Sometimes the craziness people come up with, both scholar and layman, amazes me.  Yes, the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and must be followed to the letter, or why bother at all?  But God did spend over a millennium trying to communicate with us in our language, exactly the way we use language, so that we could understand exactly what that Word means and follow it.  And guess how we communicate?  We use idioms.  We use hyperboles.  We use all sorts of figurative language every day.  Yet still people think that every single word in the Bible is meant to be taken literally and ignore obvious figures to the point that entire convoluted false doctrines can come from it.
            Here is a simple example:  And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she had been a widow even unto fourscore and four years), who departed not from the temple, worshipping with fastings and supplications night and day (Luke 2:36-37).
            We could spend a lot of time on those two verses alone.  We could talk about the family Anna came from, and their obvious devotion to God, a devotion that sometime in the distant past caused them leave their property in the northern kingdom and travel south at probably great loss.  We could talk about the difficulty translating her age and marriage so that we really are not sure if she was 84 or whether it had been 84 years since she became a widow—not really as far-fetched as you might imagine if you do some research.  But let's just concentrate on the last couple of phrases:  who departed not from the temple, worshipping with fastings and supplications night and day. 
            Many would have her living at the Temple and doing nothing else in her life.  But look at the things she did "night and day."  I don't have to be a Greek scholar to know this:  if "night and day" means 24/7, she would not have lasted more than a few days because one of the things she did "night and day" was fast.  What applies to fasting applies to the rest.  She simply made a habit of fasting.  Not every single day all day long.  What does an exasperated mother mean when she says of her teenage son, "All he does is play video games?"  See?  We use the same sort of language all the time.  (See what I just did?)
            So this good woman made a habit of going to the Temple, of worshipping God with fasting and prayer.  We can do the same thing, except our temple is the body of Christ, the church.  Are you following Anna's example so well that someone would say of you, "She worships God all the time?"  That's what we should learn from Anna, if we learn nothing else at all.
 
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple (Ps 27:4).
 
Dene Ward

If you read through the histories of the early church, especially during the persecutions, you will see that everyone found the behavior of Christians totally inexplicable.  Despite pain and death, they never acted the way people expected them to act.  They did not denounce their Savior, and the ones who survived did not try to avenge their mistreatment.
            God’s people did not suddenly become pliant and merciful in the first century.  It began long before.  David is a prime example in his careful treatment of Saul, a mad king who was out to destroy him.  Maybe that is where the little maiden learned her first lessons about mercy.
            We do not know exactly when, how, or where, but a band of Syrian soldiers raided an Israelite town and took many people captive, among them a little girl.  Eventually she wound up in the home of Naaman, the captain of the very army who kidnapped her and possibly even killed members of her family, serving his wife.  I don’t know how old she was, but she was probably far older in mind and actions than children her age nowadays because of what she had been through.  She was old enough to remember her homeland and to know about the power of God and his prophet Elisha.
            Soon she discovered that her new master had leprosy, a disease so dreaded in her own country that the people who had it were sent away and quarantined.  What would you have thought?  “Good!  Serves him right.  Get him, God.”  I can easily see those thoughts going through my mind, especially if the last view I had of my home was painted with the blood of my family.  What was the last thing you wanted to “get even” with someone about?  Can it even hold a candle to what this girl must have experienced?
            But no, she tells her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy, 2 Kings 5:3.
            Excuse me?  This man is an enemy of God’s people, at that time a physical kingdom with physical enemies.  God’s standing orders often included wiping out those enemies.  Yet she wants to save this man, who could easily kill more of God’s children?  She was obviously too young to know what she was doing.
            But Elisha wasn’t.  And God certainly knew whom he was healing as Naaman dipped himself into the Jordan River.  This was no mistake caused by a naïve child.  The mercy she showed was exactly what God wanted of her.
            And so the unexpected result, mercy from a captive toward her captor, made for yet another unexpected result.  Naaman, the heathen army captain, said, Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel, v 15.
            Sometimes in our zeal to fight for God, we forget that He knows best.  When will we ever learn that with God, we should expect the unexpected?
 
You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?  And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more?  Do not even the Gentiles the same?  You therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, Matt 5:43-48.
 
