I'm still working on the dating series, and we'll go back to that soon, but today I want to start a new series. I truly believe that series can be done in tandem...I hope. This series is:
Stuff I listened to, but didn't hear at all
This is about those nuggets of wisdom you've heard all your life (or just all your Christian life), but really had NO idea what any of it meant, or what that looked like. If you have suggestions on one you'd like me to think about...send it my way. For now, I'm going with one that I feel has been unsuccessfully explained both to me and by me:
"Give it to God."
You could be going through the worst time: medical mishaps, financial fiascos, workplace woes, dating distress and just be so hype for someone to give you sound, godly advice and they're just like:
"I don't know...you have to just give it to God."
And suddenly, you want to slap them. You came to this person for help, and they just hit you with a catchphrase!
Then yesterday I was reading about Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:1-18. You should check out the whole story. I of course, work with excerpts and paraphrases, so:
The Sitch
Hannah is a one of two wives to a guy named Elkanah. One wife has tons of kids, Hannah is barren (how terrible is the word "barren"? It makes me think of a wasteland). The wife with kids is mean. She tortures Hannah, year after year, making a big deal of her childlessness. It gets to the point where all Hannah does is cry. She cries, and she won't eat.
Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up... In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
At this point, the priest (Eli) sees her praying, and b/c her lips are moving, and he doesn't hear her voice, he assumes she is drunk and tries to dog her out for it. But she says:
“Not so, my lord...I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD...Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
The Takeaway
In the very next verses (1 Samuel 1:19-20) we find out Samuel is conceived. God answered her prayer!
...but she didn't know that could/would happen in verse 18 when her face was no longer downcast. Why was her face no longer downcast?!
I've had this story read to me as a child. I've read it in adulthood. I know it well. And all along, I was focused on the fact that Hannah made a vow, and in my mind God was responding to her vow. God was not responding to her vow. Rather, God had to respond because she made her pain His. She gave it away.
She brought her burden, took it off her back, and placed it at the altar. All her tears, her anguish, her worries, she poured it all out. Right then. She came with a sad face, and she even left her sad face at the altar! She got up, not knowing that God had answered her petition, but she got up without her burden. And it made me think:
She didn't need an answer, she just needed to be heard.
Why would I say that? Because the thing she wanted (a son), she was willing to give back to God! She didn't need a son. She needed to lay her pain down. She needed to lay her grief down. She needed to lay her shame down. And she did. She gave it away. So likewise:
You don't need an answer, you just need to heard.
And yet we rarely really have the "big talk" with the ultimate Listener. We've talked at Him, we've talked about Him, we've asked other people what He would do (WWJD), but this "give it to God" stuff? This pouring out of your being before God stuff? This "Hannah Stuff"? That's real talk...that's praying to be heard. And when she'd been heard, she had been released. Her face was no longer sad.
I want to always pray like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment