1 Samuel 1:4 - 20
The life of Samuel, starts with the sadness and humiliation of his mother Hannah. The story of Hannah points to the utter futility of us thinking that we can solve our problems on our own. Hannah's story of infertility is our story of lost dreams, abandoned hope and unrealised expectations. Just like Hannah, we can't get out of these holes on our own. I heard someone recently say that sometimes the horizons that we can see is just the rim of the rut that we are in. The most practical thing that I can say when we are in this situation is to call out to God. Come before him with your cries of lament, admit your angst and total inability to do anything about the situation you're in. Then wait to see the marvellous and unpredicatable way in which he will answer. The story of Hannah is a reminder of our Easter faith, God who brings life out of death, God who brings joy where there was sorrow, God who brings opportunities where there was hopelessness and despair.
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteThanks for an excellent blog and sermon last Sunday. Hannah's faithfulness is a lesson to us all. Something you ommitted in your blog (but, I think mentioned in your sermon) is that, although turning to God for the answers to whatever problems we face is the only real way, we also have to recognise that God will answer in His time and in His way. Sometimes this can be very hard to accept by us mere mortals whose prayer is often "Give me patience Lord, but make it quick!!"