Content Hannah

Each of us has our cup of suffering - some cups are overflowing and it seems it can't handle another drop.  In other seasons of life, the cup is barely full. Sometimes God grants us wonderful, beautiful seasons when we aren't suffering anything huge - and for those gifts we should be so thankful.  But, for the Christ-follower, that's not a promised reality. 

...In this world you will have tribulation...

John 16:33

My heart aches lately for those around me who are suffering so severely.  Daily, I pray as Christ taught..."May Your Kingdom Come..." and I add "very quickly" to the end of that prayer.  Today I was encouraged by Hannah's prayer in I Samuel 1 as taught in Lydia Brownback's Trust devotional.  

Hannah so desired a child, but she was barren.  She wept and would not eat (I Samuel 1:8), and this went on for years (1:7).   However, Hannah's situation drastically changed when she poured her heart out to the LORD:

Finally Hannah came to her wits' end, and she poured out her heart to God in prayer.  She was honest with God, telling him of her absolute anguish and her all-consuming desire to have a child.  After she prayed in this way her sorrow ceased.  The Bible tells us that she "went her way and ate' (v. 18); in other words, she got up from her prayer and went on with her life.  How was she able to do so?  Her desire had not diminished, nor had she received the thing for which she'd prayed so earnestly, nor was she given any guarantee that God would give her the thing she most wanted.  Yet Hannah was content.

Hannah found contentment the same way we can in the midst of our most powerful yet unfulfilled desires - she gave all her longing, sorrow, and crushed hopes into the hands of God who loved her, the one who was able to help.  But when Hannah prayed, she did more than ask God for a baby; she gave him her heart.  Once she did her pain ceased, because in giving God her heart, she was set free to let him decide the outcome.  That's what always happens when we really turn over to God our hearts and the things that hold them.

From Hannah we learn that getting the thing we so badly want isn't really what we need to be happy.  Hannah was happy long before God answered her prayer.  What we need is to know God - his character and kind intentions toward us - and we can really only know him if we give ourselves unreservedly to him,  (p. 41, emphasis mine).

What's making you discontent today?  Maybe people have trespassed and cut down trees on your property.  Maybe your renters aren't paying their rent so you can't pay your bills.  Maybe your husband passed away, leaving you with more mortgages than you can possibly pay.  Maybe your four year old was just diagnosed with leukemia.  Maybe your beloved pet just died.  Maybe you're living in a place you don't like.  Maybe...

whatever your cup of suffering holds, pour out your heart to the LORD - tell him everything, cry out to him in your anguish - then walk away, peaceful and confident knowing that your trust lies in the only One who can ease our suffering and give us the perseverance to continue on.

Guess what?  Hannah conceived and bore a son (v. 20).  God may not answer our prayers the same way he answered Hannah's, but getting out of our misery is guaranteed when we pour out our hearts to Him.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21