Spend some time alone with God

1 Samuel 1:14-20

When reading the Bible we are often confronted with people who suffer. Job, Elijah and David are a few
of the well known names, but at the top of the list would have to be Jesus. From the Garden of Gethsemane, where an agitated Jesus sweats blood and tells his disciples, “I am deeply grieved, even to death…” (Matthew 26:38) to his haunting words on the cross, “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus suffers intensely and at many levels – physically, emotionally, psychologically. With a broken body and a deep sense of abandonment, Jesus embodies what suffering is. In our text today, we have a woman, Hannah, who gives voice to suffering. For years she has suffered emotionally and psychologically, and at different levels. Looking into the text it is not difficult to envisage the reality of Hannahʼs suffering in todayʼs context. Her husband Elkanah, and even the priest Eli, donʼt understand what she is feeling. Hannahʼs only comfort, her only recourse, comes through being drawn back into the relationship with God via her outpouring of her anxieties, her sufferings, to God. To have that heart felt discussion with God who has suffered, who knows about suffering and who cares, makes all the difference. For Hannah it was liberating. Perhaps you donʼt think God is listening. Perhaps you may even think – Iʼve heard it all before. Try it. No, not a chat with God. Perhaps it is time to really let Him know how you feel, to put that trust in Jesusʼ promises. Spend a little time alone with God and allow the Holy Spirit to do his work in your life.

Pastor Darryl