For part three of my series, “Because God Said,” the question is why should I wait on the Lord? Our lives are full of waiting on various desires at different points in our lives. With each journey of waiting, there are purposes. Today, we are going to look why we should wait on the Lord, through the story of Hannah found 1 Samuel 1:1-8. The author writes,
“There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8Her husband Elkanah would say to her, ‘Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?’”
One might wonder: when did God speak in these eight verses? Are you sure He did not speak? God the Holy Spirit divinely inspired each author who wrote the Old and New Testament to write each word. This is why, as readers of God’s Word, we are not getting a first- or second-person point of view, but rather, the third person omniscient point of view. What is the third person omniscient point of view? Two definitions of it are,
- “[A] third-person literary perspective that offers omniscient insight into one or more character’s minds. Third person omniscient point of view is used to shine an all-seeing eye on a story’s character(s) and world.”
- “[T]he teller of the tale, who often appears to speak with the voice of the author himself, assumes an omniscient (all-knowing) perspective on the story being told: diving into private thoughts, narrating secret or hidden events.”
In knowing the Holy Spirit divinely inspired the author of 1 Samuel to write these eight verses, it is clear God is speaking in every word and detail. In addition, knowing God’s Word is third person omniscient, look at verse 5b once more; it says, “the Lord had closed her womb.” When you read God was the reason behind Hannah’s barrenness, what do you think or feel about God in this moment? Do you see it as unfair or wrong that He would do this? Do you wonder why would God keep Hannah from having one child while her sister wife Peninnah gets to have many children? Are you wondering is Hannah being punished?
Oftentimes, we ask similar questions when what we are waiting on the Lord for has not come for months or years. Please know, reader, the absence of a long-awaited desire does not mean God is punishing you. The Lord does allow things in our lives for purposes.
Yes, Hannah did not have a child, but she did have something else. Read verses 4-5a again, “Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her.” In our lives, when we are focused on the desire yet to be fulfilled, we can lose sight of the precious gifts the Lord has already given us. In my own life, I am thirty-one years old, and it has been seven years since I started this blog. The long-awaited desire for marriage remains to be a desire the Lord has not fulfilled in my life. During the moments where sadness wants to consume my thoughts over what I do not have, I must actively shift my mind to the gifts the Lord has given me. I remind myself of the different prayers He answered and exceeded over the years, and I am encouraged through the Word how waiting on the Lord is always worth it.
Though Hannah did not have children, she had a husband who loved her. For all of us, (single, married, widowed), the greatest love we will ever have comes from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who created us, died, and rose for us; and He is constantly comforting, counseling, sanctifying, and teaching us. God illustrates His love for us every single day. The question is are we paying attention?
There are various reasons behind why the Lord has you waiting on Him for the desire He placed in your heart, and why is not always revealed until He fulfills the desire; even so, the central purpose for waiting is waiting exposes what or who is truly first in our heart. Let us read verse 8 again. As we do, let us ask these questions about our relationship with the Lord. Elkanah asks Hannah, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Does the Lord mean more to you than the desire not yet fulfilled? Be honest. If the answer is no, then, see this precious time God has given you in this wait as an opportunity to grow closer to Him, and allow Him to shift your focus off what you do not yet have and onto the greatest gift you have, which is Him.
All Bible verses are from Holy Bible: New International Version