Tag: Eli

Posted in Bible study, Enduring Hope, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Quiet Time

Contentment in God or …?

Posted on by

based on the LGG Study, Enduring Hope / w4d3

Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10 / SOAP – 1:15-16

But Hannah replied, “Not so, my lord! I am a woman under a great deal of stress. I haven’t drunk wine or beer. But I have poured out my soul before the Lord. 16 Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman. It’s just that, to this point, I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.”

1 Samuel 1:15-16

If you’ve known me long, heard me teach, or read many of my blogs you have likely heard or read my story of being childless for the first eight years of marriage. It is tempting to apologize for the repetitiveness, but I don’t, for it is the testimony of God’s work in my life. It was a time when He revealed my lack of contentment in Him. My desire for a child had become so much greater than my desire for God that my trust and hope in Him were barely visible at times. I was hurt when I saw or heard about others who were pregnant; and I was disappointed, even angry, with God every month when I realized, yet again, that I wasn’t pregnant.

In the beginning, I would cry out to God in prayer – much like Hannah, but as the years went on I would “act out”, so to speak. I would chase after other things that I believed could satisfy – for somewhere in my mind I had traded hope in God for hope in my circumstances. My hope had been shaken and shaken hard. I was a good “church girl”, so on Sundays and Wednesdays glimpses of faith and hope would shine light into the wilderness I was trapped in. I was miserable, my marriage was on shaky ground, my friends were having babies so my friendships were threatened – some were even ruined, and I found myself just going through the motions of life … until I found myself spilling my anguish out to my mother one afternoon as we sat on the front porch of her home. While we had a good relationship it was not one where we talked about personal issues like this, so trust me when I say it was a God thing, His perfect timing. I whined about not being pregnant and told her how miserable I was in every area of life and she said, something to the effect of – maybe you just need to learn to be content – which was followed up with some Scripture her Pastor had recently shared in a message. Her response perturbed me at first but I listened to her talk, dried my tears and eventually went home – and poured myself out to God like never before. In the days that followed God began working on my heart and mind and changing me from the inside-out. And, much like with Rachel and Leah in our previous post and Hannah from today, God ‘remembered’ me and within a very short time I learned I was pregnant.

… for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

1 Corinthians 4:11-13

In today’s story, Hannah poured herself out before the LORD. She was so caught up in her prayer, she didn’t realize that Eli, the priest, was watching her; nor did Eli realize that Hannah was praying in her mind to God – instead he thought she was drunk and encouraged her to put away her wine. Of course, Hannah replies that she isn’t drunk but rather under a great deal of stress and pouring out her “soul before the LORD.” She doesn’t elaborate on the source of stress but does request that Eli not consider her a wicked woman but rather to understand that she was pouring herself out before the LORD. She wasn’t speaking from drunkenness but rather from deep pain and anguish.

Scripture says that Eli told Hannah to, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request that you have asked of him.” (1 Samuel 1:17) Following her encounter with Eli and his encouraging blessing, Hannah “went her way and got something to eat. Her face no longer looked sad.” She had been refreshed by the prayer of Eli and the next day her mind and heart were occupied with God in worship before returning home. Scripture tells us that soon after this Hannah learned she was pregnant.

The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea, 20 and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”

1 Samuel 1:19b-20

Response to God’s Word

Father, thank You for allowing us to pour our “souls” out to You. We are a people who need You and You have made it clear from Old Testament to New that we can bring You our fears, our desires like ‘childlessness”, our finances, our concerns, worries, and needs. Help us to trust in You even when we cannot see Your hand. You are a good and faithful father. – Amen!

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time, She, Volume 2, The Importance of Prayer

Hannah’s Story

Posted on by

God Remembers

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-20;

10 She was very upset as she prayed to the LORD, and she was weeping uncontrollably. 19 They got up early the next morning. Then they worshiped the Lord and returned to their home at Ramathaim. Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord called her to mind. 20 Then Hannah became pregnant.

1 Samuel 1:19-20

This is one of my most beloved passages of Scripture. Both because of how God’s power and tender-love are displayed; but also because of the way He used it to give me hope in my own days of infertility.

Hannah’s story, found in 1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2, is best read in full, for the truest beauty can only be seen when you know it is about more than Hannah wanting a child. It’s about relationships, it’s about God’s power withheld and poured out. We see the unkindness and even hatefulness of others, and we witness the deep love and encouragement of a husband. It’s about the faithful act of worship, the emotions, prayers, faith, and hope of one whose heart is poured out before God; it’s about the watchful eyes and encouragement of a priest, the power of prayer, the timing of God, and the waiting – while still pressing on in life; and it’s about God remembering the words of His daughter and pouring out His blessing on her, and likewise, it’s about a daughter remembering and responding with a grateful heart and faithful obedience. It’s about then, and it’s about now – for ultimately, it is about us remembering and knowing, as Hannah did, just who our God is and what He can do when we humble ourselves before Him in faith – believing He is able.

Hannah was Elkanah’s wife. She was one of two wives. Scripture says that the first was Hannah and the second was Peninnah. Elkanah cared for Peninnah and their children, but Scripture makes it clear that he took special care of Hannah and loved her, even though the Lord had not enabled her to have children. Peninnah, however, did not treat Hannah with the same kindness as Elkanah. Instead, we are told that she was her rival, “an adversary who provoked her to the point of exasperation, just to irritate her, since the lORD had not enabled her to have children. This is how it would go year after year. As often as she went up to the LORD’S house, Peninnah would offend her in that way.

Some things we can learn

“As for Hannah, she was very distressed. She prayed to the Lord and was, in fact, weeping. She made a vow saying, “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you would truly look on the suffering of your servant, and would keep me in mind and not neglect your servant, and give your servant a male child, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” 1 Samuel 1:10-11

When Hannah made her vow to God, she did so with great respect and purpose. She did so in faith and reciprocated with commitment. Listen as she prays specifically, boldly, and with the commitment of a child she had not yet received. Look back to the earlier portion of the story where we read that she prayed often, and watch as she responds to the priest, humble but unashamed, and how she does not seek to hide her anguish from God. Do not miss how prayer and Eli’s encouragement brought about a visible and inward change.

Eli replied, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request that you have asked of him.” She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. Her face no longer looked sad. 19 They got up early the next morning. Then they worshiped the Lord and returned to their home at Ramathaim. Elkanah was intimate with his wife, Hannah, and the Lord called her to mind. 20 Then Hannah became pregnant…1 Samuel 1:17-20

It is important to see how Hannah went on with life, and when God sent the child she had asked Him for, she was neither forgetful nor oblivious, nor so caught up in life that she could not respond accordingly concerning the vow she had made to the Lord.

Scripture says that “When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basket of flour and some wine. 25 After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. 26 “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. 27 I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. 28 Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there.

The Rest of the Story

If you continue reading through the book of Samuel, you will see that Hannah’s story doesn’t end with her leaving Samuel, her only child, at the Temple. As we read in the next chapter of 1 Samuel (chapter two),

“… But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. 19 Each year, his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. 20 Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.”

1 Samuel 2:18-21

We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for Hannah to keep her commitment to leave this child she had longed for and prayed for behind, in the House of the Lord. Yet Scripture says that is exactly what she did, and in all of it, she was blessed by the Lord with other children to take the place of the one she had given to the Lord, just as Eli had prayed. She gave birth to two more sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, “the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:21), and He would go on to become the spiritual leader of Israel. As the prophet and judge of the nation, Samuel would anoint the nation’s first two kings, Saul and David. (emphasis adapted from gotquestions.org)