, teach their children to pray and to seek and serve the Lord, and live a life of holiness and dedication to God. The Holy Spirit calls parents today to faithfully and honestly fulfill the vows we make in dedicating our children to the Lord or presenting them for baptism. On that occasion we stood, like Hannah, before the Lord and made these holy vows:
(1.) “We therefore accept as our bouden duty and privilege to live
before this child a life that becomes the Gospel; to exercise all
godly care that he be brought up in the Christian faith, that he
be taught the Holy Scriptures, and that he learn to give reverent
attendance upon the private and public worship of God!”
And
(2.) “We will endeavor to keep this child under the ministry and
guidance of the Church until he by the power of God shall accept for himself the gift of salvation, and be confirmed as a full and responsible member of Christ’s holy Church!”
[--“The Order for the Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism for Children.”
The Book of Worship for Church and Home with Orders of Worship, Services for the Administration of Sacraments, and Aids to Worship According to the Usages of The United Methodist Church. (Nashville: The Methodist Publishing House, 1965), p. 8]
Hannah faithfully kept her promise to God, and her son Samuel became the last Judge and the first Prophet of Israel. How might our world today be better and different if we as Christian parents followed in her steps?
Some 2700 to 2800 years after Hannah another godly Mother came on the scene in eighteenth century England. She was Susannah Wesley, the Mother of John and Charles Wesley, founders of the worldwide Methodist Movement. Susannah and her husband Samuel became the parents of nineteen children, but ten of them died before the age of two, and one surviving daughter was handicapped. Susannah, like Hannah, experienced suffering and sorrow, yet she testified in her diary that all her hardships and misfortunes helped “promote my spiritual and eternal good. Glory be to Thee, O Lord [--http://www.familyofdestiny.com/article_Swesley_compromise.htm].”
Susannah home-schooled her children six hours a day and gave each one an additional one-on-one personal session each week. She loved the Lord with “all her heart, soul, strength, and mind.” Her deepest desire was to “help others know Christ rather than just perform the outward appearance of religion” because she truly “loved her neighbor as herself [--http://www.of-worth.com/ea/alife.htm].”
Nineteenth century American poet William Ross Wallace has well said:
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
The life and ministry of Susannah Wesley prove that axiom true.
Mum Wesley may well have been the original home school Mother-Teacher. From early childhood her personal prayer had always been, “Dear God, guide me. Help me do Thy will. Make my life count,” but the Holy Spirit would continually answer her in one word, “Wait [--http://www.of-worth.com/ea/alife.htm].” Susannah came to realize that she would best serve the Lord in the training and education of her children. She would spend six hours a day teaching her nine living children the Bible, theology, literature, science, language, and logic. Home schooling began at age five. John, whom she affectionately called “Jacky,” learned the alphabet in one day. Susannah taught spelling from Genesis, chapter one, and reading from the entire Bible. After three months under the guidance of his Mother five year old Jacky could read as well as many educated adults [--Frank Bateman Stanger, Spiritual Formation in the Local Church (Grand Rapids: Francis Asbury Press of Zondervan Publishing House, 1989), pp. 23-4].
Susannah Wesley’s prayer, “Help me do Thy will; make my life count” was truly fulfilled in the lives of her children, especially in the lives and ministries of her sons Jacky and Charlie whom the Lord mightily used in igniting the flames of the 18th Century Wesleyan Revival. Perhaps the personal testimony about Susannah by her husband Samuel sums up her effectiveness and ministry as a Mother for Christ and His kingdom, “Some of the truly great people are the ones who were faithful in doing the simple things [--http://www.of-worth.com/ea/alife.htm].” This was Susannah Wesley—faithful Christian disciple, wife, mother, teacher.
I must share Susannah’s 16 Rules she practiced in her relationship with her children and in their training:
WESLEY’S 16 RULES
1. Eating between meals not allowed.
2. As children they are to be in bed by 8 p. m.
3. They are required to take medicine without complaining.
4. Subdue self- will in a child, and those working together with God to save the child’s soul.
5. To teach a child to pray as soon as he can speak.
6. Require all to be still during Family Worship.
7. Give them nothing that they cry for, and only that when asked for politely.
8. To prevent lying, punish no fault which is first confessed and repented of.
9. Never allow a sinful act to go unpunished.
10. Never punish a child twice for a single offense.
11. Comment and reward good behavior.
12. Any attempt to please, even if poorly performed, should be commended.
13. Preserve property rights, even in smallest matters.
14. Strictly observe all promises.
15. Require no daughter to work before she can read well.
16. Teach children to fear the rod.
[--http://www.familyofdestiny.com/article_16rules.htm]
We would do well as parents today to follow most if not all of these in our own families.
Hannah and Susannah are two saintly Moms for all time and eternity. Mothers such as these fulfill Proverbs 31:28-31:
Her children rise up and call her happy;
her husband too, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the city gates.
Hannah and Susannah’s godly example helped mold the lives of their sons whom God empowered to bring Revival in Israel some thousand years before the birth of our Lord and in eighteenth century England and America. May we as Christian Mothers and Fathers follow in their steps today.
William Ross Wallace was a great American poet from Lexington, Kentucky, around the time of the Civil War. His most remembered poem is “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World”:
Blessings on the hand of women!
Angels guard its strength and grace,
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
Rainbows ever gently curled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy’s the tender fountain,
Power may with beauty flow,
Mother’s first to guide the streamlets,
From them souls unresting grow--
Grow on for the good or evil,
Sunshine streamed or evil hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Woman, how divine your mission
Here upon our natal sod!
Keep, oh, keep the young heart open
Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
Are from mother-love impearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Blessings on the hand of women!
Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
With the worship in the sky--
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world.
Hannah and Susannah rocked the cradle in the power of the Holy Spirit, and their sons were world changers for the Kingdom of Heaven. May God raise up many Hannahs and Susannahs in our Churches of today.
