Counting the Cost Part 2

Last week I talked about the movie "Money Ball" and counting the cost.  I kind of want to add to that post this week.  A few weeks ago I read the beginning of 1 Samuel and I read the story of Hannah.  Now I've read it before and have always appreciated it, but something in this reading just struck me differently.  Hannah was married to Elkanah who had another wife named Peninnah.  From the text we see that Peninnah has many children, but Hannah is barren.  In that culture, it is a huge disgrace to be unable to have children and Hannah was often the target of ridicule from Peninnah.  She was so heartbroken over this that it says "...(she) wept and would not eat."  There was nothing she desired more than to have a son.  Hannah is so distressed at one point that Eli, the high priest, thinks she is drunk.  She responds to him saying, "I am a woman troubled in spirit.... I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.  Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation."  Of course Eli realizes he has put his foot in his mouth and blesses her and encourages her that God will grant the petition.

The fascinating and startling thing here is that Hannah, in her prayer, told God that if He gave her a son, she would give him back to the Lord to be used in the Lord's service.  Isn't this incredible.  Here is a woman who has endured ridicule and condemnation for not having a child.  She has been in a deep state of depression over this one thing and she tells God now that if she is blessed with it she will give it back to God.  This is real sacrifice.  It isn't just the scraps of the table being sacrificed to God here, it is the very thing that she desires most.

Now you may say that God is going to provide her with sons and daughters later for her sacrifice.  This may be true however, from her standpoint, there is no guarantee for that.  Even Elkanah seems a little skeptical that God will give her another son afterwards.  She tells him that she is going to wean the boy and then take him up to the temple and he responds with, "Do what seems best to you."  Hannah doesn't know if God will give her any other sons, but to have Samuel and to be able to offer him up to the Lord is enough for her.  The cost to follow God ended up being the very thing she desired most.  Not only did she count the cost, but she was joyful in offering it as shown by the praise filled prayer she prays after giving Samuel to Eli.

So what do we do with this?  There is a song that I really like called "I will follow" by Chris Tomlin.  The chorus of the song says:

Where you go I'll go

Where you stay I'll stay

When you move I'll move

I will follow you

Who you love I'll love

How you serve, I'll serve

If this life I lose, I will follow you

I will follow you

I think Chris Tomlin hits in on the nail here.  Whatever God does, whatever he asks us to do, we should follow, even if it costs us everything.  Being that full of hope and faith is what our hearts should be.  Too often I notice in myself that if the cost is more than I am comfortable with I back away.  I follow God right up until it becomes inconvenient for myself.  I want a faith and hope that can say, "If this life I lose, I will follow you."  After counting the cost, I want to be able to pay it joyfully.  

I think many of us are in the same boat.  If we take an honest look at our faith we say that we follow God, but not to this degree.  Yet at the very same time, we watch movies like "Money Ball" and something in us stirs saying that's the kind of faith I want.  Something tugs at us when we see someone sacrifice everything.  When Frodo and Sam, in "The Lord of the Rings," believe that they won't be returning home they continue on faithfully and the audience watches in admiration.  Movies like this demonstrate our society's desire to be courageous and lay it all on the line for something greater than ourselves.  Our hearts desire it, but our flesh is weak.  May we learn to count the cost and offer it jubilantly.