Encouragement

It has been a while since I last blogged.  I just haven't had anything important to write about.  I was contemplating about deleting this whole blog.  Blogging seems to give a false sense that people are actually listening to other people's diary of daily things.   Seems weird to me and I don't really like it.

However, I do have something valuable to write about, and if one person reads and learns, fabulous, and if no one even looks at it, also fabulous, because I will have practiced organizing my thoughts for tonight's bible study. 

I am writing about my namesake, Hannah of 1 Samuel.  I find her story to be one of the most encouraging in my life and in the Word of God period.  Such hope! 

I am teaching tonight on the first chapter of 1 Samuel. 

If you haven't read it in a while, or ever at all, click here to read it online.  You won't regret it!
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20samuel%201&version=ESV

Quick summary:  Hannah is a woman who cannot have children.  She cries out to the Lord year after year.  She is provoked, year after year, by her rival and she is described as "deeply distressed."  She can't even eat due to her troubled spirit.  One year she vows to give her son to the Lord if he would grant her one.  He hears her and he gives her a son, Samuel, whom she dedicates to the Lord's service.  God then gives her many other sons and daughters. 

This story is not just amazing because it ends happily for Hannah.  There is a much, much bigger plan being carried out.  And that, my friend, is why I love it!!

In order to see the big picture we have to "zoom out the lens" as my mom used to tell me to do when I was upset.  If we shift our focus out from Hannah, we see God using her to lead the nation of Israel.  Her son, Samuel, whom she gave to be raised in the house of the Lord in service, became a prophet.  God spoke directly and audibly to Samuel from an early age and used him as His mouthpiece to Israel.  Samuel led the nation from the perioud of judges to the period of kings.  Led by the Lord, Samuel annointed the first King of Israel, Saul.  And most importantly, God led Samuel to annoint Israel's second king, David.

King David wrote tons of psalms and was a great leader of the nation of Israel.  That's not why he's the most important, though.  JESUS came from the line of David!  The Savior of the world was in the blood line of this King.  And God chose David through Samuel, who was given to the Lord's service by his mother, Hannah.

Are you smiling ear to ear right now?  I AM!  How incredible.  Takes my breath away. 

See, Hannah went through years of despair, weeping, and agony.  She longed for children.  What she didn't know was that God had to get her to a point where she would vow her first born to Him.  God needed Samuel to lead a nation and for His even greater plan to save the world!

I am sure Hannah didn't know any of this until she made it to Heaven.  That fact makes me so excited because I pray all the time for God to use me, and I may be completely unaware of ways He is doing just that! 

One other beautiful aspect of this passage is that after Hannah gave her only son to the Lord (talk about HARD!) the Lord blessed her with many sons and daughters.  Can you believe it?  God cares about our individual personal desires and dreams.  He didn't just use Hannah to get Samuel, He took care of her and blessed her with her own form of happiness.

Amazing.

I hope this encourages you if you are in a time of suffering.  God cares.  He may be working out a much bigger plan for his Kingdom.  Sometimes we have to "zoom out the lens" to look past ourselves and believe Romans 8:28.  He works all things together for the good of those who love Him.  Hannah's story is one of the best true life examples of just that.

Be blessed.