Lent To The Lord

“And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.” (1 Samuel 1:26-28). Hannah understood sacrifice in a way that few of us do. She had prayed for a son and promised that if she was blessed with a son, she would give him to the Lord. More specifically, she lent him to the Lord. God has promised us that anything we give up in sacrifice to Him will be restored to us ten times over. In other words, we are not relinquishing ownership over the things that we give in sacrifice but are merely lending them to the Lord. Even such intangible things like our time, talents, and energies that we consecrate to the Lord pay back enormous dividends because when we entrust the Lord to take possession of everything that we have, He is able to manage our portfolio in a much more competent and effective way than we ever could. Rather than trying to hide our things on earth where moth and rust can corrupt and thieves can break in and steal, does it not make sense to loan our treasures to the Lord so that they can be laid up in heaven, safe from any corrupting influences and, more importantly, subject to generous interest rates? Maybe if we are struggling to give something up that we know we need to hand over to the Lord, recognizing the transaction as merely a loan can help take some of the sting out of it. I know that there are many examples in all of our lives where we faithfully lent something to the Lord and we have already seen such loans pay out enormous dividends. Let us be wise with all that the Lord has blessed us with and lend it back to the Lord as quickly and as completely as we are able.