Hannah – goodchristianfiction

When I was young, my Sunday school teacher explained that the Bible was such a great book, in part because it was too complicated for the most intelligent person to completely figure out and yet the simplest mind could understand its core messages.

By spending regular time in the Word, you discover that what you read can often be applied to whatever you are currently experiencing. Make Bible reading a part of your regular routine. For example, I read my Bible every day as I walk on my treadmill.

During the last week, my reading gave me several verses to help me cope with stress. They reminded me of God’s power and His intent to take care of me, no matter what bad happens to me in this world of evil.

When the psalmist says, “Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you crushed be happy again” (Psalm 51:8), I find someone who feels like I sometimes feel–beat down by the world’s cares but wanting to feel weightless again.

This feeling of reaching for the light is further emphasized in Psalm 51: “Give me back the joy of your salvation. Keep me strong by giving me a willing spirit (12).” I am reminded that I am supposed to have joy in this world because of my salvation through Christ, but that I need to have a can-do attitude that is willing to reach for peace when I feel most tumultuous. If I choose to find joy in my salvation, God will help me rise above the challenges of day-to-day living.

Do you remember the story of Samuel? His mother, Hannah, was barren, ridiculed by her husband’s first wife because Hannah could not have children. In a culture where children were the measuring stick of success, Hannah was an abysmal failure. In the psalmist’s terms, her bones had indeed been crushed.

Hannah could have wallowed in despair. Instead, she poured her sorrow out before the One who could help her. She promised God to dedicate her child to His service if she ever had one. Shortly after Hannah’s heartfelt plea, God indeed blessed her with a son, Samuel, who later became a renowned leader of the Jewish people.

In thankfulness for her blessing, Hannah sings a song of praise, in which she says:

There is no one holy like the LORD. There is no God but you; there is no Rock like our God. (1 Samuel 2:2)

God had indeed served as Hannah’s rock. Her faith in Him helped her survive years of being barren and blessed her finally with children.

As a person with anxiety, I too must strive to make God my Rock, especially on my bad anxiety days.

How does God as your Rock look? To me, He is the boulder held fast in the midst of a raging river. The mist of roiling water might soak me eventually, but I will not drown. No matter how high the water rises, my Rock will always rise above it.

And rising higher still than the rapid water is the clear, blue sky that stands for the joy of my salvation, for the ultimate gift of a loving God that makes this life livable.

If you don’t already, make Bible reading one of your daily habits. Build upon the Rock of your salvation with the Word of God. You will always find something of use in your daily life there.

Stop acting so proud and haughty! Hannah prays when she brings the son, Samuel, she had asked God for to dedicate to the temple. Don’t speak with such arrogance! For the LORD is a God who knows what you have done; he will judge your actions. (1 Samuel 2: 3 NLT)

Hannah might have been speaking to her husband’s more prolific wife, Peninnah, who had taunted Hannah for many years because Hannah was barren and Peninnah had several children. But as the rest of 1 Samuel shows, Hannah could as easily be speaking a warning to the very priest she turns her son Samuel over to, Eli.

Now, Eli was a highly respected priest, but his sons were wicked. They mocked God by eating offerings meant to be sacrificed to Him. They seduced the young women who helped at the entrance to the Tabernacle. The people were so horrified, they complained to Eli, who reminded his sons that their sins were against God and should cease, but to no avail.

As Samuel grew to love God and find favor with Him, Eli and his sons grew fat on the takings from a priestly duty they had turned into a mockery. Finally, God confronts Eli with the pronouncement that his family’s actions have actually cost them the heritage of being the branch of the Levi tribe that will serve as High Priest to God.

But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me, the LORD tells Eli. The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before their time. None will reach old age. You will watch with envy as I pour out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family will ever live out their days. Those who survive will live in sadness and grief, and their children will die a violent death. And to prove that what I have said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to die on the same day! (1 Samuel 2: 30-34 NLT)

To underscore how far from God the people were at this time, in fulfilling His promise to Eli, God also allowed the Ark of the Covenant to be taken from the Israelites by the Philistines! Imagine the Israelites being so far removed from God that they would actually go into battle with the Ark without first consulting God about it.

The story of God’s wrath on Eli and Israel’s loss of the Ark of the Covenant is one of those tales from the Bible that a modern world would sooner ignore than remember. For, how often do we fail to honor God in a given day? Do we give more to ourselves than we do to others? Do we use His name in vain or stand mute as others speak untruths about Him? In our consumer-driven society, do we spend more time caring about our smartphones and flat-screen televisions than we spend about doing what is right according to God?

Luckily for all of us, God came to earth in the form of Christ and sacrificed Himself, drinking the cup of wrath we deserve in order to save us. All we have to do is accept that fact, and the grace of God allows us to be filled with His Holy Spirit. We then begin, a new creation, on a journey that can bring light into a dark world.

But as Eli’s story reminds us, the only ONE who is mighty is GOD. The moment we forget to face life’s challenges and daily schedules without first submitting to the will and power of the LORD is the moment we risk learning humility the hard way, by falling.