November 17, 2024
Today’s story is a story of one woman’s longing. The woman is named Hannah. We will see her pray out of her longing and celebrate God who provides. It is also a story of a priest who misunderstands her…and her response to the misunderstanding. Perhaps it is her action that satisfies God’s longing…that we not chastise but rather draw out the faith in one another.
1 Samuel 1:4-20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition:
4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion[a] because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord.[b] Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,[c] and no razor shall touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went her way and ate and drank with her husband,and her countenance was sad no longer.
Longing is a strong and long held desire for something that seems unattainable.
What better place to bring our longings, our long held heart felt desires, than to God?
For the word in the New Testament is that All Things are Possible for God.
When I read about Hannah, I read into the scripture more than a woman who longs for a baby. As you read further in the scripture, you come to see that Hannah wants a male baby so she can give him into the service of God. When I read the scripture I see a woman who wants to give birth to something that makes a difference in the world.
Haven’t you had that longing to make a difference in the world?
My hope is that I’m not done giving birth…that I will be called to a community where I can give birth that which brings people into life with God, life that opens possibilities, life that brings forth more kindness and more justice for all.
Of this I’m sure…
I cannot birth something that is of God without the help of God.
For to think I can do it on my own is to seek to manipulate the world to my purpose rather than being aligned with God’s purpose. When we operate without God we are more likely to create something akin to Frankenstein than an olive tree.
As God answers Hannah’s longing so too does God answer ours.
What is it you long for?
It didn’t matter to Hannah that she was treated better than all the rest. She didn’t care that she was favored. Hannah was barren.
It is in the barren place that Hannah turns to God.
Then something rotten happens.
The priest, Eli, sees this woman in the temple praying with her lips moving without sound and assumes she is drunk. Makes me wonder did people enter into temple and shout their prayers? Imagine that!
Eli’s opinion doesn’t deter Hannah, not even for one moment.
For she has connected with God.
When you connect with God…
You don’t need to get your praise from the world.
Hannah doesn’t attack Eli for being an old fool. She doesn’t put him into a category of the uninformed or not “woke.” She simply explains that she is praying for God to answer the greatest yearning of her heart.
When Eli hears this…Eli adds his prayers to hers.
Hannah goes joyfully back to her husband with whom, that night, she conceives a son.
Elizabeth Woodson, who is a Christian speaker, wrote an article titled “Finding Hope in a Season of Longing.” …I love the simplicity of her 3 point prescription…
She counsels…
- Tell God of your longing. Hannah surely illustrates this…she went to the temple to tell God of the longing of her heart.
2. Ask God. In your time of prayer, ask for what it is you need to satisfy this longing. For Hannah it was a baby…to give birth…what is for you?
3. Trust God. When Hannah leaves the temple, her affect had changed. She’s given it
to God and is able to be present with her husband, to love him, and in that love to conceive.
Notice what Hannah didn’t do…
She didn’t go home and complaining about the old man in the temple who mistook her as being drunk.
She didn’t blame God for forgetting her.
She didn’t let in the shame of believing it is because you are less than others that you have been left barren.
She trusted God would answer her longing and that trust, that connection with God, changed her…made it so she didn’t yell at Eli, allowed her to be vulnerable—get naked with her husband…enabled her to give birth that which is of God.
Let’s talk about the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihrUIPfvTh8&list=PLKUA473MWUv0L9Hri_fPH3P-FaJuIBEmP
I chose it because it illustrated the power of prayer to keep us aligned and together and connected with God and one another.
Notice where it stops…it doesn’t go back and fix whatever happened to that little girl. Even though the longing is for her to be alive, that longing cannot be fulfilled in this life.
When the couple face that their little girl was gone…
Anger descended…
Shame shook them
Blame barricaded them against one another.
They wanted their little girl back, yes….but that is longing that cannot be satisfied on this side of heaven….
CS Lewis writes of the Christian Way: “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex.”
When something horrific happens, what longings do you think God plants into the human heart…
A longing for forgiveness
A longing to be held and seen and known
A longing to be loved despite it all…
That moment when the coffee cup doesn’t get thrown to the ground and instead the family comes together … that’s the power of God.
What about the little girl? CS Lewis continues:
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”
We can trust that the family’s earthly “reunion” suggests, arouses in the imagination, the reunion they will one day experience on the other side of this life…with their little girl.
Three Action Steps Today.re
- When a longing arises, go to your favorite way of praying, a journal, time in a sanctuary, walking in a field… tell God, ask God, trust God.
- Resist the urge to “other” another to judge someone because they look or act differently from your expectations.
- Choose to act in ways that “arouse” your vision of heaven.