Have you found yourself
being vilified and ridiculed either by people or problems? Do you find yourself stuck in a situation from which you wish to escape? Take a look at how Hannah faced her nemesis.
Accepted by prevalent
culture and practice of the time, Hannah was married to a wonderful man by the
name of Elkanah who loved her dearly; twice more than he did his second wife Peninnah
who had given him the offspring he was looking for. When it comes to polygamy, societies and cultures might make it
acceptable, but having multiple wives was neither God’s design nor human need. Such marriage arrangements always tax the
human spirit to such an extent where one or the other party loses hope
of a happy life. Loss of one party’s
happiness in such a marriage eventually costs everyone’s happiness in the
family. Especially, if one of the wives
is unable to bear children, her lot in life would be to endure lifelong servitude and
mistreatment at the hand of her rival who bore the children for her husband.
Hannah was one
such unfortunate wife. Even though
Elkanah loved her dearly, he was helpless to protect her from the deadly
attack of love starved Peninnah. The
more he loved Hannah, the more Peninnah became bitter and made Hannah’s life miserable. Hannah’s misery continued undiminished year
after year; it got to a point where worshiping God at Shiloh became
unbearable. Her husband would try to
sooth her agony but the assurance of a loving husband became meaningless, food
tasted terrible, and God seemed to have abandoned her. She would simply sit there and weep in bitter
sorrow. Worse of all, it was God who had
closed her womb; she could do nothing about it.
Every time the family came to Shiloh for worship and sacrifice, her
rival would take aim at Hannah’s barrenness and remind her how she is cursed
and abandoned by God. She would rub salt
in Hannah’s gashed wound and then clap her hands in excitement, multiplying
Hannah’s pains to the point of despair. Year
after year she would do this and by now, it appears as if Hannah had lost all
hopes of a normal life on this earth.
Do you have something
or someone that always rubs salt in your wound?
Are you so frustrated with something or someone? Do you feel that if that thing or person was
not there, your life would be better? Do
you want to get rid of your hopeless situation?
Do you want to destroy your adversaries wishing your demise? Do you want to silence your critics with a
response they hate? Then, take lessons
from Hannah’s book. Look what she did.
First, the Bible
says, “Hannah stood up” (1 Sam. 1:9). Her
rival was trying to make her cry once again but this time, instead of sitting
in her misery, Hannah stood up. She
decided to have none of the junk Peninnah was trying to heap on her. Hannah was sick of being sick; tired of being
tired and fed up of being controlled by one unhappy, miserable woman. She had had enough of this pity party year
after year; she stood up. There are
times you have to stand up on your feet, shake the dust and look squarely in
the eyes of the thing or the person who is trying to make your life miserable
and face it. Stand up from your
miserable situation and make up your mind to not allow someone or something to
dictate your destiny. You better try to
take control of your own life.
Second, Hannah
went to God and poured out her heart to him.
There is a difference between going to God and going to Shiloh. Up until now, Hannah was coming to Shiloh and
living and worshiping God in the shadow of her loving husband. But now she decided to face God who she
believed was the person that closed her womb.
She refused to respond/react to her rival and be angry at her; her rival
was not the person to face or reckon with because she was not the cause of her
barrenness. She realized that the real
person to face was God himself. That is
what she did. It was unheard that a
woman would approach God in the tabernacle without her husband or a
priest. But Hannah was sick of being
mistreated by her rival and her barren condition that she decided to take the
matter to God on her own and contend with him.
When Eli the priest saw her praying at the entrance of tabernacle, the
only thing he could conclude was that she must be a drunken woman to behave the
way she was behaving; she was wrestling with God like a drunken woman but the
priest had no clue. Hannah poured out
her heart to God with utter desperation and helplessness.
Do you want to
change your circumstances? Do you want to silence your critics? Then, get up from where you are. Get up and go to God and wrestle with
him. Don’t wrestle with your situation
or people who try to make you miserable; wrestle with God in prayer.
Third, Hannah
trusted God. Although it was God who had
closed her womb, she was never mad at God.
She trusted God’s wisdom in allowing her to go through the kind of experience
she was going through. By the time she finished
praying, she had met God. God had given
her such a calming assurance that the Bible says “her face was no longer
downcast” (1 Sam. 1:18). Whole her life
she lived a downcast life but today, after facing God, meeting God, and pouring
out her heart to him, she received a bright face never to be downcast again. For the first time, she no longer defined
herself as cursed by God but chosen by God for a purpose higher than what she
could think or imagine; she completely trusted God’s wisdom and will for her
life. And the story ends in such an
amazing way that she became the mother of six children and her first child
became of the greatest prophets and Judges of all time in Israel!
Stand up and
face your misery and know that God has not allowed your misery for nothing; he allowed
it for a purpose you might not know right now.
He wants you to come to him and receive the incredible gift he has for you. But don’t allow your circumstances or people
to control your destiny. If you find
yourself trapped in something like Hannah found in, do what she did. Stand up and go to God. Dare to approach God and face him in prayer. Once you meet God in prayer, your life will
never be the same again. You will look
for the people who once tried to make your life miserable but they won’t be
there. Even if they are there, God will
make them your friends who will have to hide their shame behind your kindness. Proverbs 16:7 says “when a man’s ways please
the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him”! But don’t let your nemesis to stop you from
standing up and going to the gates of God’s presence.
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