Is God to blame for the times life goes wrong? – 1st Samuel 4:1b-7:17, Part 1

Did you have a spiritual crisis and turn to God in grief, “Why Lord?” when a container ship hit the Key Bridge in Baltimore, and six people lost their lives? You were likely saddened and even appalled. My guess is that the disaster was like the many, many other disasters that happen so frequently; they don’t affect us, so we lose interest. But when our body is the one being affected, when our loved one is lost, it is quite natural for us to wonder if and how God might be involved.

This week on the blog we are going to study a longer passage, 1st Samuel chapters 4 through 7, and in today’s post, we’re going to meet some people who have a very bad experience, and they blame God for the disaster.

Let’s review what we’ve learned so far in 1st Samuel chapters 1 through 3. We are in the period of Israel’s history where Judges ruled the nation. We met Samuel, who grew up serving the Lord at the tabernacle, under the leadership of the judge-priest, Eli. We learned that the Lord is with Samuel, and that all Israel is recognizing that Samuel is a prophet of the Lord.

So far our story has focused nearly entirely on Samuel’s immediate family and the happenings at God’s tabernacle in Shiloh. We’ve learned that while the Lord is with Samuel, there are two other priests at the tabernacle, Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s wicked sons, who do not respect the Lord.

Now in 1st Samuel chapter 4, midway through verse 1, the writer of the story widens his angle of focus. These first few verses of chapter 4 are critical for understanding the story that unfolds in chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7. Here are 1st Samuel chapter 4, verses 1 through 3,

“Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, ‘Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.’”

At first glance, this seems like a fairly straightforward recounting of Israel’s loss in battle, and Israel’s solution to win the next battle. But there is so much more in these few verses.

There is an interesting question in verse 3, and it should sound familiar. After the battle, in which Israel lost 4000 soldiers, the elders ask, “Why did the Lord bring defeat?” I say that is a familiar question because it is very natural to question God when things are not going in our favor. “Why, Lord?” we ask when we hear about a sickness, a death, a broken relationship, an accident, a job loss. We are very quick to turn to the Lord as if he did this to us. As if we have no influence on our lives. As if the world is not a broken, fallen world where things go wrong all the time.

If we were to turn to God and ask, “Why Lord?” every time that something goes wrong in the world, that questioning of God is all that we would have time for. There is so much that goes wrong with the world. So we don’t ask “Why Lord?” every time something goes wrong. Typically, we only turn to God when we feel that the difficult, painful situation affects us or people close to us.

It is a good thing to turn to God. He can handle it. In fact, he invites us to bring our whole selves to him, the good, the bad the ugly. All of it. The Psalms of Lament are examples of that. People hurting, crying out to God, complaining to God. See more about lament here and how to lament here.

But notice here in 1 Samuel 4, verse 3, the people don’t do any of that. No lament. No indication that they even go to God. No prayer. No inquiry. Nothing of what would have been typical in their day, going to the prophet and asking the prophet to inquire of God for them.

Instead it seems that they quickly blame God for the defeat, and then they take matters into their own hands. Notice the difference between going to God and blaming God. Going to God is looking for help, comfort and answers, based on a humble heart posture. Blame is a very different heart posture, isn’t it? Blame assumes the person doing the blaming has everything figured out, and it is another person’s fault.

How about you? Are you quick to go to God? Or are you quick to blame?

But could it be said that the Israelites are faithfully trying to involve God? Maybe what I’ve written above is an unfair caricature of their behavior? We’ll keep investigating in the next post.

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Can we learn anything from Indiana Jones about the power of the Ark of the Covenant? – 1st Samuel 4:1b-7:17, Preview

I suspect most of you have seen one or more of the Indiana Jones films starring Harrison Ford.  In the films, Ford plays Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, a professor of archaeology who has numerous adventures wearing his famous fedora and wielding a whip.  In the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, “Indy” tries to stop the Nazis, circa 1936, from digging up the Ark of the Covenant and potentially using its power against the Allies.  

Raiders of the Lost Ark is an extremely fun movie, but is it based in any truth?  We know the Nazis were desperate to gain power and advantage.  We also know they had an interest in archaeology.  But what about the Ark itself?  Assuming it could be recovered, did the small chest have power?  In the movie it sure does, but does the Bible say anything about the Ark of the Covenant emanating power?

