Daily Reading: 1 Samuel 1
Scripture Focus: I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord… speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. (1 Samuel 1.15-16)
Devotional Thought: Being unable to bear children is a heavy burden on many in our day, too. I have prayed for many friends and parishioners who want to have children, but seem unable to. Their hearts are heavy and their souls long for children. Thankfully, I have seen God answer those prayers – some I didn’t even know about until later! At times the answer came through medical science, while at other times God just orchestrated the process. Either way, the announcement of the pregnancy was a joy-filled occasion.
Hannah was barren, a condition which was almost unbearable in that culture and time. While we have medical treatments for infertility, Hannah did not. Her only recourse was God, so the scripture says that she had been “pouring out [her] soul before the Lord, speaking out of [her] great anxiety and vexation.” So intense were her prayers, that she seemed like a drunken woman to Eli the high priest. But, verses 19 and 20 reveal that out of those intense longings and prayers, “the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the Lord.’”
What intense longing do you carry in your soul? Be encouraged, child of God! Others may misunderstand you and even impugn your motives, but God sees your heart and has not forgotten you! And, while it is perfectly legitimate to take steps humanly to solve your problems and to satisfy your soul, what is most needed is prayer! Do not give up. Keep pouring out your soul.
Prayer: Lord, you know the desires - the intense longings - of my heart. Hear my prayers as I lift them to you out of my great anxiety and vexation. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: Psalm 75.1-5
1 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
2 “At the set time that I appoint I will judge with equity. 3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah 4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn; 5 do not lift up your horn on high, or speak with haughty neck.’”
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