2 favorites

Today's Life Journal readings include 2 of my favorites.  One is the story of Hannah, who is heartbroken because she has no children.  1 Samuel 1: 10 describes her response:

In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.

She brought all of her disappointment, sorrow, and bitterness to the only One who could truly understand her heart.  She "poured out her soul" (v 15) to the only One who could really help her.  I believe she held nothing back.  She was so lost in prayer that the priest thought she was drunk.

C. S. Lewis wrote that "The prayer preceding all prayers is "May it be the real I who speaks, and the real Thou that I speak to."  I pray that prayer daily.  I don't want to pray empty words out of dutiful routine.  I want to pour my heart out to God.  And as I do, as I seek God in prayer, I want to find God as He really is.  Authenticity, such a buzz word in today's culture, is an ancient value.

And then Hannah trusts God to answer her prayer.  Verse 18 says "Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast."  At least nine months before she would actually meet her son Samuel, the answer to her prayer, she believed.  By the way, this story also reminds me to treasure my boys (what a gift they are!) and reminds me that they belong to the LORD.

(My 2nd favorite in today's reading is in Psalm 66:16, where I found the words sung in one of my favorite David Crowder Band songs.  "Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.")