As we continue our series through 1st and 2nd Samuel, next week we’re studying 1st Samuel 4:1b through 7:17.  It’s a fascinating passage about the Ark of Covenant, when it was captured and what happened. This wild episode definitely includes a display of supernatural power.  Just like the film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, things don’t go well for people who try to harness the Ark for their own purposes.  I encourage you to check it out ahead of time.

What we’ll talk about on the blog next week is how this dramatic passage might relate to us disciples of Jesus living in 2024.  We’ll find it teaches an important lesson for all of us, a lesson about the power of God and being the people of God, that we can apply to our lives today.

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How God speaks – 1st Samuel 2:12-4:1a, Part 5

How do we listen to God?  There are many ways.

We listen through studying God’s word, the Scriptures.   God’s word is living and active, and he speaks through the Bible.  The Bible is inspired by God, which means that God’s Spirit was at work in the lives of the authors, so that when we read and study it, we believe that God can and does uniquely speak through it. 

I’ll give you an example from my life this past week.  I was teaching the Ascension of Jesus in my Bible college class covering the Life of Christ.  Here in Lancaster County, we see the Amish celebrate Ascension Day, and we scratch our heads a bit.  Why do they make a big deal of the event where Jesus finally says goodbye to his disciples, and disappears through the clouds?  I personally have long felt that the Ascension is an odd occurrence, kind of a sad one, as goodbyes always are, and I’d rather get on to the exciting events of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit arrives.  Most evangelical churches do not give much emphasis on Ascension. 

When I created the syllabus for my Life of Christ class I devoted a whole class period to the Ascension.  Now I actually had to teach the Ascension.  I thought to myself, “I made a mistake.  I should have spent a lot more time on Jesus’ ministry.  I would have been totally fine just mentioning the Ascension briefly.”

But something happened as I opened the Scriptures and began studying.  I studied the Ascension like I never did before.  I realized that the living and active, God-breathed, inspired Scriptures actually have quite a lot to say about the Ascension, and it is very impactful.  God spoke to me through his Word, in a new way this past week.

God also speaks, the Scriptures tell us, in other ways.  As we learned this week in our study through 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, starting here, Samuel heard the voice of God speaking to him.  In fact, we read the astounding line that God came and stood there next to Samuel!  God doesn’t have a body, so we should interpret that verse as referring to God’s presence with Samuel.  Because God doesn’t have a body, he doesn’t have vocal chords.  But that doesn’t hold God back from speaking.  Sometimes God does speak so we can hear him.  Not just to Samuel but plenty of times in Scripture.  And God still speaks today.  My sense is that God speaking in an audible voice is rare.  But perhaps part of why it is so rare is that we either don’t believe it, or we’re too busy, and thus we aren’t listening.

There are more ways God speaks.  In the passage, God spoke through people.  First through the unnamed prophet, who had a message from God to Eli.  Then God spoke through Samuel who was becoming a prophet, to Eli, and eventually to the whole nation of Israel. 

In the New Testament, there are Christian prophets.  In Ephesians 4:11-12, we read that God gave some to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers, all of whom serve in a variety of ways to build up the church.  God speaks through them. 

Prophets, in particular, are people who serve as mouthpieces for God by pointing out sinfulness.  This is exactly how the unnamed prophet and Samuel are speaking in response to Hophni and Phineas’ sin, as we read in the story this past week.  Still today, we need prophets in the church to point out when we are going astray.  We need people in our lives who speak prophetically to us.  I am not referring to predicting the future.  I am talking about if-then prophecy. If you keep on sinning, then you will face consequences, but if you repent, turn back to God’s ways, you will be in line with God’s heart, which is the best way to live.

There are still other ways God speaks.  Through nature.  “The heavens declare the glory of God.”  Through his Spirit.  Through group discussions.  Through our experiences, especially the difficult ones. 

God still speaks, if we are teachable and put ourselves in a place of listening.  This is why contemplative prayer has become so meaningful to me.  It emphasizes listening.  Slowing down, turning off the noise, and maybe turning on white noise to block out distracting noise, and listening.  Asking God to speak.  I have so appreciated the Lectio 365 devotional app and how it guides the listener. 

But all of these practices can become empty rituals, if they are not based on an inner foundation of humility, teachability, seeking God’s character, deepening your desire, and actions to line up with the Fruit of the Spirit.  Make space, both physically and emotionally to know God and be loved by God.

