1 Samuel 2:
Chapter 2 opens with a beautiful prayer from Hannah as she pours out her heart to the Lord. This demonstrates her faith, her love and her experience of God. This stands in stark contrast to the attitudes and actions of Eli’s sons who should have been a picture of holiness and righteousness before the Lord. It is all about heritage and character and what you bring to the role. Samuel’s heritage was one which included righteousness, thankfulness and openness to the work of God. Because of that heritage he was available when the Lord eventually spoke to him. Eli’s sons lived in selfishness, were full of unrighteous behaviour and demonstrated no relationship with God whatsoever! The stage is set in this chapter for a showdown between God and Eli’s sons and none of us would ever want to place ourselves in that position!
Luke 1:
It is good to revisit the Gospels! Two promises of special births…two individuals carrying a vision and hope. Elizabeth and Mary stand together during this incredible time and strengthen one another. This is a wonderful picture of you and I, individuals who have received the promises of God, recipients of hope and guardians of His promises. We must support one another, we must encourage the other to stand through trials, doubts, despair and the days which are ahead before the promises are fulfilled. The truth is that the words that the Lord speaks will come to pass and we see this as true in our scripture. The Book of Luke beings in Hope and at the end of the chapter we find John ready and waiting to perform his great task…the stage is set, what will happen next?
Isaiah 48:
The Lord speaks to His people and it is a challenging word. The people of God need to reflect that reality. It is not enough to merely have the name of Christ written upon your forehead, the proof of ownership must be within you and evident to any who care to look. The Lord has tried to encourage the people towards devotion but they have failed to respond and failed to submit and so now the Lord will allow affliction – the furnace of affliction to challenge and turn their hearts away from themselves and onto Him. The Lord does not delight inn allowing His people to suffer but He will allow it because of His love and permanent commitment to them. The love of a parent is not love if they never correct or direct the thinking of a young child. If they allow the child to act in a way or walk into danger without warning then they have failed. The Lord is not slack towards His people and so if nothing else will gain their attention, He will let suffering do it!
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