“Pouring
Out My Troubles” by Melanie Rigney
As she remained long at prayer before the LORD, Eli watched
her mouth, for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were moving, her
voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking her drunk, said to her, “How long will
you make a drunken show of yourself? Sober up from your wine!” “It isn’t that,
my lord,” Hannah answered. “I am an unhappy woman. I have had neither wine nor
liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the LORD. Do not think your
handmaid a ne’er-do-well; my prayer has been prompted by my deep sorrow and
misery.” Eli said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you
have asked of him.” (1 Samuel 1:14-17)
My heart exults in the Lord, my
Savior. (1 Samuel 2:1)
Jesus rebuked him and
said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him, and with a
loud cry came out of him. (Mark 1:25-26)
Piety
Father, I feel I am of little value
to the world. Help me to embrace Your eternal love.
Study
We all have moments where we feel
“less than:” less than a family member, a friend, a colleague, maybe even an
enemy. Often, we’re wrong and recover our equilibrium after we stop think about
our emotions… or perhaps we pray, or maybe we come up with a juicy
rationalization to power us past our feelings of inadequacy.
But in Hannah’s case, she didn’t
just feel “less than.” While her husband loved her very much and was kind to
her, his other wife was not. The other wife, it seems, delighted in provoking
Hannah, taunting Hannah about Hannah’s barrenness and the other woman’s
fruitfulness.
We meet Hannah today after one such challenging
encounter during the family’s annual pilgrimage. She went to the temple to
pray—and to offer a bargain. If the Lord were to give her a son, she would turn
him over to the Lord. It’s easy to imagine the depth of her pain and sorrow,
especially at that moment. She had just left a dinner where she had had to
smile and seem happy, even though it likely had followed one of those taunting
sessions by the other wife. Only God could understand her situation—and, she
knew, only God could change it.
And change it, He would—with the
birth of Samuel.
We live in a time where we can so
easily share our sorrows with the world and look for those supportive (and okay,
yes, sometimes taunting) comments and emoticons. Those interactions can help us
with a reset or affirm our less-than-ness for a moment. But no one else can
understand our situation—and only God can change it. Hannah’s story is a good
reminder that we can not find the Great Healer on Instagram, Twitter, or
Facebook. He wants to hear it all, and no often how often He hears it, He
listens and offers comfort.
Action
Pour out your troubles in prayer.
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