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How humility is the foundational posture to hear from God – 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, Part 4

As we saw in the previous post, God speaks directly to Samuel. But why? God does not speak directly to the priests Hophni or Phineas. God does not speak to their father, the priest Eli. In today’s post, we learn how Samuel put himself in a position to hear directly from God.

But first, we need to hear what God says to Samuel. In the previous post, God simply called out to Samuel. Samuel misunderstood, thinking it was Eli calling him, as it was the middle of the night. Eventually Eli realizes that God must be speaking to Samuel, so Eli tells Samuel that it is God. Read what God says to Samuel, in 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 11 through chapter 4, verse 1. Then come back to this post.

Can you imagine being Samuel having tell his boss and mentor, Eli, that God just told him that God is about to judge Eli and Eli’s family?  I wonder if Samuel couldn’t sleep after that.  But the next morning Eli requires Samuel to tell him what God said, the good, the bad, the ugly.  It is so difficult when we have to be the bearer of bad news, isn’t it? 

But Samuel is steadfast. Not only does he tell Eli the bad news from God, Samuel also continues to faithfully serve the Lord. As the years go by, Samuel becomes a great prophet in all the land.  Why?  Because he placed himself in a position to hear from God, by serving God. 

That is the first foundational step to hearing from God.  We place ourselves in a position to hear from God when our hearts are teachable, humble, and we are striving to serve to him.  Humility doesn’t mean we need to be perfect.  Perfection is impossible. God doesn’t expect perfection from us.  Sometimes God chooses to speak clearly to people who are opposed to him.

In our story, that’s what God is doing with Hophni and Phineas.  God is speaking to them through the words of the unnamed prophet, whose message then is conveyed to them through their father.  But because their hearts are not humble, not teachable, they don’t care to hear from God.  Though they are religious leaders, Hophni and Phineas are not seeking God inwardly or outwardly.  They are self-deceived, addicted to gaining wealth and pleasure, not interested in the heart of God.

Samuel, however, has both a humble, teachable heart, and he is actively listening.  When God calls, Samuel is ready. 

This story is a wonderful reminder to us to be nurturing humble, teachable hearts, eager to hear from God, and then actively listening.

But how do we listen? We’ll talk about that in the next post.

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Putting yourself in a position to hear from God – 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, Part 3

There was evil in the tabernacle. All the people knew it. God was also taking notice.  Read 1 Samuel 2:27-36 here, and then return to the post.

Those verses are brutal, right? God sends an unnamed prophet to give a dark, dark message for Eli. He is saying, “Eli, what your sons are doing is detestable, and they will die.  But you, Eli, could have done more about this, so your family will no longer be priests.  There will be another one I will raise up.”  In other words, Eli, in not taking action to stop his sons’ wickedness, was just as culpable in God’s view. 

This is the principle “Silence is complicity.”  When we know that evil and injustice are occurring around us, but we don’t speak up or take any action, we are also guilty.  We are passive partners with the wrong. 

So God will take action where Eli does not.  Read how God takes action here: 1st Samuel chapter 3, verses 1-10.

1 Samuel 3:1-10 shows us that Samuel placed himself in a position to hear God and act on what he heard.  This passage is about God speaking to Samuel that evening.  But we should not read this passage as separate from what we already heard twice in chapter 2, verses 12-26, here and here.

Samuel, all through his childhood, and likely now into his teenage years, had established himself in a very particular way.  The years have passed, we know, from chapter 2 verses 21 and 26.  Enough time has gone by for his mom to have five more children.  Enough time for him to grow up with the Lord.  Enough time for grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with men.  As the years of his childhood and teens went by, Samuel behaved in keeping with the heart and way of the Lord.   He put himself in a position to hear the Lord.  

So it is not as if God speaking to Samuel has nothing to do with Samuel.  God speaking to Samuel has everything to do with Samuel’s choices and lifestyle up to that point.  Hannah, his mom, set him on a trajectory of serving the Lord, and Samuel kept at it.  This is all the more amazing given that the two main priests in close proximity to him were so corrupt.  Samuel, as a young impressionable child and teen, kept himself from being corrupted by them.  That reality is vital as we think about God speaking so clearly to Samuel. 

God isn’t speaking directly to Hophni and Phineas.  God isn’t even speaking directly to Eli.  God will speak to Eli through a prophet, to tell Eli how he messed up. And God will speak to Hophni and Phineas through Eli.  But God speaks directly to Samuel.

