Saturday 17 March 2012

Annal 139: Tale from the Hole

I have discovered something most distressing.

There is a hole in the heel of my flip-flop.

They aren't expensive footwear, seeing as I only wear the $4 Walmart flip-flops, so buying a new pair isn't taxing on my bank account.  It is simply a matter of going to the store and buying another pair.  That and the fact that I tend to forget I need a new pair until I walk through a puddle.  When my right foot emerges slightly wetter than the other I am reminded of my need.

The moral of the story?  I should probably go to Walmart soon before I fall into further memory loss.

But the concept of remembering has stuck with me.

I started the book of 1 Samuel today and read about Hannah. She was one of two wives, and while the other wife had children, Hannah remained barren.  Her husband still loved her, but more than anything she wanted a child.  So she cried out to God.

Using the reading plan that I am has brought one thing consistently to my mind. 

God doesn't forget.

He promised Abraham a son and though it took far longer than Abraham and Sarah would have liked, God honoured that promise. He didn't forget it.

He heard the cries and saw the pain of the Israelites when they were in slavery.  And He remembered His promise to Abraham.  He didn't forget them.

It was promised to Rahab that she would be saved when Jericho fell. When the walls came down her home remained intact.

God promised to bring Israel to the Promised Land.  They gave Him more than enough excuses to back out, to abandon them, but He didn't.

He promised Joshua that He wouldn't leave or forsake him. He promised to be with him just as He had been with Moses.  And God continually proved this to Joshua. He didn't forget that promise.

Naomi was convinced that God had abandoned her.  But through Boaz God reminded her that He hadn't forgotten about her.  He still cared.

And then you have today's reading.  Toward the end of chapter 1 we are told that God remembered Hannah and so she conceived and gave birth to a son.  He didn't forget her pain or her desires.

What I find really interesting about this line-up of people is that not all of them were great leaders or people of prominance.  Naomi was a widow whose husband and sons died while in another land.  She came back to Israel a broken woman with a foreign daughter-in-law and no livelihood.  Hannah was a woman who could have no children.  But God still saw their pain, their sorrow.  And He remembered them.  He didn't give up on them.  Naomi didn't get her husband and sons back.  But she was given a daughter-in-law who would follow her anywhere, and a grandson to care for.  A grandson who would become the grandfather of King David.  Hannah gave her son back to God, and gave him to Eli the priest to raise.  But her son became the last judge of Israel and one of the most well-known prophets of the Old Testament.

Sometimes we get lost in our circumstances, in our pain, in our unfulfilled desires.  But we serve a God who has promised to love us and to never forsake us.  Sometimes we don't get our answers in the manner we want them. Abraham had to wait 25 years.  Israel still had to travel through a wilderness and face off against countless other nations.  Joshua still had to deal with a people who didn't always listen to what God told them.  Naomi was still a widow.  Hannah gave her son back to God.

But in each of these instances God remembered His people.  He saw them.  He never left them.  Despite their doubt, their bitterness, their grief, and their disobediance, God never stopped loving them.  He never gave up on them.

Somehow this gives me hope.

Such is the life of a Christian single.

2 comments:

  1. As trite as it sounds, I really needed to read this today. We serve a God that has our best interests at heart, and while his timeframe may not be the one that we'd like, it's the timeframe we need. And He will never leave nor forsake us. Thankyou for reminding me of that.

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  2. I don't think that sounds trite at all. I just feel relieved that there are others out there who feel the same way I do! And like you said, sometimes His timeline doesn't make sense to us and isn't at all what we want, but all we can do is trust the One who has promised to never leave us.

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