PART OF HIS PLAN

Have you ever felt as if things are working for everyone except you? Do you often find yourself wondering why your circumstances are uniquely different from others? Trust me, Hannah felt the same way.

1Samuel 1:1 says: 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. I’m sure it was not a coincidence that the Bible mentioned the lineage of Elkannah stating his father, grandfather and great grandfather. Nothing suggested barrenness in Elkannah’s lineage. He also had two wives: Peninnah had children and so Hannah was automatically expected to have children as well.

 Alas, the reverse was the case but her husband loved her. 1Sam1:5 further explained that the Lord had closed her womb. It was God’s plan. Even though Peninnah and Elkannah looked at Hannah’s outward circumstances, God was working on a plan through Hannah, to bring forth a priest and a judge for Israel.

During difficult times, we pray and expect God to show up in a particular way and at a particular time and we get anxious when our so called expectations fail.

We can only see what is before us: the daily challenges and the never ending worries and storms. These issues can leave us feeling disappointed at God for not showing up for us now like He’s doing for others. It can also lead to a place of envy. You see, the enemy’s target is to destroy your belief and trust in God.

At a point in my life, everything was falling apart. I prayed, believed, continued to serve and there was no improvement. Disappointment in God silently crept in. Another storm arose which became the last straw that broke the camel’s back and I found myself looking up to heaven and saying “Seriously God, when I thought it can’t get any worse, then this”. I felt so hopeless and just wanted to give up.

But praise to the One who leaves ninety sheep to find one lost sheep, through constant devotion to God’s word, I found my encouragement in God again and things started to fall in place. Looking back at those times, I can’t but ask for God’s forgiveness for not trusting Him all the way.  I realized that all the events were part of His plan to help me attain spiritual maturity and total confidence in Him, although I could not see it at that time.

Focus that energy on trusting God and His ways even when you don’t understand them, knowing that God causes everything (and not some) to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. Romans 8:28NLT. Rejoice in the truth that God has plans for peace and well-being for you and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jer.29:11

Just like Hannah had every good reason to be bitter and discouraged. She was not like other women; she shared her husband with a woman who ridiculed her. Her loving husband could not solve her problem. But instead of retaliating and giving up hope, Hannah gave her burdens to the Lord and she realized that her prayers paved the way for her miracle.

Had Hannah not gone through the waiting stage; she would not have been desperate to make a promise to give the child back to the Lord in service. Her son, Samuel may have been raised together with his brothers and sisters whose names we never heard again throughout the Bible.

However, Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child wearing a linen ephod (1Sam 2:18). Although he was not born in the lineage of priests and conferred with the title automatically like Eli and his sons (1Sam 1: 27-28), God orchestrated Samuel’s life in a way that he trained as a priest and became a faithful priest and judge till the end.

May be you are at your wits’ end and about to give up hope or look for an alternative, I plead with you to hang on. He is not an unjust God. He has a plan and whatever you are going through now is a part of that plan; He’s working it out.

Ignore the ridicule, choose to see beyond the judging looks, get on your knees in desperation like Hannah and experience the GOD WHO IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE CAN ASK OR IMAGINE.