In the next post, we’ll hear what God says to Samuel, and then in the final post this week, we’ll learn how you and I, like Samuel, can place ourselves in a position to hear God.

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The primary characteristic of a disciple of Jesus – 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, Part 2

What do you think is the primary characteristic of a disciple of Jesus? Think about it a moment. There are numerous potential answers. You might even think of biblical passages that might provide some answers. I think the story that we’ve been following this week on the blog, a story found in 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, refers to the primary characteristic of disciples of Jesus.

As we learned in the previous post, the child Samuel is serving in the tabernacle while the wicked priests Hophni and Phineas are sinning.  How is this affecting Samuel?  Are the wicked priests shielding him from their bad behavior?  Does Samuel notice? Is Samuel learning bad habits?

Here’s what we read next in 1 Samuel 2, verses 18-21:

“But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, ‘May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.’ Then they would go home. And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.”

This section is a heartwarming conclusion to last week’s story (starting with this post).  But the most important phrase for our post today is at the end of verse 21: “Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.”  This phrase could be translated that Samuel grew “with the Lord” or “in the Lord.”  Clearly it is a very good thing.

What we learn about Samuel is a very different description from how the writer describes Eli’s sons (as we saw in the previous post).  That’s what this passage is doing, providing a contrast.  The contrast is simple.  While Eli’s sons do not regard the Lord, Samuel is growing up with the Lord. Their allegiances couldn’t be more opposite. 

What we have learned, then, is that the situation is serious: there is evil in the tabernacle of God.  Wicked men are leading the people.  Eli steps in to address the sin in his sons’ lives.  Look at verse 22.

“Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. So he said to them, ‘Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?’ His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death. And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.”

It’s more of the same.  Eli confronts his sons, but his words fall on deaf ears.  Hophni and Phineas have zero teachability.  No humility.  They do not have a frame of mind in which they will listen to wisdom.  This reminds me of what I believe is the primary characteristic of a disciple of Jesus. 

Humility. 

Humility means we invite people to speak the truth in love to us on a consistent basis.  A readiness to learn, to grow, to receive feedback, and to change based on what we hear.  Humility says, “This is what I believe, but I could wrong.”  Humility always leaves room open for growth, for a change of perspective.  Humility means that we have an open heart and mind to the Spirit of God. 

Hophni and Phineas were closed.  They only wanted it their way.  They were living it up.  The seemed to view their old dad as a geezer, out of touch, and stuck in the old school.  Hophni and Phineas had embraced a lifestyle of religious service that was liberated from the strictures of the Mosaic Law.  Enrich themselves, enjoy pleasure.  Rip people off. 

Certainly they could rationalize it in their minds too.  Priests were not given land, so Hophni and Phineas could easily think, “This is our portion and our share.  We can eat the food we want and sleep with who we want.”

But what they were doing was a perversion of power and of God’s law.  It is possible that what Hophni and Phineas had set up was a system of shrine prostitutes which were present in other religions in the area, but expressly prohibited in God’s law. 

The passage concludes with another clear contrast.  Samuel is growing in stature and favor with the Lord and people.  Somehow or another Samuel is shielded from Eli’s sons wickedness.  Samuel pursues the Lord.  People across the land are taking notice.  God was also taking notice.  In the next post, we’ll learn what God decides to do about Eli’s sons’.

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Are our lives so noisy we cannot hear the voice of God? – 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1a, Part 1

Microsoft has the Guinness World Record for the quietest room.  It is located at their headquarters in Redmond, Washington.  It is so quiet that people are said to only be able to stand a few hours in it.  They first hear their heart beating.  Eventually they can hear their blood flowing and bones moving. Eerie.

Microsoft’s quiet room proves that there is no such thing as absolute quiet.  When we get to a place of total quiet, our own bodies make noise to shatter the quiet. 

It raises a question, though.  Are our lives so noisy that we cannot hear the voice of God?  We wake up to a noisy alarm.  Often the first thing we do is look at our phone.  Maybe we turn on the news.  Perhaps we listen to music while in the shower.  Next we get in the car and turn on a podcast.  In the office we say “Okay Google, play Spotify.”  All day long Spotify is playing our favorites.  Back in the car, we continue the podcast.  At home we watch the evening news, then our TV shows.  Or maybe we’re scrolling through social media feeds, watching short videos, or playing video games and sometimes we’ve got multiple screens going at the same time. 

