Misconstrued
Hannah is one who experienced cruel provocation from one closely acquainted with her struggle over barrenness (1 Samuel 1:6-7). She knew great distress from both the [public] stigma of her condition and the unfulfilled [personal] desire (v. 15). She even knew the sacrifice of walking through the fulfillment of her vow to the Lord (v. 22, 24, 28).
Yet, what strikes me as perhaps the most acute sting lies not in the way she was tormented by a rival, or grieved by a sharp longing, but how it was when she was most raw before her God that she was accused of wrongdoing. “As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine’” (1 Samuel 1:12-14).
When all of the outside pressures – the ridicule, the hopelessness, the shame – seemed to pound in on her, she laid herself before the Throne, with the hope of being heard, and of making sacrifice. She had made God her refuge, had sought His face (Psalm 119:58); had stood in vulnerability, not questioning God for His withholding. Humbled before her Creator, she was willing only that she could give back to Him (1 Samuel 1:11).
And yet, it was as she stood there with an audience before her Sovereign, that her earnestness was viewed as immorality. Hannah’s heartfelt cries were construed as drunkenness; her fervent petition somehow perceived as delusion. She was rebuked by one who was close enough to witness her tears, but who was unable to discern that her heart was right with God.
At first it strikes me as a lamentable and needless form of salt to an already tender wound.
And yet, God had specifically ordained that Eli react to something which he saw in Hannah. Perhaps the Lord exposed Eli to Hannah’s vulnerability to have him witness that raw transparency before one’s Maker; or perhaps even to challenge him later with the tangible answer to Hannah’s prayers (1 Samuel 1:26-27). Whatever the case, God had pulled him near enough to Hannah’s grief to catch a glimpse of pure surrender, and later, the power God is permitted through such an offering.
Maybe God's greatest purpose in her tears was not even in readying her to become the vessel He wanted, but in providing the avenue by which He could speak to the one beside her. For she became testimony that God will accomplish the impossible; but, perhaps even more powerfully, she also became evidence that sometimes man hastily perceives as delusion that which is the very manifestation of God’s desire within us ~
Yet, what strikes me as perhaps the most acute sting lies not in the way she was tormented by a rival, or grieved by a sharp longing, but how it was when she was most raw before her God that she was accused of wrongdoing. “As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine’” (1 Samuel 1:12-14).
When all of the outside pressures – the ridicule, the hopelessness, the shame – seemed to pound in on her, she laid herself before the Throne, with the hope of being heard, and of making sacrifice. She had made God her refuge, had sought His face (Psalm 119:58); had stood in vulnerability, not questioning God for His withholding. Humbled before her Creator, she was willing only that she could give back to Him (1 Samuel 1:11).
And yet, it was as she stood there with an audience before her Sovereign, that her earnestness was viewed as immorality. Hannah’s heartfelt cries were construed as drunkenness; her fervent petition somehow perceived as delusion. She was rebuked by one who was close enough to witness her tears, but who was unable to discern that her heart was right with God.
At first it strikes me as a lamentable and needless form of salt to an already tender wound.
And yet, God had specifically ordained that Eli react to something which he saw in Hannah. Perhaps the Lord exposed Eli to Hannah’s vulnerability to have him witness that raw transparency before one’s Maker; or perhaps even to challenge him later with the tangible answer to Hannah’s prayers (1 Samuel 1:26-27). Whatever the case, God had pulled him near enough to Hannah’s grief to catch a glimpse of pure surrender, and later, the power God is permitted through such an offering.
Maybe God's greatest purpose in her tears was not even in readying her to become the vessel He wanted, but in providing the avenue by which He could speak to the one beside her. For she became testimony that God will accomplish the impossible; but, perhaps even more powerfully, she also became evidence that sometimes man hastily perceives as delusion that which is the very manifestation of God’s desire within us ~
posted by Purple at 9:45 AM
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