Tag: Samuel

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11.16.24. Chosen by God

Psalm 132 King David was chosen just as you and I …from the foundation of the world. “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” [Eph 1:4] Each of us has been chosen by God for His purposes and yet with that comes many trials as well as blessings.

God so loved
God chose

David did not choose to be a king but God sent Samuel to anoint him to rule over his people. He was most likely satisfied to be a shepherd over the sheep of his father’s. All of his brothers stood before Samuel but God chose none of them. Only when God told Samuel that none of these met his criteria did his father send for him. David had no idea what lay before him. From that time on, he suffered many afflictions as well as blessings. His life was transformed at a time when there was already a king in the land. King Saul hated David and tried to eliminate him over and over but God preserved him.

God has chosen you for His purposes. Your life may be filled with problems or it may be blessed beyond measure. Yet, He has a purpose for you to complete His mission in this time frame. Look back over your life and see where God made His choice and what has transpired since then. Stop and give Him praise for choosing you just as He chose David.

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God’s Grace is Sufficient

God is sufficient

Why God chooses some to be mothers and others not is a mystery. At times like that, we must trust God and His ways. Hannah is a woman who has grief upon grief for not only is she childless, but she has three thorns in her flesh just as Paul faced his. These are those people who cause us great grief when we need the heart of compassion.

In the story of Samuel, chapters 1-3, we meet Hannah’s three thorns. First is Elkanah’s first wife, Penninah. who mercilessly berates Hannah for her barrenness. Second is Elkanah himself, as he fails to seek God’s help for his wife’s grief, but nags her with the why questions. Thirdly is the priest Eli who misjudges Hannah as she prays at the door of the Tabernacle.

It is how we face these thorns that reveal whether we know “about” God or “know” Him. Hannah knew that she would not find relief in a man but only in God. He was her “go-to” answer and He is ours.

Rivals, nagging, and misjudgment by others are often the thorns in our flesh that we face. In those times, we need the grace of God to hear His voice: my grace is sufficient.

p.s. 🙂 God opened Hannah’s womb and gave her a son. Truly God’s grace was sufficient and He can be ours.

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Trials and Blessings

God loves to answer His children's prayers

1Samuel 1-3 Trials and storms either drive us closer to God or far away. God has recorded the story of Hannah as an example of true faith. Her example of facing a trial and drawing close to God is one we want to follow. Hannah made an unusual vow that if God opened her womb, she would dedicate the child back to God.  Ecclesiastes reminds us that “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in paying it”…and don’t tell the priest “it was a mistake.” [Eccl 5:4]

Even though God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman, Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, like some others in scripture, failed to keep that rule. Hannah’s rival was jealous and lacked compassion for Hannah. Enter God’s ways that man cannot understand but remind us to see how He works to receive glory for Himself.

God heard the cry of Hannah. Some months later, Hannah would give birth to a little boy she would name Samuel, meaning “asked of God.” Beloved, whatever you are facing today you can glean words of comfort from Hannah. Take time to pour over Hannah’s prayer and pray her words back to God. Hannah learned the truth of Paul’s words: bring all your requests to God, and His peace will guard your heart. [Phil 4:7]

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Waiting…easy or hard?

Exodus 32 Do you have trouble waiting–especially for God to act, to speak, or “fill in the blank?”

Exodus 32 waiting patiently

Do you become impatient? Do you want to wait, but circumstances take over, and you decide to take matters into your own hands? The Israelites had just said, ‘we will obey.’ Yet when a test came into their lives to wait, their commitment was shallow.  When the people “saw” that Moses still had not returned, they made a decision: Moses’ God wasn’t working on their time table. It won’t be the last time these Israelites have a problem with waiting. They became impatient with Samuel and said you are old and your sons don’t follow, so appoint us a king. King David’s prayer life reveals that he must have had trouble with waiting too, for he wrote three times for God to help him in ‘waiting.’ [Ps 17:14; 37:7, 62:5]

Why do we have a problem with waiting? We misperceive time. The drama of leaving Egypt was still fresh in their minds, and they were anxious to get to the Promised Land, yet God knew that they needed the skill of waiting because time had always been determined for them. Now they were being tested to see if their commitment was real. Sometimes as we wait, we yearn for routine, and we get bored. Without a routine, we get lazy, and we become discontented; we lack a commitment to the cause. Like the Israelites, we do not have perseverance. We think we have the plan all figured out, and we want God to do it ‘now.’ One author put it this way; Waiting reveals the best and the worst in us and also reveals our lack of understanding that God doesn’t work on our time table.

Are you having trouble waiting? Cultivate this skill through prayerful meditation and study.

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