TODAY’S SCRIPTURE 1 Samuel 1:9-18
There is nothing worse than heart-wrenching, gut-aching despair. At times, we have experienced the pain of feeling being hopeless and alone. Hannah has reached this point in her life when she finds herself distressed, praying, and weeping in the temple. Her sorrow is so apparent that Eli assumes her to be drunk. The root of her heartache is in her inability to have children and her husband’s other wife teasing and torturing her over it. Hannah’s problem is something out of her reach to fix or control, so what could she do? Her feelings of helplessness have become overwhelming.
I can’t pinpoint when or where I first heard the phrase “Give it to God,” but this kind of attitude is one that leads us to finding peace in situations that are completely out of our hands. This is actually the remedy that Eli gives to the very distressed woman he finds in the temple praying. His words of encouragement are, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to Him” (1 Samuel 1:17). While some read this and shrug it off as a superficial, shallow answer to a big, horrible problem, Hannah sees the wisdom in Eli’s words. As a result, Scripture tells us what she does: she says, “‘Let your servant find favor in your eyes.’ Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad” (1 Samuel 1:18). There are times in our lives that we find ourselves in absolute despair because a situation, circumstance, or problem that we face, by our doing or otherwise, and we ask ourselves, “What can I possibly do?” As we seek peace in that moment, the greatest decision we can make is to “give it to God.” Should we cease to do things to help our situation? No. Should we stop looking for a solution? No. But we can choose to rely on the greatness of our Lord that reigns whose power is unmatched. I hope for our sakes we choose more frequently to have peace by “giving it to God.”
Today I will…choose to “give it to God.” I will choose to tell Him through prayer about the burden or pain I feel and I will allow myself peace, resting assured that God is able to work in all things for His will for my life.
