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Hannah: A Biblical Character of Worship

March 15, 2021 Patti Greene

Hannah’s Dedication

In Chapters 1 and 2 of 1 Samuel, a touching story expresses Hannah’s complete dedication toward God. Elkanah was the husband of two women—Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was barren. Every year when the two women accompanied their husbands to the temple to worship and sacrifice, Hannah would weep because Peninnah would provoke her due to her having no children. Being oppressed in spirit one year, Hannah prayed and wept bitterly and made a vow that if the Lord gave her a son, she would let Him have the child for service. The priest Eli heard her prayer. He mocked her and accused her of being intoxicated. However, when he saw that she was afflicted and not drunk, he said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him” (1 Sam. 1:17). In due time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son which she and Elkanah named Samuel. Hannah said, “For this boy, I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the LORD” (1 Sam. 1:27-28). After weaning him, they brought the boy to Eli to serve in the house of the Lord.

Hannah’s Distress

In this Bible story, we see that Hannah was distressed. She prayed, cried out to the LORD, made a vow, listened to what Eli told her, trusted God, conceived, had a son, and remembered her vow to give her first child to the Lord for service by bringing him to Eli. Hannah started by worshiping the LORD in the temple, but we see it more profoundly after she dedicated Samuel to serve.

In her beautiful Song of Thanksgiving and Worship, we read:

My heart exults in the LORD,

My horn is exalted in the LORD,

My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,

Because I rejoice in Thy salvation.

There is no one holy like the LORD,

Indeed, there is no one besides Thee,

Nor is there any rock like our God (1 Sam. 2:1-2).

Hannah’s Worship

Because worship is unique to every individual, Hannah’s worship experience was not like Abraham, Jacob, Isaiah, or Mary of Bethany. However, we see Hannah using elements from each of them in her worship of the LORD, as stated in Real Worship: Playground, Battleground, or Holy Ground by Warren Wiersbe. For example, she conversed with God (like Abraham), she made a vow (like Jacob), she heard Eli speak (like Isaiah listened to the angels), and she gave her best to the LORD—Samuel (like Mary of Bethany gave perfume). ¹ Furthermore, she trusted in the promise of God when Eli said. “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him” (1 Sam. 1:17).

There are multiple reasons we know she worshiped God. First, she approached the LORD with an honest and sincere heart. Second, she had a focused purpose in communicating her desire to God. Third, she waited for God with a humble attitude; we see that by Hannah’s initial deep cries in the house of God that worship filled her heart even before her prayer of thanksgiving. Fourth, Hannah centered her life on God and His power by pouring her entire being to the LORD. Hannah’s ultimate blessing included her transformation from a barren woman to a child-bearing mother. After she conceived and weaned Samuel, her worship prayer included:

-An exalted heart,

-A mouth speaking boldly against enemies,

-A rejoicing in her salvation, and

-An acknowledgment that there is no one besides God.

Our Experiences

In today’s context, Christians can worship as Hannah did. Many times, when people experience trauma and distress, they give up on the LORD. They are not patient enough to wait on Him to work. Being impatient can diminish confidence in the Holy Spirit leading one’s life. However, every believer who yearns to empty himself of sin and live for Christ can worship like Hannah. We must continually train our church congregants to know what to do at all stages of their lives. We might not be going to the temple to worship, but we can go to church. We might not be experiencing barrenness, but we are experiencing something. We might not get our prayers answered as Hannah did, but we can trust that God knows the big picture of our lives, and He knows what He is doing.

Prayer:

O, dear heavenly Father, may my life seek Your will. May I feel at home with You enough to share both my distress and hearts’ desires? I seek Your wisdom. I give my life to You. Let me do all that is honorable in Your sight now and for the rest of my life. In Your name—the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bible Verses:

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Matthew 6:24)

Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker (Psalm 95:6)

For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36).

God Bless,

Edited by E. Johnson

¹Wiersbe, Warren. Real Worship: Playground, Battleground, or Holy Ground? 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004. p. 82.

Bible verses come from The New American Standard Bible.

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God’s Heart

February 13, 2020 Patti Greene

A Love Story

We all love an upright and virtuous love story—the kind that moves our hearts to cheer wholeheartedly for that couple whose love seems unquenchable. We might even find ourselves reading those love stories or watching those movies repeatedly.