Dene Ward

After two weeks of feeling absolutely horrible, I was beginning to recover.  I could sit up, I could read a book and understand the words, I was even a little hungry.  Then the phone rang, and I received the best medicine there is.  A sweet young man said, "I just wanted to see if you were feeling better, because you're da bomb, Grandma!" 
            I have never been called "da bomb."  Never in my life has anyone else considered me "da bomb."  So, coming from such an expert on the subject, I suddenly felt not a little better, but a whole lot better.  Grandchildren have a way of doing that to us, don't they?  In fact, I can think of only one other source of compliment that might feel any better.
            And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”  (Job 1:8).
            The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him” (Gen 18:17-19).
            God complimented both Job and Abraham yet, as nearly as I can tell from reading these passages, neither of them knew anything about it.  Wouldn't it be uplifting to know that God had complimented you to someone?  Wouldn't it make you try even harder to please him?  I am sure it would have done the same to both Abraham and Job.  So why didn't God make sure they knew about it?
            I have a theory about this.  It's not that hard to know if God will compliment you or not.  The Word of God, which we hold in our hands, tells us exactly the sorts of things that please him, and somehow, long before it was written, Job and Abraham knew those things as well.
            Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the LORD, but those of blameless ways are his delight (Prov 11:20).
            His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love (Ps 147:10-11).
            Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight," declares the LORD (Jer 9:23-24).
            Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God (Heb 13:16).
            I could multiply passages like these for pages and pages.  These are the things that "delight" God and "please" him.  If he were in a complimenting mood, the people who live this way would get a compliment on the same order as Job's and Abraham's.  Fear God, hope in him, trust him, truly know him by knowing his Word, live righteously and blamelessly, share with those less fortunate, and love everyone, even your enemies.  Do all those things, and anything else you can find in that Word, and God is giving you a compliment, whether you know it now or not.  Someday, you will hear it yourself.
            "Well done, good and faithful servant."
 
With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ​Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  (Mic 6:6-8).
 
Dene Ward

If you read through the histories of the early church, especially during the persecutions, you will see that everyone found the behavior of Christians totally inexplicable.  Despite pain and death, they never acted the way people expected them to act.  They did not denounce their Savior, and the ones who survived did not try to avenge their mistreatment.
            God’s people did not suddenly become pliant and merciful in the first century.  It began long before.  David is a prime example in his careful treatment of Saul, a mad king who was out to destroy him.  Maybe that is where the little maiden learned her first lessons about mercy.
            We do not know exactly when, how, or where, but a band of Syrian soldiers raided an Israelite town and took many people captive, among them a little girl.  Eventually she wound up in the home of Naaman, the captain of the very army who kidnapped her and possibly even killed members of her family, serving his wife.  I don’t know how old she was, but she was probably far older in mind and actions than children her age nowadays because of what she had been through.  She was old enough to remember her homeland and to know about the power of God and his prophet Elisha.
            Soon she discovered that her new master had leprosy, a disease so dreaded in her own country that the people who had it were sent away and quarantined.  What would you have thought?  “Good!  Serves him right.  Get him, God.”  I can easily see those thoughts going through my mind, especially if the last view I had of my home was painted with the blood of my family.  What was the last thing you wanted to “get even” with someone about?  Can it even hold a candle to what this girl must have experienced?
            But no, she tells her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy, 2 Kings 5:3.
            Excuse me?  This man is an enemy of God’s people, at that time a physical kingdom with physical enemies.  God’s standing orders often included wiping out those enemies.  Yet she wants to save this man, who could easily kill more of God’s children?  She was obviously too young to know what she was doing.
            But Elisha wasn’t.  And God certainly knew whom he was healing as Naaman dipped himself into the Jordan River.  This was no mistake caused by a naïve child.  The mercy she showed was exactly what God wanted of her.
            And so the unexpected result, mercy from a captive toward her captor, made for yet another unexpected result.  Naaman, the heathen army captain, said, Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel, v 15.
            Sometimes in our zeal to fight for God, we forget that He knows best.  When will we ever learn that with God, we should expect the unexpected?
 
You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?  And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more?  Do not even the Gentiles the same?  You therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, Matt 5:43-48.
 
