Great Trials Before Great Triumph

 

The first sixteen verses of 1 Samuel paint for us a pathetic picture of Hannah.  In a few bold strokes they depict for us a very devout soul under many sore trials.  In His providence God permitted Hannah to endure all those trials before He ever answered her prayers and gave her Samuel as her son.

Like Hannah, we very often have to endure great trials before we receive the answers to our prayers.  Let us examine her trials to see if they strike a familiar chord with us.  Her first trial was her lack of children.  It was a natural, noble, and understandable desire that she had; yet she was barren, and that by God’s intention, according to verse 6.  You may have a desire, not necessarily for children, but for something else.  It may be a legitimate, worthwhile desire; yet God, for His own purposes, may be withholding it from you for a time.  Hannah also endured the trial of her competitor’s taunting. Peninah’s name means either “pearl” or “coral.”  She was certainly no gem and had all the abrasive cutting qualities of coral.  Her perpetual carping and sniping would have been a great hardship for Hannah to endure.  Perhaps you are, like Hannah, now suffering under the barbs of such an adversary.  Hannah also endure the trial of a long wait.  Her condition continued “year by year.”  So also you may have to wait for many years to see the answer to your prayers.  Not the least of Hannah’s trials was the difficulty of her husband’s lack of wit.  Nothing could be better to Hannah than ten sons except she had a son herself.  Sometimes we find ourselves the recipients of very cold comfort from those who ought to know better.  The last of her trials was the misunderstanding she suffered at the hands of her spiritual leader.  Eli totally misread the scene before him in the tabernacle.

We look at Hannah as the blessed mother of Samuel, a joy to any mother’s heart.  We want to realize how God used those trials to mold her character before He ever answered her prayer.  To her it could apply, “But the God of all grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.”  Before you give up under great trial, remember that there is a great triumph coming.

Where the Bush Burns
Tomm Tice