Even if your life is only partially filled with that noise, I ask again, are our lives so noisy that we cannot hear the voice of God?  What do we do if we want to hear God’s voice?  We learn how to hear God’s voice this week on the blog from Samuel.

Last week we met Elkanah and his wife, Hannah…and his other wife, Penninah.  Elkanah loved Hannah, but she was childless.  Penninah, however, had many children.  Hannah cried out to God, and said that if God would give her a child, she would devote him to serve the Lord. God blessed her with a child, Samuel, and after he was weaned, he went to serve at the tabernacle with Eli, the priest. 

Eli was an old man, well past retirement.  He had two sons, Hophni and Phineas, who were already serving as priests.  They were the active priests, while Eli was in retirement.  But Hophni and Phineas had a unique approach to the priesthood, to say the least.  Let’s start reading in 1 Samuel 2, verse 12,

“Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, ‘Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.’  If the person said to him, ‘Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,’ the servant would answer, ‘No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.’ This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.”

Hophni and Phineas remind me of the pastors with multi-million dollar personal jets and $800 shoes.  How’d they get all that money?  Often by constantly asking their TV audiences to donate money.  Ripping people off with religion.  Enriching themselves. 

The words here in 1st Samuel chapter 2 are serious, “They have no regard for the Lord.  They treat the Lord’s offering with contempt.”  Priests are people who are supposed to lead people in worshiping the Lord, and yet they are using worship for selfish gain.

Those are serious sentences, accusations.  We wonder how their father Eli can allow this.  I also wonder if Hannah knows this is going on.  Think about Hannah who dedicated her son, Samuel, to minister at the temple.  Hannah seems like a faithful woman who wouldn’t want her little son being exposed to such selfish, deceitful men. 

It can be incredibly confusing when the leaders, especially spiritual and religious leaders, are the ones behaving badly.  We might to ourselves, “It can’t possibly be that bad, can it?  The people who are claiming to have seen the leaders’ bad behavior are probably exaggerating or misunderstanding.” 

But no, people can behave that badly.  Leaders, and non-leaders alike.  Leaders need accountability, as much as anyone else.  We need people who speak the truth in love to us, especially when, like Hophni and Phineas, we are not actively seeking to hear from God.

But there Samuel is, serving in the temple where wicked Hophni and Phineas are sinning.  So how is this affecting Samuel?  Are the wicked priests shielding him from their bad behavior?  Does Samuel notice? In the next post we find out.

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True or False: When you’ve heard from God, it wasn’t actually God – 1st Samuel 2:12-4:1, Preview

A couple years ago I taught a theology course for Lancaster Bible College, and one of the books students were required to read is Good News for Anxious Christians: 10 Practical Things You Don’t Have to Do by Philip Cary.  As I read the book in preparation for the class, at times I was nodding in agreement, and at other times I was shaking my head in disbelief.  

Two chapters that I sometimes struggled with were the first one, “Why You Don’t Have to Hear God’s Voice in Your Heart (Or, How God Really Speaks Today)” and the second, “Why You Don’t Have to Believe Your Intuitions Are the Holy Spirit (Or, How the Spirit Shapes Our Hearts)”.  

Cary’s point is that when we strive to hear God, anything we hear, whether voices in our minds, impressions in our hearts, or a feeling of peace, is not God.  Cary suggests, instead, that though we might think that communication is from God, it is our minds and emotions.  Cary believes that many Christians have made far too much of “hearing God.”  He advises Christians to focus on studying God’s word as the way to hear from God.  

I agree that we should study God’s word to hear from God. But doesn’t God’s word include examples and teaching about hearing from God in other ways?  This coming week on the blog, we will study 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1, the second week of posts in our series on the Life of David.  This is a passage that describes multiple ways God speaks, some of which are extrabiblical, meaning that this passage describes God speaking, but not through the written word.  Read 1 Samuel 2:12-4:1 for yourself ahead of time, and count the many ways God speaks.

Also, ask yourself, “How do I hear God speak in my life?”  Do you hear God speak?  If not, why not?  I look forward to working through this powerful episode in Samuel’s life, as it will relate to our lives in a meaningful way.  See you back here on Monday.

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A prayer that reveals God’s heart for the hurting – 1 Samuel 1:1-2:11, Part 5

When we are going through difficulties in life, we wonder if God sees or cares. When our difficulties are prolonged and our prayers seem unanswered, we can really doubt God. This week on the blog, we’ve been studying 1st Samuel 1:1-2:11, the story of a woman, Hannah, who was battling infertility, and it seemed to her that God didn’t care. Yet he did see her! If you haven’t read those previous posts, you can do starting here.