Dene Ward

Hindsight, rather than being 20/20 and helping us understand better, can often blind us when studying the Bible, particularly the life of Jesus.  Every time we see something Jesus did, we see it complete with the Son of God “halo” over his head and miss the effect it would have had on the people then.  What they saw was Josh, the son of Joe Carpenter, John 6:42.  (Joshua is Hebrew for Jesus.)
            Let’s try this:  Imagine five or six of the most stable, godly, faithful Christian women you know.  Go ahead, name them out loud—real people with faces you can see in your mind.  Now imagine they suddenly started following around some itinerant preacher who vilified the leading men of your congregation (Matt 23), taught things that seemed opposite of what you had heard all your life (Matt 5,6), and actually threw things and people out of the meetinghouse (John 2, Mark 11).  Not only that, but every time he needed something, these women whipped out their checkbooks and took care of it for him.  And he wasn’t even handsome (Isa 53:2).  What would you think?  Have they gone nuts?!!!    
            And it came to pass that he went about through cities and villages teaching…along with certain women who ministered to them of their substance.  Luke 8:1-3
            Susanna, Joanna, Mary Magdalene and others, probably Mary and Martha, and Aunt Salome, too, were those stable, godly, faithful women.  “They were following Jesus,” we think, “so it was perfectly normal,” and miss the sacrifices they made and the courage they had.  They were probably the topic of conversation in every home in their communities.  Can’t you just hear the women gossiping, and the men mocking their husbands?  “You mean he actually let’s her get away with that?  Just who wears the biggest robes in his family, anyway?”  They also risked being kicked out of the synagogue, which would have put an end to their social lives and maybe their economic lives as well. 
            Would I have been as brave?  Would you?  Are we that brave now, or do we find ourselves saying things like, “We need to be careful what the community thinks about us.  We don’t want to be controversial.  Why, they may think we’re fanatics!”  There are times when you just can’t worry about what other people think.
            The next time you study, remember, you are looking from only one perspective and sometimes that blinds you to things that should be obvious.  Clear your mind and appreciate what these people went through, and try to be as strong and brave as they were.
 
And who is he that will harm you if you are zealous of that which is good?  But even if you should suffer for righteousness’s sake, blessed are you and fear not their fear, neither be troubled, but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that, wherein you are spoken against they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. 1 Pet 3:13-16
 
Dene Ward
 

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs, Amos 7:14.
            Amaziah, the [false] priest at Bethel had just told Amos to go back to Judah.  They were tired of his scare tactics, what they viewed as rebellion against their king, Jeroboam II.  That is how we learn of Amos’s occupation.  While some view him as the owner of the sheep rather than the shepherd who actually slept outdoors watching his flock, you cannot get away from the humble position of fig picker.
            Sycamore figs (also spelled sycomore figs) were not the figs of the upper classes, but a smaller fruit, slightly sweet, watery, and a little woody.  This is what the poor people ate.  The only way a sycamore fig would ripen was for someone to pinch it, causing it to bruise.  About four days later it was fit to pick and eat.  Can you imagine anything much more tedious than pinching every single fruit on every single tree in an orchard?  Then going to the next orchard and doing it all again?  And again?
            As I was pondering this in our Tuesday morning class, I suddenly thought, “And isn’t that what happens to us?”  The only way for us to ripen as a disciple of our Lord is to be bruised.  In my ever increasing number of years, I have seen only those who reach their lowest point realize their need for God.  If I am proud, smug, self-reliant, self-righteous, all too sure of my own knowledge, I will never be able to prostrate myself before an Almighty Creator and commit my life, my belongings, MYSELF to Him.  I will never be able to take up the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice and serve my Savior and my neighbor. 
            Some people have a stronger spiritual sense and can recognize their need for salvation quickly.  Their bruising is a bruising of the spirit that occurs when they recognize their sin and remorse hits them like that proverbial ton of bricks.  Others need a physical bruising.  You see it often when tragedy strikes—a serious illness, a devastating accident, the loss of a loved one.  A bruising in this physical life may be necessary for them to see the need in their spiritual lives.  I have often heard it said by preachers that the best time to reach your neighbor is in a time of tragedy, and the scriptures bear that out as well.
            Isaiah preached imminent destruction.  In the latter chapters of his book he tells those impenitent people that God will be waiting to take them back—not before the calamity, but afterward—after they have been bruised by a physical destruction the like of which they had never seen before.  That, after all, would be the time when they would finally listen.
            For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ​For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, ​creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him. Isa 57:15-19.
            Ezekiel says much the same:  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice,  Ezek 34:15-16.
            And who does Jesus offer His invitation to:  Come all you who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your souls, Matt 11:28,29.
            And so each of us must face our bruising.  The more quickly we yield, the easier that bruising will be, not because trials will cease, but because our humble hearts will accept both them and the help we will have to face them.  We won’t be alone any longer, a state of affairs that only comes to the stubborn, who refuse to surrender to Divine love and protection.  Sometimes it takes a “fig-pincher” to help with the process, someone who, like the prophet Nathan, can stand before us and proclaim, “Thou art the man.”  And like the sycamore fig, we will ripen into the fruitful child of God each of us has the potential to become.
 
