Then she pulled herself together, slipped away quietly, and entered the sanctuary.
1 Samuel 1:11 (Message Bible)
Hello Friend,
Hannah, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She was barren and had to suffer taunting from Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, who had many children. This doesn’t seem like a big deal to some of you, but for her it was a source of major pain. You might be thinking, there really isn’t anything in my life that I would call a crisis. I don’t think this message is for me. The point I want you to see is that if something is a big deal to you, even though other people might not think so, God understands. God wants us to trust Him and to look to Him in both the big and the small.
And that is what Hannah did; she trusted in God, and she trusted in Him first. Hannah’s faith in God was revealed through her crisis. Anyone can follow God when things are easy. There are a lot of people who follow Christ as long as it’s convenient. They generally obey His word, but their reason has more to do with morality than it does their faith. That’s why when things start going really bad, these people drop their faith and start taking matters into their own hands. They’ll threaten, harass, toil, and plot to make sure everything works out the way they want.
Pay attention next time something is going wrong and see where you turn first. If it isn’t God, then you need to pray like the disciples and ask God to increase your faith (Luke 17:5). Hannah had faith in God that He would hear and answer her prayer. She completely gave away the one thing she asked for before she even got it. For us, this kind of trust might look something like this prayer: “God, whatever you want and whatever you say, I’m going to do because I know that you always lead me to do what is best. Even if I don’t understand, and even if I don’t agree, I’m going to obey. I trust you.” Can you, in all honesty, pray this prayer?
Trusting God in all circumstances, Linda
1 Samuel 1:11 (Message Bible)
Hello Friend,
Hannah, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She was barren and had to suffer taunting from Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, who had many children. This doesn’t seem like a big deal to some of you, but for her it was a source of major pain. You might be thinking, there really isn’t anything in my life that I would call a crisis. I don’t think this message is for me. The point I want you to see is that if something is a big deal to you, even though other people might not think so, God understands. God wants us to trust Him and to look to Him in both the big and the small.
And that is what Hannah did; she trusted in God, and she trusted in Him first. Hannah’s faith in God was revealed through her crisis. Anyone can follow God when things are easy. There are a lot of people who follow Christ as long as it’s convenient. They generally obey His word, but their reason has more to do with morality than it does their faith. That’s why when things start going really bad, these people drop their faith and start taking matters into their own hands. They’ll threaten, harass, toil, and plot to make sure everything works out the way they want.
Pay attention next time something is going wrong and see where you turn first. If it isn’t God, then you need to pray like the disciples and ask God to increase your faith (Luke 17:5). Hannah had faith in God that He would hear and answer her prayer. She completely gave away the one thing she asked for before she even got it. For us, this kind of trust might look something like this prayer: “God, whatever you want and whatever you say, I’m going to do because I know that you always lead me to do what is best. Even if I don’t understand, and even if I don’t agree, I’m going to obey. I trust you.” Can you, in all honesty, pray this prayer?
Trusting God in all circumstances, Linda
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