“Then they … brought the boy to Eli. And she said, ‘Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.’ …” (1 Samuel 1:25-28 NASB)
It had been several years since Hannah had poured out her broken heart to God at Shiloh when she worshipped with bitterness in her soul. She had seen many months and years go by with no success conceiving a child; she surely wondered at the Lord’s dealings with her. ‘Why’ had to be a constant cry from her heart. “Lord, why have You withheld from me the defining blessing desired by almost all married women, the one gift I wish above all else in this world, a child of my own.”
What was God doing in Hannah’s life back in those days? Why did He make her wait for so long? If it had always been part of His great plan to give her the child she so very much wanted, and then more children besides, why didn’t He just grant her conception without subjecting her to the compounded heartache and pain of those years when she felt like an utter failure? Why does God make any of His children wait to the point of heart pain, often waiting for years before He grants our ordained desires in His ordained time? Is He unkind? Are we mere puppets in a cosmic drama? Does Jesus truly care about our weariness and frustration?
As He dealt with Hannah, so He may deal with any one of us who are His. Our Lord is glorified by the faith of His people, faith that He gives to us in the first place and faith that He strengthens over the course of time and experience. He is glorified by John’s long and faithful life of witness and suffering for the gospel; He is glorified by Simon Peter, who was led to a martyr’s death after many years of faithfulness. God is glorified as Hannah prays and weeps and waits and keeps on trusting and lays hold on God by vows made and vows kept.
He is also glorified when we follow hard after Him and refuse to relent until we have found Him and, like Jacob near dawn, refuse to let Him go until He blesses us. Indeed, when our faith seems thin and weak and so very small, He is pleased and He is glorified by the tear-filled eye that keeps on looking to Him and by the heart that keeps on hoping and believing in Him who cannot fail—who will not fail and who will answer our cries with His grace.
A sapling is nourished by nutrients from beneath; so the faith of God’s beloved people is made strong and stronger still by powers often unseen. Summer heat, winter cold, drought, and flood all test the growing tree and all our trying seasons make us more of what He intends for us to be and to become—until we, at length, stand tall and strong ‘by grace through faith.’
Through trial true faith grows and we become much more than we were before. Through those long seasons faith grows and we become more trusting of Him, the One who planted us by the mighty river of His unfailing sovereign grace for His glory. Many marvel at Hannah’s persevering faith. Let us marvel at Him who gave it and then nourished it and, at last, rewarded it over and again all because of everlasting love. –TSA
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