Missing Pieces

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Friday, November 16, 2018

If you have ever had one of those nagging feelings, a sense that something is missing, this won’t be hard to understand.  My missing piece is a sense that I gave up something sacred to do something else … also sacred.  And it caused a void, a vacancy in me which cannot be undone.  But, like all the holes in me, Scripture speaks faith to my places of emptiness.

Hannah also had an emptiness; she was barren, unable to have children.  Three-thousand years ago that was more than a lifestyle choice, or something to let a fertility expert handle.  In Hannah’s world this was a flashing neon sign to all who knew her that God considered her unworthy and had made her a second-class woman.  It said all her outward beauty was for nothing; she would live in pain and shame all her days.

But Hannah was filled with more than pain; there was also faith.  She prayed with an open life before the Lord, promising to dedicate a first son God would give her back to God’s service.  Acknowledging God’s sovereignty was part of her thanksgiving prayer when God blessed Hannah with newborn Samuel:

For all the earth is the Lord’s, and he has set the world in order.  1 Samuel 2:8(NLT)

Hannah followed through and brought a newly weaned toddler to the temple to serve the Lord.  And this is where the hole, the missing piece in my heart, tracks with Samuel;

But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord.  He wore a linen garment like that of a priest.  Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice.  Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.”  And the Lord blessed Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters.   Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.  1 Samuel 2:18-21(NLT)

Every time I read about Samuel’s boyhood, spent in the temple, away from parents and his brothers and sisters, I get wistful about those years after leaving home.  Far from family, moving around in ministry, place after place, can grind that longing into a nostalgia that burns a hole inside.  Relationships at the end of a phone connection can only go so far.  Holding a hand, staring into your blue-eyed Mom’s face, a hug from your Dad, or brother; distance extinguishes such treasures.

A bit of confession is due here; there have been times, and not just a few, that I have felt like Peter:

Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you.  What will we get?”  Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  Matthew 19:27-28(NT)

The approval of God, and the crown of serving Him throughout eternity aside, the nagging wonder of all those nomadic, itinerant years, missing family birthdays, connection for my children with their cousins and grandparents – well, it wears on you and, if family means anything to you, you must take that before the throne. 

And when I did, Jesus spoke these words into my heart, through the Apostle Paul:

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.  Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him.  Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:6-7(NLT)

I still miss my family, and we do what we can to stay in touch, grow in grace and love towards each other.  I value and treasure whatever time we get to spend together with the all-too-few visits on special occasions.  But God’s Word rings true; my heart overflows with thankfulness in this season; my Redeemer is making all things new, even as we speak.

For You Today

In a week this year’s Thanksgiving Day will be history.  But the season of Thanksgiving is eternally yours if you’re allowing your life’s roots to grow deep into Christ Jesus and building your life on him; thankfulness overflows every day!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

In Due Time

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Thurssday, January 19, 2017

On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children.  And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children.  So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children.  Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle.  Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.  “Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask.  “Why aren’t you eating?  Why be downhearted just because you have no children?  You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?”  Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray.  Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle.  Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.  And she made this vow:  “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you.  He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”  As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her.  Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking.  “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded.  “Throw away your wine!”  “Oh no, sir!” she replied.  “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger.  But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord.  Don’t think I am a wicked woman!  For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”  “In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace!  May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”  “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed.  Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.  The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more.  Then they returned home to Ramah.  When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea, and in due time she gave birth to a son.  She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”  1 Samuel 1:4-20^(NLT)

Year after year Hannah had to endure humiliation, because her culture looked down on women who did not have children.  Hannah’s husband tried to console her, but little could ease the pain of this woman whose womb ached to hold a child of her own.

As a result of Hannah’s great anguish she was driven to prayer.  It would have been tempting to give up even on prayer, because Hannah not only had to endure the mocking of other women, but her intense praying was interpreted as a substance abuse by the priest, Eli.  It’s bad enough to have the women rubbing salt in her wound of barrenness, now even the preacher thought she came to church drunk.

If you’re like me you want to hear the sound of heavy equipment getting ready to move the mountain you have just asked God to take away.  Hannah must have felt some of that, but she would not give up on God’s way, and, in due time the fruit of her prayer was named Samuel.

Now perseverance in prayer is certainly one of the main lessons of Hannah’s story – that it’s important to hang-in with God in your prayers.  But we must not forget how the ball gets backhanded into our court in the postscript to God’s answering Hannah’s prayer:

She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”  1 Samuel 1:20^(NLT)

The name Samuel means name of God or God has heard[ii].  Either way, for all his days, and the last four thousand years, up to this present time, Hannah’s testimony of God’s answer to her prayer rings in our ears every time this incredibly important prophet’s name is spoken.

For You Today

We are quick to pray when there’s an especially-urgent pressing circumstance in our lives.  Are we just as diligent to name the answer as God’s answer?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By flowcomm (Woman praying inside Jamia Masjid), via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] Behind the Name