A longing mom stayed in the Temple until God spoke.
Softly she prayed. No one heard or looked.
Save one priest named Eli.
This priest of God saw her cry.
A hurting father himself, he wondered what her tears were for?
Only a dream that her newborn would show the world there's so much more!
Hannah poured out her very soul before God. I Samuel 1:15. In the very next verse, Eli says: Go in peace, Hannah. She did. She really did. And a baby was born. And Hannah exulted in God---not in a baby. Glad surrender, all those years waiting. And when her dreams came true, she turned the baby over to the LORD, and she moved and lived in peace.I Sam 3:18 Samuel told Eli every whit and hid nothing from him. It wasn't good news. Eli had failed to intervene, intercede, interrupt his corrupt children, when he could. Eli's response: "It is the LORD: Let Him do what seems Good to Him." A repentant response.
Oh God! May we repent deeply from all our wrongdoing. May we respond in the midst of our sin & struggles like Samuel and his mom, who spoke from their hearts.
PRAYER FROM PSALMS
Psalm 94:19 ~ Hannah knew what to do with her "anxious thoughts." She believed that you would come through for her, God. May we know this Resurrection Weekend that You are the Same God this very day for each of us and all our "anxious thoughts." May we be found praying. May we be found faithful.
OVERVIEW: I Samuel 1-3
A Godly Woman
ReplyDeleteFound in the temple in the hour of her distress,
Hannah cries and is heard not only by Eli but by God.
Hannah sings "Because I rejoice in Your salvation!"
She dedicates her answered prayer, Samuel, to the Lord's service.
It wasn't a selfish cry Hannah had, but a suffering reminder that she was not blessed with children, thanks to her husband's other wife. That would be a whole other commentary to speak to those family dynamics!
Blessed Hannah, a woman who took her pain and laid it at the altar, and walked away glad. Faith comes by spending time at His Feet. Faith comes by a simple word of comfort, a simple word of validation that she wasn't a worthless drunk, but desperately oppressed. Faith comes by walking away, believing. Faith comes to humble seekers.
Let us search our hearts this Holy Thursday and enter in the suffering. . . and contemplate a profound question which I read on Twitter a moment ago:
What is He had not?
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