The story is told about an elderly couple in a nursing home that eats together every day. They have been married for 63 years. The wife had a stroke and can’t stand, eat, talk or do anything for herself. He doesn’t need to live in a nursing home, but he does so anyway, just to be with her. Every day he eats his food, feeds her, and sits next to her, looking at her like he must have the day they were married.¹ His unconditional, undying love and loyalty is quite evident.

This is how our Heavenly Father looks at us! This is how much He loves us.

God’s Heart

Our God is forgiving. He is merciful and loving. His heart is clean and pure. Furthermore, He marks Himself with all the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

When we think of how a heart works, we are awed by its uniqueness and importance. Our heart muscle sends blood through our bodies. This vital muscle provides oxygen and beneficial qualities to the four chambers of our hearts. Working through our valves, our blood moves through our veins and arteries and circulates to keep us alive. Our hearts may sometimes give out an extra LUB-DUB. While we want our hearts to be continuously perfect, they sometimes fail us. But God never fails us; His heart is perfectly filled with compassion, love, mercy, kindness, and more.

I Want

a. I want my heart to beat like God’s heart.

b. I want to let His heart be my heart.

c. I want His blood circulating through me… do you?

How to Let God’s Heart Become Your Heart

King David wrote, “My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh sing for you to the living God.” (Psalm 84:2) But, how do we fill our hearts so much with God’s love that our hearts are aligned with His heart?

First, we must know Him. We know God by believing in Jesus Christ, confessing our sins to Him, and trusting Him with our lives. This is proven when we change our heart of stone to a heart filled with His love. Gradually, or sometimes immediately, you will notice that you are not the same person you once were. Your heart starts to become more sensitive to what is right and what is wrong. Our lives start to emulate God’s character.

Second, we become sanctified. The process of sanctification is where we grow in our faith and notice that we are becoming more and more like Him. Our commitment to the Lord becomes stronger and more pronounced. Sanctification occurs when we desire His heart. That does NOT mean we have to be perfect. But we will notice ourselves desiring the things of God more, i.e. reading the Bible, praying, worshipping with other believers, repenting, and praising Him.

Third, in the Old Testament, the Bible notes that King David’s heart is after the heart of God. Whenever we admit our sins and repent, our heart becomes purified and undefiled—like the heart of God.

God Loves You

In the Old Testament, when God abandoned Saul as the king of Israel, He tasked the prophet, Samuel with finding a replacement. In his search for a new ruler, Samuel came to Jesse to evaluate each of Jesse’s sons for the job. About one of them, Eliab, the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him, for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)

God knows our inner selves—our hearts and our secrets. Because of this, we can all go to Him expressing our fragile and honest souls to Him. Bearing our souls to God is our privilege. As a result, we can ask Him to show us how we can become more and more like Him and how we can make His heart our heart.

Psalm 44:21 says, “He knows the secrets of the heart.” So, as we are reassured in Scripture that He knows us, we can go to the throne of grace, praying for Him to change us to become all He desires us to be.

God loves us with an everlasting love. His heart yearns for us to submit all to His will and for us to be obedient to follow the directives laid out in His Holy Word because He has given us His heart through His Word.

As the man in the nursing home cared diligently for his wife, God cares for us like that with His whole heart. Let’s let His heart become our heart.

Bible Verses

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. (Psalm 9:1)

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29)

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

Prayer

Heavenly Father. Oh, how I love You. It seems so hard some days to align my heart and will to Yours. Show me my sins, let me confess them and change my heart to desire Your heart. I know this is a daily thing. Help me to be consistent in giving up my life every day to You. Give me the desire to follow You, to love You, and to obey You. Please make my heart so soft and moldable that it becomes more like Your heart every day. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless.

Works Cited

¹Chernoff, Angel. 60 Short Love Stories to Cheer You Up. Marc and Angel Hack Life. Accessed 5 Feb 2020. https://www.marcandangel.com/2013/02/13/60-short-love-stories-to-cheer-you-up/

All Bible verses come from the New American Standard Bible unless noted otherwise.

Edited by E. Johnson.

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Patti Greene’s Bio

Patti Greene is a fun-loving (but serious) coffee drinking wife, mom, and Grammi! She serves as a Bible teacher and Sunday School helper in her home church in Katy, Texas. She writes and speaks with the sole purpose of leading and maturing others in Jesus Christ and His everlasting love. To receive blogs from GreenePastures.org delivered straight to your email, please sign up from this blog or email her at Patti@GreenePastures.org with your email address, and you will be added to the email listing. You will need to confirm your decision to be added to the blog by email. You can also catch up with her on her Twitter feed at (@PattiGreene13) or her Facebook Patti Greene-Pastures page at (https://www.facebook.com/author.greene).

