“And Hannah answered and said, No, my
lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong
drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.” -1 Samuel 1:15
There is nothing we can bring to
God, or before God, in hopes to make an exchange. He is not a pawn shop broker, or a business
man on Wall Street looking to make a deal.
We are conditioned by this world to think that if we get something we
must first give something of equal value.
Contrariwise, if we give something we expect to get something in return. This is not so when it comes to things
of the spirit. Must we give? Must we yield? Must we pour out or souls? Yes, certainly, but it is not because God is
a miser; it is because he is merciful.
It is not because God is a tyrant, rather, he is a Savior. Peace does not come in the exchange, but in
the offering.
There has been many a person, sanctified or lost, that has
reached a point where the load they are carrying is too great for them to
bear. The cares of this world are many,
and the weight of them on the individual can be mighty. We strain and struggle, fuss and fret, over
many things; some very serious, some mole hills that have been morphed into
mountains, but the reality to us is, they are great. When the burdens of life or the burdens of
sin weigh down on a person, that person will look for a way to lighten the
load. Depending on the way you take, it
can mean victory or defeat, struggle or peace.
If the way you choose is singularly based in self then you will
fail. Self being the inherent selfish:
desires, ideals, wills, and wishes that encapsulate who you are. You can be sanctified or sinner, but if your
way is based in self (i.e. “your” way) it will bring destruction. The cares may overwhelm people and they turn
to something that will make them feel better.
This can bring destruction of all kinds.
There are those that turn to others, putting their faith in someone that
they think or believe can help or heal them.
Or, you can be the type that admits nothing, yields nothing, and simply
plods along in anguish refusing to let go because of your own pride and
arrogance. Trying to rid ourselves of
the burdens we bear by our self is like trying to get out of quicksand, the
more you struggle the faster you sink.
So what then? Where is the hope? Where is the relief? Where is the peace? Hannah was a women of sorrowful spirit and
she poured out her soul before the Lord.
There was no barter or negotiation, no expectation of immediate
gratification, or temporary solace; she was sincere, earnest, and abandoned
concerning her burden. Her hope was in
God, her faith in action, and she didn’t care who saw or how they felt about
it. There was nothing selfish about it,
only giving and yielding.
There are so many things that we turn to in this world expecting
predetermined results. It can be
something, someone, or ourselves, we turn to it expecting return. Certainly these things give back, but never
satisfy. God wants our all, but he
doesn’t want it with conditions. He just
wants us to give with abandonment. Has
he ever a sinner not pardoned? No. Has he ever a saint not lifted? No. He
is faithful, just, and true, but because he is; this does not mean that we
should take Him for granted and treat Him like an ATM machine. He wants us to “cast” all our cares, he wants
us to pour out our souls. He wants us to
give it all over, not with a predetermined expected return, rather, total
abandonment to the merits of God and Jesus Christ, because he is worthy and
there is peace in surrender.
