1 Samuel 1:6

1 Sam. 1:6 - ...the Lord had closed her womb.

How often do we build a theology around life’s circumstances that do not fit into our paradigm? We go through a wilderness season and immediately think that we have come out of alignment with God’s will, or we simply blame it on the devil. Throughout the bible we see the people of God suffering. In 1 Samuel ch 1 we read about a woman named Hannah who was unable to bear children. Verse 6 tells us that “the Lord had closed her womb”. This was not an attack from the enemy, nor did she have some secret sin in her life that cause God to close her womb. God knew that she would eventually give birth to a son, however there was a specific time that he needed to born. God also needed Hannah to come to place of complete surrender when it came to her son. In vs. 11 she tells the Lord that she will give her son to Him all the days of his life. So we see that not only was the timing of this child’s birth pivotal, but Hannah’s heart posture was just as important if not more so. One thing, that I love about Hannah is that she never gave up on the Lord. She continued to pour out her soul before Him (vs. 15).                     

       Hannah had a very clear understanding of how God works. In Ch 2 we see her song/prayer. In 2:6,7 she states “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.”. Hannah understood that God does not always operate the way we think He should. She knew that this situation was not about her. It was much bigger than she was, it was much bigger than her son Samuel was. They were playing a role in the prophetic journey that was leading to the birth of the Messiah. Samuel needed to be born during this time because he carried the word of the Lord for David from whom Jesus would come from! Hannah understood that God does whatever necessary to accomplish His overall plan. When we try to place God in box, we limit the way He can move in our lives. It is as though we actually rob ourselves from His blessing on our life.  I am not saying that as Christians we must live in a constant state of suffering. However there are numerous scriptures that tell us we will suffer. We will go through wilderness seasons. It is in those wilderness seasons that I want to be like Jesus and come out in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4). We have be careful not to remove ourselves out of God’s will because we think we are not in it, when in all actuality we were right smack dab in the middle of it to begin with.

Wales/Life update 8/3/12

Another rainy day in Wales....I must say that I am not a fan of the weather in the UK. However, apart from that, my time here is going well. God is using our team in awesome ways. We have built some amazing relationships with the youth of Holyhead. Close to 30 kids have given their lives to Jesus so far! We run three different meetings each week at the church, and God’s grace has been all over them. We have new kids coming to the meetings each time and God always pulls through to encounter them. It’s exciting! 

......During one of our prayer sets back in Kona, the Lord showed me a picture that I want to share. He showed me a picture of Him sitting down with me under a tree beside a river. It was the most peaceful setting. He was sitting about 2 feet away from me, looking directly into my eyes. It was almost as though He was looking through my eyes into the deepest parts of my being. He wasn’t interested in anything else other than what was on my heart. His only desire was to hear me talk. He wanted to hear my desires. He wanted to know the areas of hurt in my life. He just wanted to hear my voice.... He was showing me that He cherishes our conversations. Another thing He revealed to me through it was that our conversations never have to end! I believe that this picture is how God looks at all of us. He just wants to sit and listen to us. He is the only one who will never get tired of hearing us talk. Think about this for a second, the God who created the universe wants to sit and look deep into our eyes and listen to our heart’s cry! ....Even when we feel the furthest from Him, He is right there waiting for us to speak. He never gets up to leave the conversation. He waits patiently for us to talk. It is in the moments of uncertainty that we have to stand on the fact that His character never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His lovingkindness is everlasting. Life can throw all sorts of craziness at us, but God is constant. If we place our hope in anything other than Him, we will be thoroughly disappointed.  We can not have a perspective that only focuses on the here and now. We must have an eternal perspective. God’s timing and our timing are so often on different scales. His time frame is eternity.