Look up

1 Samuel 2:1-10

¹ Then Hannah prayed:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong.
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
² No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

³ “Stop acting so proud and haughty!
Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;
he will judge your actions.
⁴ The bow of the mighty is now broken,
and those who stumbled are now strong.
⁵ Those who were well fed are now starving,
and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
and the woman with many children wastes away.
⁶ The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
⁷ The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
⁸ He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
and he has set the world in order.

⁹ “He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
¹⁰ Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength of his anointed one.”

Many years ago, when I was in YWAM, I sat in a room where people were confessing their sin and what consumed their focus and heart. 

So many single women asked for forgiveness for wanting to be married, wanting to find a man. They looked more at their singleness than either the opportunity that lay in being single, or what God had done for them. (I was one of them.)

In this room of many single men and women, were two married couples. 

As the room publicly confessed, one of the married women said; “Lord, forgive me that I want to be single.  I want the freedom to serve you without restriction …”

Whatever our situation, whatever our journey – God has a purpose and future for us.

If we continue to look through the lens of what we don’t have, we continue to be limited in what God can use us for.  Complaining and where our focus lies, bogs us deeper into the world and what it offers, than what God wants for you. 

What needs to change? We need to find our voice of praise and thanksgiving.

In Chapter 1, Hannah has struggled with infertility.  She has a loving husband, who loves her deeply, but she is stuck in her infertility.  Where does she go?  She runs to the House of God to pray.  She cries out to God, dedicating her child to Him and His service.  The Priest, Eli sees her in this desperation and misunderstands her.  However, after a conversation he says to her, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel answer your prayer”.

Her prayer was to have a child and her prayer was answered.  She gave birth to Samuel.  She honoured her commitment and gave Samuel to Eli to raise in the House of God … you can continue to read all that Samuel did. 

Lord Jesus, help me to look up.  When I complain, or feel disappointment help me to see you afresh.  Lord, I know I enter your gates and your courts with thanksgiving and praise – Lord let this be the attitude of my heart and the words in my mouth.  I want to always be where you are.  In Jesus name, Amen

Written by Ps. Sue Botta