Title: When You Have a Troubled Heart
Contents
Everyone has at least one deficiency. No one has everything perfect. This is also the case with Hannah and Peninnah in the text. Peninnah had children, but she did not love her husband. On the other hand, Hannah loved her husband, but had no children. Aren't our worries in life like this? There are times when we think, 'Why don't I have this?' ‘If I had only this, I would be able to live… ’ while saying that.
1. Everyone has a ‘but’.
God's word is clear. All humans lack at least one thing. Hannah loved Peninnah twice as much as anyone else (verse 5). However, the Bible turns the situation around with ‘however’ when it describes Hannah. It is written that God forbade pregnancy. It was also the reason Peninnah was tormenting Hannah.
Everyone wants to have all the conditions for happiness. But just as Hannah has a “but,” we also have a “but.” There is more than one pain, there is a problem, there is a wound. But you have to remember. These pains, problems, and wounds were never given to us to perish. Because God has a purpose.
God inflicts pain of a size that I can bear. It is God who prepares the way of escape at the time of temptation.
2. Pain and suffering become the process of coming to God.
Hannah had no children. It was Hannah's suffering and bitterness. So Hannah prays to God. Use grievance as an opportunity for prayer. Suffering became prayer. ‘Hannah was troubled and prayed to the Lord and wept… ’ (Verse 10) What should we do when our hearts are troubled and weary? Did Hannah get upset and tease her husband Elkanah? Did you take vengeance on Peninnah? I pray to God.
Here is the reason for one lack in life. Those pains, wounds, and suffering become a way to get closer to God.
Hannah wept because of her heartache, but Elkanah comforts her. Am I not better than ten sons? But Elkanah's comfort could not be a remedy for Hannah's sorrow and anguish. No matter how much my husband loved Hannah, it could not solve the problem. For Hannah, it was a pain that no one could solve.
3. Only God can solve it.
Why is Hannah weeping? Hannah's greatest pain right now was not simply the absence of a son. It's not just Peninnah's bullying. Because he wanted to find true hope. Now, Hannah had a feeling that God had not cared for her, did not think about her, and had forgotten her. So I weep. There was an unbearable spiritual emptiness. He had a fear of being abandoned by God. So Hannah goes up to the temple. Come to God and pray earnestly. He believed that only God could solve it.
Hannah's prayer should be our prayer. Complaints should be the subject of prayer. Tears should become a wish for God. Lack must be the process of meeting God.