Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Ambition
- Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive. When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus. But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.
Ambition is a great thing when properly focused. But when it is improperly focused ambition
becomes a devastating communal force.
Take most sporting events as an example.
Rather than being about the beauty of the game, victory-seeking fans
often become rabid with their booing, hissing, and yelling of insults. Or look at many commercials that have no
difficulty slandering their competition instead of genuinely demonstrating
their own product. Ambition can lead to
moving society forward, but it can also lead to the corruption of society
movement as we seek to crush opposition instead of seek progress.
I think this is what I love about the witness of Hannah in this
chapter. She has Elkannah’s approval –
although I would say that if Hannah has a fault it is that she doesn’t let that
approval be as meaningful in her life as it should be. Hannah knows that her needs are cared
for. She isn’t going to starve anytime
soon. And through all of this Hannah isn’t
living with an ambition of needing to be on the top, either!
Penniniah comes to her and continues to put down Hannah for her
barrenness. From a human perspective,
Hannah could easily fall into the sin of ambition and want children to prove to
Penniniah that she can be better than Penniniah. From a human perspective, it would be so easy
for Hannah to want to compete with Penniniah for all the wrong reasons.
But that isn’t what we see in Hannah. Hannah doesn’t want to
compete. She just wants the
experience. She doesn’t need to have the
best son or even the most sons. She just
wants a child that she can devote to the Lord.
Now that’s a healthy ambition!
She wants what God would want for her.
Hannah’s heart is turned to the Lord.
What a great example in faith!
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