In this final post, we see the faithful heart of Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter 2, verses 1-10.  You can read it here on Bible Gateway. Then come back to this post for a few final reflections on Hannah’s story.

Now that you’ve read Hannah’s prayer, there were a couple lines in the prayer that made me wonder if Hannah prayed this out loud in front of her rival Peninnah (for an earlier post about their rivalry, click here). Look again at verse 3: “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.”

Or the second half of verse 5: “She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.”

I wonder if Hannah, when she was praying, looked up at Peninnah when she said those words, as if Hannah is saying, “Are you listening to this, Peninnah?  You should be!”

That said, the main theme of Hannah’s prayer is God’s might, holiness, and provision, particularly for those on the margins.  This is very personal for Hannah.  She was one of those people on the margins.  A barren woman.  Thankfully she had a husband who loved her, but he also had another wife who made life quite complicated for Hannah. Hannah knows a thing or two about being downtrodden. 

Hannah’s prayer talks about God’s heart for those who are hurting.  God is for those who have enemies.  God is for those who are being bullied.  God is for those who stumble.  God is for the hungry, the barren, the poor, the needy, the people who live for God.  It is not our strength, but God’s strength that cares for the marginalized. 

Think about what Hannah’s prayer teaches us about God’s heart for people in our world.  God has a heart for the people who are struggling.  People like those in our community who are hurting, bullied, hungry, broken, struggling.  Maybe that describes you. Know that God is for you.  Lament to him, cry out to him. 

Know that God sees you.  Even if the circumstance doesn’t change like we want it to change.  He sees you.  He is with you.  Keep talking with him. Pour out your soul to him, just like Hannah.

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How to pray when God doesn’t give us what we want – 1st Samuel 1:1-2:11, Part 4

Last year my son and daughter-in-law excitedly gave us the news that they were pregnant with their second child! We rejoiced with them. A few months later, routine testing revealed the baby likely had a significant heart defect. Through the fall, I prayed for my granddaughter to be born and have no heart issues.  I prayed for a miracle just like Hannah (see yesterday’s post). 

In our story of Hannah’s desperate struggle to have children in 1st Samuel 1, she has just poured out her soul to the Lord. The priest, Eli, has blessed her, but will that matter? Here’s the rest of the story, as described in 1st Samuel 1, verse 19 to the end of the chapter:

“Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.’ When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, ‘After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.’ ‘Do what seems best to you,’ her husband Elkanah told her. ‘Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.’ So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, ‘Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.’ And he worshiped the Lord there.”

And if we jump ahead to chapter 2, verse 11, we read a brief conclusion: “Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.” 

The birth of Samuel is really a story about his mom.  It’s story of her prolonged pain, her desperate prayer and God’s provision.  Not every situation works out like that.  God is under no obligation to give us what we want, no matter how much we pour out our soul to him. 

After many people prayed for my granddaughter for months, she was born with more heart issues than originally thought.  While I was disappointed, I don’t feel negative toward God.  We live in a broken world, and thus there will be sickness, accident, pain, and death.  We also live in a world with amazing medical advancements, and the doctors have been able to address all of my granddaughter’s needs.

Through my granddaughter’s three month life, we have see many little miracles. We have seen God at work.  We have experienced the gift of so many people being the hands and feet of Jesus to our son, daughter-in-law and their family.  Our family has seen God’s goodness even in this incredibly difficult situation.  We continue to cry out to him regularly, and we continue to be grateful for his care, which is often shown through others caring for us and family.  And all of that care is happening while Lily’s medical situation is ongoing.

Hannah’s prayer reminds me of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”   It is totally okay, Jesus shows us, to pray for what we want, for rescue from hardship, for provision, for healing, but we are teachable and humble saying, “Lord, here is what I want, but ultimately if what I want is not what you want, they I also want what you want.” 

Hannah also reminds us of the influence of godly parents (and grandparents too).  Parents and grandparents, no matter what age your kids are, you can have a wonderful impact on your kids by loving them deeply and encouraging them to pursue a life lived according the way of Jesus.  We’re going to see more about that next week, as the story moves into Samuel’s childhood.

We have one more post in the story of Hannah’s fertility journey. Tomorrow she gives us a glimpse into her personal thoughts and feelings.

Photo by Olivia Snow on Unsplash