Day 10: Hannah
Reading: 1 Samuel 1-2
We first meet Hannah in the opening chapter of the book of Samuel, in a truly desperate place. Ridiculed, provoked and misunderstood. Even the love and favour her husband shows, is no substitute for her barrenness.
In her bitterness and misery she cries out to God to simply “remember [her]”.
Sometimes at our lowest points we can simply feel like God has forgotten about us. It can sometimes be all too easy to look around and compare our lives with others believing that God’s presence and favour is elsewhere, resulting is stress, anxiety and insecurity.
Despite her misery, Hannah goes to God.
She is honest with God.
It’s so important to be honest with God, because when we are honest, we lay everything before the Master.
In this season where everything is different, where things are not normal, pressures seem to be increased, stresses and strains are heightened, we have a God who is big enough to handle our fear, our insecurities, our hurts, our doubts and our anguish.
He’s big enough!
I’m reminded of God’s promise to Paul about the sufficiency of His grace. That no matter what we go through, how low we feel, we have a God whose grace is sufficient for us. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)
Back to the story of Hannah, I love how Eli responds to Hannah’s prayer.
He simply says, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
The word ‘peace’ here is the Hebrew word ‘shalom’ which means a completeness in our physical, emotional, social, and spiritual state.
When we feel like we are at the end of ourselves, Jesus can be our peace; He is the Prince of Peace. As Hannah did, we can find our peace. There is hope in whatever season we walk through, whether we understand it or not. There is peace is the storm by pursuing the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 53:4–5
“Surely [Jesus] took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace (shalom) was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
My prayer for you in this season is that, despite the storm, you would encounter the Prince of Peace afresh.
Jonny Foster
Barnard Castle Campus Pastor