Inner Turmoil
Kay..Guys, i'm quoting from this website http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml where there is some daily bread we can all share on the bible.
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1Samuel 1:15
There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuph in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim. Elkanah had two wives, Hanah and Penninah. Peninnah had children, Hannah did not.
Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven's Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli - Hophno and Phonehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion, because the Lord had given her no children. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same - Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.
"Why are you crying, Hannah?" Elkanah would ask. "Why aren't you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me - isn't that better than having ten sons?"
Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: "O Lord of Heaven's Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then i will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut."
As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. "Must you come here drunk?" he demanded. "Throw away your wine!"
"On no sir!" she replied. " I haven't been drinking wine or anything stronger. But i am very discouraged, and i was pouring out my heart to the Lord."
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Well, you can go ahead and read what the comment was on the website, i personally dun agree with the interpretation, in that it made no sense and distracts us from the main point. One thing i glean from it is this:
Prayer does not make God see things as we see them; it helps us see things as God sees them.
Which personally speaks to me as i was struggling with prayer. What is the point of praying when God knows already what is in your heart, and always does what you need instead of what you ask anyway? These seem to contradict the purpose of prayer, especially when so many people use it to make requests to God as to how they want things to turn out.
So many times i prayed to God, filling it with words, and logical arguments that my mind came up with. And most of the times, God uses my own arguments to talk to me. It's like a time of self-reflection where God comes in with me and sorts things out. And sometimes it leaves me more confused as i think that God did not speak to me. But so many times it's just that i did not realise that He already did so.
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1Samuel 1:15
There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Ramah in the region of Zuph in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim. Elkanah had two wives, Hanah and Penninah. Peninnah had children, Hannah did not.
Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven's Armies at the Tabernacle. The priests of the Lord at that time were the two sons of Eli - Hophno and Phonehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion, because the Lord had given her no children. So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same - Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.
"Why are you crying, Hannah?" Elkanah would ask. "Why aren't you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me - isn't that better than having ten sons?"
Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: "O Lord of Heaven's Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then i will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut."
As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. "Must you come here drunk?" he demanded. "Throw away your wine!"
"On no sir!" she replied. " I haven't been drinking wine or anything stronger. But i am very discouraged, and i was pouring out my heart to the Lord."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, you can go ahead and read what the comment was on the website, i personally dun agree with the interpretation, in that it made no sense and distracts us from the main point. One thing i glean from it is this:
Prayer does not make God see things as we see them; it helps us see things as God sees them.
Which personally speaks to me as i was struggling with prayer. What is the point of praying when God knows already what is in your heart, and always does what you need instead of what you ask anyway? These seem to contradict the purpose of prayer, especially when so many people use it to make requests to God as to how they want things to turn out.
So many times i prayed to God, filling it with words, and logical arguments that my mind came up with. And most of the times, God uses my own arguments to talk to me. It's like a time of self-reflection where God comes in with me and sorts things out. And sometimes it leaves me more confused as i think that God did not speak to me. But so many times it's just that i did not realise that He already did so.
posted by B-Rok | 9:32 AM
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