Do you remember the song \u201cHe\u2019s Got the Whole World in His Hands\u201d? When I think of the song, it\u2019s comforting\u2014and not just for nostalgia\u2019s sake. To be held by one you trust brings feelings of safety, security, reprieve from worry and grief knowing you aren\u2019t alone. And if God can hold the whole world, surely He can hold me, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading Hannah\u2019s story has always felt like a strange mix of relief and pain to me. The journey of motherhood is hard, and like so many, I\u2019ve waited to conceive, and I\u2019ve loved babies I was never able to hold. But to be mocked and jeered at by the fertile woman she shared a husband with and then to have her character questioned by the priest, I can\u2019t imagine the weight of her pain while longing to hold her own little one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hannah\u2019s story reflects those of other women in Scripture who longed to bear children and who, in their longing, stood on the precipice of God\u2019s great work in the world. Moses\u2019s mom had her son\u2019s life threatened by Pharoah, and then she had to surrender him to be raised as an Egyptian once he was weaned. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all had moms who walked hard roads to have children of their own. John the Baptist\u2019s mom, too, was considered well past child-bearing age when the Lord intervened. God used all of these mothers\u2014Jochebed, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Elizabeth\u2014each in His story. And Hannah, refusing to take matters into her own hands, took her hurt to the Lord, fully trusting Him, \u201cI am a woman with a broken heart…I\u2019ve been pouring out my heart before the LORD\u201d (1Samuel 1:15). She pleaded her case, trusting the Lord and even promising her hoped-for son to His service in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hannah offered her pain to the Lord, and God heard her. Verse 19 says, \u201cthe LORD remembered her.\u201d Like other times this phrase shows up in the story, God was preparing to do a new work, fulfilling His promises to His people. Hannah\u2019s son, Samuel, would become the prophet who guided Israel\u2019s transition from the time of the judges to a monarchy, anointing Israel\u2019s first two kings, Saul and David. God took her faithfulness, even in her own immense grief, and He brought her comfort. And when she took her toddler son to live and serve in the tabernacle, she rejoiced in the Lord. More than delighting in her son or even her elevated station after having him, she found her delight in God. Chapter 2 records her song, expressing her deep gratitude for God\u2019s sure and steady character, His unparalleled power, and His sovereignty over all creation\u2014showing us through her faith that He indeed has the world in His hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Do you remember the song \u201cHe\u2019s Got the Whole World in His Hands\u201d? When I think of the song, it\u2019s comforting\u2014and not just for nostalgia\u2019s sake. To be held by one you trust brings feelings of safety, security, reprieve from worry and grief knowing you aren\u2019t alone. And if God can hold the whole world, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":72155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pitot"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72122],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"HANNAH<\/b>
\r\nby Becca Owens<\/i>
\r\n
Do you remember the song \u201cHe\u2019s Got the Whole World in His Hands\u201d? When I think of the song, it\u2019s comforting\u2014and not just for nostalgia\u2019s sake. To be held by one you trust brings feelings of safety, security, reprieve from worry and grief knowing you aren\u2019t alone. And if God can hold the whole world, surely He can hold me, right?<\/p>
\r\n
Reading Hannah\u2019s story has always felt like a strange mix of relief and pain to me. The journey of motherhood is hard, and like so many, I\u2019ve waited to conceive, and I\u2019ve loved babies I was never able to hold. But to be mocked and jeered at by the fertile woman she shared a husband with and then to have her character questioned by the priest, I can\u2019t imagine the weight of her pain while longing to hold her own little one.<\/p>
\r\n
Hannah\u2019s story reflects those of other women in Scripture who longed to bear children and who, in their longing, stood on the precipice of God\u2019s great work in the world. Moses\u2019s mom had her son\u2019s life threatened by Pharoah, and then she had to surrender him to be raised as an Egyptian once he was weaned. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all had moms who walked hard roads to have children of their own. John the Baptist\u2019s mom, too, was considered well past child-bearing age when the Lord intervened. God used all of these mothers\u2014Jochebed, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Elizabeth\u2014each in His story. And Hannah, refusing to take matters into her own hands, took her hurt to the Lord, fully trusting Him, \u201cI am a woman with a broken heart...I\u2019ve been pouring out my heart before the LORD\u201d (1Samuel 1:15). She pleaded her case, trusting the Lord and even promising her hoped-for son to His service in return.<\/p>
\r\n
Hannah offered her pain to the Lord, and God heard her. Verse 19 says, \u201cthe LORD remembered her.\u201d Like other times this phrase shows up in the story, God was preparing to do a new work, fulfilling His promises to His people. Hannah\u2019s son, Samuel, would become the prophet who guided Israel\u2019s transition from the time of the judges to a monarchy, anointing Israel\u2019s first two kings, Saul and David. God took her faithfulness, even in her own immense grief, and He brought her comfort. And when she took her toddler son to live and serve in the tabernacle, she rejoiced in the Lord. More than delighting in her son or even her elevated station after having him, she found her delight in God. Chapter 2 records her song, expressing her deep gratitude for God\u2019s sure and steady character, His unparalleled power, and His sovereignty over all creation\u2014showing us through her faith that He indeed has the world in His hands.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"24","scripture":"1 Samuel 1:1-28, 1 Samuel 2:1-11","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}