Hope

Holding Onto Our Hope

1 Samuel 1:1-18

Hannah's situation looked hopeless. She was heartbroken because "the Lord had closed her womb." This alone was a source of great disgrace for a Hebrew woman. But Hannah suffered even more because of the deliberate provocation by her husband's other wife, who was blessed with children.

Holding onto hope can be difficult when circumstances are miserable and show no signs of improving. For believers, this can be even more discouraging, because they know that God could fulfill their hopes and remedy the situation, but He hasn't.

Hannah was a woman of great faith, even in the midst of her disappointment and pain. Year after year she kept going to Shiloh to worship the Lord. Perseverance is a quality that the Father highly values in His people. Endurance in trials leads to godly character and hope that does not disappoint (Rom. 5:3-5).

Great pain often drives us to the Lord. Hannah had faithfully worshiped God with all of Israel, but this time she went by herself to the tabernacle and prayed to the only One who could help her. Weeping bitterly, she poured out her soul before the Lord and offered Him a sacrifice of the very thing she valued most--a child: she laid her hope at His feet and promised that if He fulfilled her desire, she would give Him her son.

That which we strive to hold can be kept only by surrendering it to God. This biblical principle applies to our hopes as well as to our very life (Luke 9:24). Learn from Hannah's example of faith, and pour out your heart to God. Lay your hopes before Him--the only One who can fulfill your desires or change them to match His will.

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