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint, Isa 40:29-31.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament era. He continued to prophesy and preach at a time when the queen, Jezebel, was actively killing all prophets of Jehovah, when the king, Ahab, was actively leading the nation into Baal worship, and when the people seemed happy to accept this. Through Elijah, God imposed a three year drought on the land. Because of Elijah, the people knew God wasn’t happy. At the end of those three years, Elijah appears before Ahab and tells him to gather the nation at the summit of Mount Carmel, along with the prophets of Baal. This is recorded in 1 Kings 18.

As the people are gathered, Elijah addresses them. Vs. 21 “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.” Elijah enjoins them to make a choice. It doesn’t make sense to worship both Baal and Jehovah; they contradict each other. Choose! He then issues a challenge, and we all know this story. He, alone, would build an altar to God. The 450 priests would build an altar to Baal. Each would put an offering upon their altar. The god who responded by sending fire to light the altar would be God. The people think this is a fine idea. Verses 25-29 tell of the Baal prophets’ attempt. They pray, shout, leap, cut themselves, etc, all to get their god to respond. In verse 27, Elijah mocks them mercilessly, but he does give them all day for their attempt. Finally, at the end of the day, Elijah readies his altar. He put the offering upon it and then douses it repeatedly with water. The offering, wood, and altar were all dripping wet. There was a moat about the altar that was full of water, too (vs. 30-35). Elijah then prays to God, vs. 36-37, and God responds by sending fire which burnt up the offering, wood, altar, and water surrounding the altar. Here is the response of the people: “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.’” vs. 39. The people seem convinced. They aid Elijah in rounding up the prophets of Baal and slaughtering them. Elijah seems to have turned the heart of the nation back to God. It was a new day in Israel!

Except, of course, it wasn’t. Jezebel sends a message to Elijah promising his death(19:1-2). The nation seems to be going about things, business as usual. All of Elijah’s work hasn’t seemed to change anything. His elation turned to despair, and quickly. Fleeing Jezebel, Elijah runs to the wilderness south of Judah. As he lays down for rest, he prays to God for death. (vs. 3-5) This is actually quite understandable. He had devoted his life to serving God. He had hidden from Ahab and Jezebel’s army for years. He had worked a great work, a grand and enormous sign to the people in the effort to get the people to turn back to God and. . . nothing changed. Nothing changed! He began to feel like there was no point in continuing. Why shouldn’t he just quit?

Do you know how Elijah felt? Have you ever felt that way? Let me tell you, I get it, at least a little. A lady from church and I met once a week and spent hours each time walking through the neighborhoods near the building knocking on doors and inviting people to join our congregation in worship. We weren’t doing any serious evangelizing, just inviting people to services. We spent dozens of hours, knocked on hundreds of doors, and got no response from anyone. There was perhaps one family who worshiped with us three times because we knocked on their door, then the Air Force transferred them away. So we changed tactics. We invited Tom Hamilton to do a series of classes on what the Bible is all about and why we should care. We advertised it in several newspapers, on various neighborhood facebook pages and we also printed 1,000 door hangers advertising the event. Those were hung on every doorknob within a half mile of the building, and some farther away. We didn’t get a single response from the community. One can start to feel like there is no point in working for the Lord.

Or maybe your discouragement is in failures to overcome temptation. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you pray or read the scriptures there is one temptation that you can’t seem to overcome. Instead, it overcomes you. Repeated failures can make you want to quit trying. “After all, I’m just going to fail anyway, I might as well give in.”

Or maybe I’m discouraged because the brethren aren’t acting correctly. Have you ever been doing all you know how to do for the Lord and then found out that the brethren, or some of them, are bad mouthing you for your efforts? “Oh that Lucas.  He thinks he’s a big-shot Christian, like a deacon or something.”(This hasn’t happened to me personally, but I know of people to whom it has happened.) When the people who are supposed to be supporting you the most are instead tearing you down, it can make you want to quit, as Elijah knew.

Or maybe it’s your relationship with your spouse or children that is discouraging. No matter how grand the gesture, nothing seems to get through to them. So, why should you bother?

As we follow Elijah’s story, we see that he isn’t allowed to die. Beginning in 1 Kings 19:5 we see that he is fed twice by an angel and then led to Mount Sinai. Once there, God asks him why he isn't in Israel, working. In verse 10, Elijah recounts his woes. He is told to stand at the mouth of the cave and he then sees a great wind, capable of breaking rocks. He experiences a powerful earthquake. He sees a fierce fire. God is in none of these breath-taking events. Elijah then hears a “still, small voice” and covers his face, because God is in the small voice. God then repeats His question to Elijah, who repeats his tale of woe. God then sends Elijah back to work.

