The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Samuel 1:3-8,
"Year after year this man [Elkanah, the father of Samuel] went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, 'Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?'"
Here is a man who had two wives, and from this account he certainly loved the one, Hannah, who was barren. In the context of this culture, this was a disgrace for her and it effected her deeply. Given her rival's, (Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah's) abuse, it was certainly a big issue in Elkanah's home.
However, Elkanah was a man who worshiped the Lord faithfully. Since he he loved Hannah deeply and was certainly concerned for her, why did the Lord withhold a child from this couple, especially given both Elkanah's and Hannah's devotion to the Lord?
From the account we are provided, they both worshiped the Lord in heartfelt ways. We are told specifically that the Lord was responsible for Hannah's barrenness - why was the Lord not blessing this marriage with children?
Today it is often peddled about that if we devote ourselves to the Lord, if we engage in all the spiritual disciplines a follower of Jesus Christ should engage in, if we have faith, if we send in our faith-pledge to the TV evangelist, God will bless us in all the ways we want. Bills all paid off, kids all healthy, a nice big three bedroom ranch with two luxury cars in the garage... you get the point. Yet this account of Hannah and Elkanah doesn't seem to square at all with a lot of the things people say today, and I certainly don't read anything in the new covenant that explains the disparity.
There is a lot that is passed around, from the pulpit, in home "Bible studies", and among believers that really doesn't square at all with the Scriptures. Hannah was not blessed with a child because the Lord was preparing her to give up the child he would eventually provide her to be reared at the place of worship by the priest, Eli. His name would be Samuel and he would become Israel's last judge, a great prophet and Israel's king-maker.
God will simply not be reduced by our assumptions about him and his ways. We really need to become acquainted with the Scriptures to insure we are sufficiently and authoritatively schooled in the things of God.
Before you let anyone tell you that you are not being blessed by God (in some way that we may define it for ourselves) because you are not devoted to God enough, or that there is probably some sin in your life (as the friends of Job accused him of), or you simply lack the faith, you may want to make sure God is not doing something you are not expecting in and through you. After all, it is clear Hannah had no idea the Lord was afoot in her life, and must have felt God was distant from her, when all along, he was doing something astonishing in and through her. Just not in a way she was expecting...
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"Year after year this man [Elkanah, the father of Samuel] went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, 'Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?'"
Here is a man who had two wives, and from this account he certainly loved the one, Hannah, who was barren. In the context of this culture, this was a disgrace for her and it effected her deeply. Given her rival's, (Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah's) abuse, it was certainly a big issue in Elkanah's home.
However, Elkanah was a man who worshiped the Lord faithfully. Since he he loved Hannah deeply and was certainly concerned for her, why did the Lord withhold a child from this couple, especially given both Elkanah's and Hannah's devotion to the Lord?
From the account we are provided, they both worshiped the Lord in heartfelt ways. We are told specifically that the Lord was responsible for Hannah's barrenness - why was the Lord not blessing this marriage with children?
Today it is often peddled about that if we devote ourselves to the Lord, if we engage in all the spiritual disciplines a follower of Jesus Christ should engage in, if we have faith, if we send in our faith-pledge to the TV evangelist, God will bless us in all the ways we want. Bills all paid off, kids all healthy, a nice big three bedroom ranch with two luxury cars in the garage... you get the point. Yet this account of Hannah and Elkanah doesn't seem to square at all with a lot of the things people say today, and I certainly don't read anything in the new covenant that explains the disparity.
There is a lot that is passed around, from the pulpit, in home "Bible studies", and among believers that really doesn't square at all with the Scriptures. Hannah was not blessed with a child because the Lord was preparing her to give up the child he would eventually provide her to be reared at the place of worship by the priest, Eli. His name would be Samuel and he would become Israel's last judge, a great prophet and Israel's king-maker.
God will simply not be reduced by our assumptions about him and his ways. We really need to become acquainted with the Scriptures to insure we are sufficiently and authoritatively schooled in the things of God.
Before you let anyone tell you that you are not being blessed by God (in some way that we may define it for ourselves) because you are not devoted to God enough, or that there is probably some sin in your life (as the friends of Job accused him of), or you simply lack the faith, you may want to make sure God is not doing something you are not expecting in and through you. After all, it is clear Hannah had no idea the Lord was afoot in her life, and must have felt God was distant from her, when all along, he was doing something astonishing in and through her. Just not in a way she was expecting...
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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