Verse of the Day: Desperation
ByOK. So, it’s more than a verse. But you need to read the context of v.15. So, here’s the passage.
1 Samuel 1:1-18
1 There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuphs in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim.2 Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.
3 Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas.4 On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children.5 And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portions because the Lord had given her no children.6 So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children.7 Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle.s Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.
8 “Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?”
Hannah’s Prayer for a Son
9 Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle.s10 Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord .11 And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord , his hair will never be cut.s”
12 As she was praying to the Lord , Eli watched her.13 Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.14 “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”
15 “Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord .16 Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”
17 “In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”
18 “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.
Thoughts?
Put ‘em in the comments.
What do I want that literally breaks my heart and reduces me to tears? Is there anything that crashes into my soul with such force? What do I cry for? What does God cry for that I should?
i tend to pray with reservation. i will tip toe around asking God for what I want but very quickly add "But God, I know You know what is best." kinda thing. while this is true and i MUST relinquish to His will and know that He has the BEST plan, I still need to be honest with God. I do need to pour my heart out to Him.
Hannah was desperate, and she told God so. she didn't hide behind "christianese" or saying what you "should" say.
i feel that my heart can get to that place AFTER i'm honest with God. otherwise that burning is there. if i am honest and really pour out my heart to God i can more genuinely get to the place where i can really sacrifice my will to God's.
I am not too shy about praying. I pray for what I need and feel is reasonable to ask for in the situation I am in. I do ask Him to do His will and to show me His will in a way I will understand it. It is really difficult to not have your own will in situations and I have learned the hard way that having my own will only makes things really bad. I constantly have to remind myself it is His will *not* my will and if I do it *my* way then I am just going to make myself and the situation miserable. So hard to do though.
What breaks God down to tears? I think one of the things that breaks the Lord down and it certainly breaks me down is the state of families in the world. They are heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking to see families run on the agenda of the parents and the keeping up with the Joneses and what is happening to families due to the economy. More and more families are forced into 2 incomes just to keep their heads above water. No more family vacations, cut backs on family time due to both parents trying to work as much as they can to keep the family afloat. Even before the economy bottomed out the state of families was in peril. So many absent fathers. So many single mothers. So many homosexual and lesbian couples being allowed to adopt and tearing apart the traditional family and marriage values. It is so heartbreaking to see these children suffer when Jesus is right there for the parents to turn to. People say we as Christians have to get the message out there and witness extra hard. While I agree with that, I also tend to think that people know Jesus is there. There are plenty of churches that is for sure. There are plenty of opportunities to talk about Jesus in many different ways ranging from the subtle to the overt. So it isn't like the message isn't out there. Every program I see on TLC or Discovery Channel where a homosexual couple is about to adopt they mention the "hard way to go" Christians give them and how we want to take away their rights to be a family. I belong to a Facebook page that is for traditional marriage.
I guess the only way to dry the tears of our Lord Jesus is to be an example of what is right. And Jesus is right.
It is convicting, but I am thankful that so much of my life has not been reduced to "desperation". Maybe it is the self-absorbed American Christian thing, or how God built me personally. I can remember times of desperation, not so long ago even, but most of them are many times trials as a result of my own making. Grace and mercy are great things in that He salvages my most botched up actions. Maybe I should rethink the concept of being "reduced to desperation" and treat it like those times are "elevated to the point of desperation" where God can truly work in completely acknowledging our inadequacy. Maybe that is it, that God wants us to live in constant desperation that we might dwell in His sufficiency always. It is a interesting concept like floating on your back in the water….you must give into the desire to wiggle and fight from the sinking feeling and just relax and breathe in and breathe out to stay afloat. We have to find comfort and faith in Him to stay afloat or our struggling will just end up getting water in our nose and sink.
I like that – "Elevated to the point of desperation"