The lesson for us is that God’s work isn’t accomplished in the grand events, but in the small, steady, continuous work. It’s not the big Gospel meetings that are going to evangelize the community, it is each individual Christian shining his light as he lives day by day. It is our “still, small voices” that daily reach dozens of lost souls and it is our voices which can eventually reach many of our neighbors and coworkers. But we have to keep at it, day by day. We can’t get discouraged and quit.

There is no magic pill for overcoming temptation. There is no heroic labor I can accomplish to be free from temptation for the rest of my life. I have to, day by day, decide to follow Jesus and overcome. I have to keep at it, little by little.

In our relationships the grand gesture might not get through, but the daily effort of being a good spouse or parent will. Maybe the three dozen roses didn’t make her happy, but what will work is doing the dishes and bathing the kids some of the time. Women (so I’ve heard) don’t want men to die for them in a grand gesture, they want men to live with them. Kids don’t respond as well to “quality time” as they do to quantity time. They know who has been with them, raising them on a daily basis. It is the still, small voice of daily effort that wins in the end.

The Christian life isn’t about doing one great thing and being done. It is daily, continuously doing the small things. It is being the light in your workplace. It is overcoming this temptation this time and worrying about the next one when it comes along. It is about keeping on keeping on. Christianity is a life-time walk, not a ten-minute sprint. If we just keep going, God will see our efforts prevail.

Phil. 3:11-14 …that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
 
Lucas Ward

Most of us know the story of Hannah who asked God for a son and promised to give him back.  She certainly made an amazing vow and an astounding sacrifice I can scarcely understand.  But do we consider her many examples in prayer?
            Hannah was the second wife of a man of Ephraim, a Levite (1 Chron 6:33-38) named Elkanah.  The story reminds me a bit of Leah and Rachel, except that Hannah  and Peninnah were not sisters, and Hannah, the favored wife, was far more righteous and God-fearing than Rachel, who stole her father’s household gods (Gen 31:19) and nagged Jacob to death about her inability to conceive as if it were his fault (Gen 30:1,2).  Going to God was Rachel’s last resort, after first badgering Jacob, then offering her handmaid (Gen 30:3) and finally using mandrakes (Gen 30:14), the aphrodisiac of the day.  You should take a few minutes sometime and read the meanings of her children’s names (by her handmaid) if you want a flavor of her mindset, and compare them with the names of Leah’s children.  Then of course, there was Joseph.  When God answered her prayer for her own child, she named him, “Give me another one.”  Look at the marvelous contrast of Hannah, who after asking for a child and receiving him, gave him up to God, with no promise that she would ever have another.
            Hannah shows us what prayer is supposed to be—not some halfhearted muttering of ritual phrases, but a “pouring out of the soul” 1 Sam 1:15.  She prayed so fervently that Eli, watching her, thought she was drunk.  As she told Eli, “Out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken” v 16.  Her prayer life was such that her relationship with Jehovah gave her the confidence to tell him exactly how she felt, in the plainest of speech, evidently.  You do not speak to someone that way unless you have spent plenty of time with him and know him intimately.  Are we that close to God?
            She also teaches us what prayer should do for us.  Look at the contrast between v 10 and v 18.  Before her prayer “she was in bitterness of soul…and wept sore.”  Afterward, she “went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.” 
            Of course, Hannah had the reassurances of a priest and judge that God would give her what she had prayed for, but don’t we have the assurance of the Holy Spirit through the word He gave that God listens and answers our prayers?  Shouldn’t we exhibit some measure of ease after our prayers?      In whom do we have our faith?  If the doctors say it is hopeless, do we pray anyway?  Do we carry our umbrellas, even though the weatherman says, “No rain in sight?”  Do we pray on and on and on, even when it seems that what we ask will never come to pass?  God does not run by a timetable like we do.  Hannah had the faith that says, “It’s in God’s hands now,” and she was able to get on with her life.  Life does go on, no matter which answer we get, and God expects us to continue to serve Him with a “thy will be done” attitude.
          “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” James tells us in 5:16.  Hannah shows us it works for righteous women as well.  Can people tell by our lives that we believe it?
 
Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.  From the end of the earth will I call unto you, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  For you have been a refuge to me, a strong tower from the enemy.  I will dwell in your tabernacle forever.  I will take refuge in the covert of your wings.  Psa 61:1-4
 
Dene Ward