Hello Grace Family!
I pray that everyone has had a wonderful week. Can you believe it is getting close to Thanksgiving? We are in the season of turkey and all the trimmings! It is a time where we tend to think about gratitude, and we all have something to give our thanks. So, what are those things for you? For me, I have five wonderful grandchildren who are just delightful. I love each of them very much and can’t imagine my life without them. Any more than I can imagine my life without my own children.
The story I will be preaching on this Sunday is the story of Hannah. A woman who year after year, was denied the one thing she wanted more than anything, a child. And year after year, her husband’s second wife continued to have children and was relentless in her provoking Hannah. Teasing her unmercifully about her inability to give Elkanah a son. I have to be honest here, I really feel for Hannah, and I really don’t like Peninnah the second wife. I know, not a very Christian sentiment. In this scriptural passage we are faced with a culture where a woman’s worth was based on being able to have a son. So, for Hannah, not being able to have a child gave her the feeling of being worth “less” even though Elkanah loved her very much. To him it didn’t matter if she had a child, he deeply loved her.
I wonder, however, how many times do we hear or see someone being put down for something they have no control over? How many times do we see or hear someone saying unkind things about another human being? How many times does bullying cause deep scars in the lives of people who have no control over how their life has turned out. The harder question is: How many times have we stepped in to stop the unkind and unnecessary comments?
For whatever reason, her desire was being denied her in those long years until finally, she went to the Temple to petition God in God’s house. She was so deep in prayer that the priest Eli thought she was drunk. He even accuses her of being drunk! Hannah teaches us that we can always go to God with our desires. We can always ask God for anything. Hannah also shows us that sometimes those answers can be a long time coming. And sometimes the answer is no. For Hannah, God remembered, and she got pregnant and gave birth to Samuel who would grow up to be a great prophet for the nation of Israel.
Join me as we walk through Hannah’s story and learn what she teaches us. Join me as we worship God who remembers.
Peace,
Pastor Beth