Thursday, May 19, 2016

Hannah’s Provocation

In the Old Testament you find a person named Elkanah who had two wives. In 1 Samuel you can see how his wife Hannah went through embarrassment, humiliation and provocation. You can see that in the midst of all this embarrassment, she cried to God and then what happened was more embarrassment when the priest through that she was drunk and came and scolded her.

When you walk with God, it doesn’t mean that your life will be problem free. There will be stages in your life that God will make you go through tests, so that you can come out faithful and the result will be a new person in you. Here also the result was the birth of a great priest and prophet called Samuel who anointed the first King of Israel. 

Hannah was not having child as Lord closed her womb. At the same time Elkanah’s other wife Peninnah had children. So because of this reason Peninnah use to make fun of Hannah and provoke her in order to irritate her. In this world we can see when you are in a depressed situation, there are people who come to you can show off what they are having which you lost or you don’t have. They may even go to the front claiming that they are blessed by God and you lost because you are not blessed. They shows up to make you as a big sinner on which you may get provoked. 

People are taking extreme steps when they get provoked. They may end up as a murderer or even kill oneself. Some may even become mentally unstable. In the case of Hannah, she was emotionally very week and often she cried to God. 

The one thing which separated her from others is that dedication to the Lord. People who are in stress will pray to God for a turn around of their problems. And once they are free from the current situation, they will became just a Sunday believer. But Hannah dedicated her child to God before she got pregnant. And then God blessed her with a mighty prophet Samuel as her child.

This is a lesson for the ones who are in need of God’s blessings. You need to dedicate the blessing to God. If you are in the need of a Job, dedicate that job to God. Do the Job for the glory of God and lead a life pleasing to God so that people will notice you and will appreciate the God whom you serve.