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It’s the Inconveniences that Get to Me!

November 11, 2017 Patti Greene 2 Comments

What Is An Inconvenience?

All human beings experience inconveniences every now and then. The word “inconvenience” and its derivatives come under different terms such as disruption, aggravation, hassle, trouble, stress, difficulty, and more.

This past week (Thursday, to be exact), I had my day scheduled—Bible study, writing my blog, cleaning closets, working in the yard, but in the afternoon, my mother became very ill: the kind of “ill” that required a trip to the Emergency Room.

After evaluation, my mother was admitted to the hospital. Being the only daughter, I am the designated sibling to stay at the hospital with my mother each evening—not that I minded in the least. During the four-day hospital stay, my schedule was disrupted and I didn’t accomplish anything on my “to-do” list.

This is NOT the kind of inconvenience I am talking about.

The kind of inconvenience I am talking about is the annoying inconveniences that cause one’s stress level to heighten, one’s blood pressure to elevate, and one’s heart rate to become erratic. These usually happen because our mind is set on what we want to do, but then something gets in our way and produces a different schedule other than our anticipated one.

To Illustrate

On Tuesday, I went to the drug store. I arrived home only to realize that I forgot to pick up a medicine I really needed. I sighed and berated myself because I had to drive back to the store during Houston’s horrendous rush hour traffic. It was inconvenient!

On Wednesday, my computer wasn’t cooperating. My husband wasn’t home to fix it. I moaned and groaned. Why? Because I wanted to do what I wanted to do right then and there without having to wait—because waiting is inconvenient!

It sounds foolish that I stress out over trivial and insignificant things. I am a Christ-follower who is supposed to be patient, kind, and self-controlled, but just a small inconvenience can upset my spiritual life, my thought processes, and my physical health dramatically.

I know God sees my inconsequential aggravations and stress. I wonder, though, what He thinks about my petty annoyances while He is handling big problems like wars, death, floods, earthquakes, false prophets, shootings, child abuse, drug abuse, and evil.

What does God think about my triviality?

“Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is.” C.S. Lewis-www.GreenePastures.org

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Biblical Characters Who Were Inconvenienced

The Bible is full of people who were inconvenienced. Some are only inconvenienced for a short period of time—others for years.

Saul was inconvenienced when he was charged to look for his father’s lost donkeys. When Saul decided to return to his father without locating his donkeys, Saul’s servant suggested they look for “a seer” in a different town to inquire about the journey they had set out upon. In those days, seers were also known as prophets. Saul had been inconvenienced again by having to go to a different city than he had planned. However, while there, God arranged for the prophet Samuel and Saul to meet and Saul was anointed to be the King of Israel. Here we see that disruptions and inconveniences of are often part of the Lord’s plans for our life. (1 Samuel 9-10)
Jesus was inconvenienced when the people kept following him wanting His attention, but He welcomed and ministered to them in love. (Luke 23:27-29)
The disciples were tired and wanted to rest, but Jesus inconvenienced them by asking them to feed the 5,000. (Matthew 14:15-21)
Paul was inconvenienced by being arrested and put in prison time after time when all he wanted to do was spread the gospel. (Acts 21:31-37)

In each of these situations, the Bible reveals that great things occurred out of inconveniences. A king was crowned. Ministry took place. People were miraculously fed. And the gospel was spread through Paul’s writings in prison.

Have you ever thought about how we should respond when we experience difficulties?

How to Respond to Inconveniences, Disruptions, Aggravations, Hassles, Inopportunity, Troubles, and Difficulties

Recognize that the inconveniences we encounter are there to grow us closer to the Lord and to prepare us for what else might come in our future.
Pray immediately by giving the situation to the Lord and seek His purpose for it.
Understand and meditate on the Word of God with thanksgiving.
Look at inconveniences as divine opportunities.
Control anger.

A Look-Back

Referring to my earlier illustrations . . .

When I returned to the drug store, I found a lonely soul who needed my smile.

When my computer didn’t work, I was able to find something more constructive to do.

If only I wouldn’t have allowed those inconveniences to get the best of me before I saw the benefits.

Well, maybe next time I will!

Bible Verses:

“In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)