This week Linda Wielinga has offered to share her reflections on the bible passages. Linda is from Port Perry, teaches art at Durham Christian High School, and is a participant in the Eastern Canada Leadership Development Network.

1 Samuel 1
The book of Samuel starts off with the introduction of the prophet Samuel’s conception. His mother Hannah is presented here as a woman “pouring out her soul before the Lord” in vs15 as she prays at the temple of God in Shiloh. The priest Eli misunderstands her prayer petition as an act of drunkenness but afterwards with corrected understanding , responds to her with these words of comfort “ Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant petition that you have asked of Him”

I often wonder about this deep longing of the heart that Hannah had. She longed for a child, ached for a child, felt incomplete without a child. Yet when she actually receives what she asks for, how could she respond back with giving this child away to the Lord?

What longings ache in your heart?
What petitions do you bring before the Lord?

I think of Elizabeth and Zacharias. They too, petitioned to the Lord for a child and God granted their desire. But their son John, the baptiser, was called as well to be released to the Lord’s service.
Where do these longings come from? Are they from us or are they imparted to us by the will of God for His purposes? If God plants these longings in our hearts, we see here that He does so in preparation for His tasks to be accomplished. Where we run into difficulty is when we in human terms, try to interpret these longings. What if Hannah, after receiving her baby, refused to let Samuel go? If she allowed human reasoning to set in, the nation of Israel would not have seen a new prophet being raised up by God. The best thing we can do with these longings is to bring them before the Lord and lift them up to Him. Like verse 17 states, we must then “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him” and also in verse 23 “only may the Lord confirm His word”

Don’t strive, just leave the longings in God’s hands. Those longings will be confirmed by God, and if so, there will be no stopping for His good work to be carried out to completion. But we have to be willing to let these longings be lifted up to God, to allow them to be in His care.

Prayer: Lord, help me to stop psycho-analysing my longings to death! Help me to just bring them before you, and trust you as it states in Psalm 37:5 “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it!” I know you will turn the longing into the proper outcome and you will enable me to live in peace.