Asking God: Providence

1 Samuel 1:10-11: 10 She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 She made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

Speaking to the providence of God can be a tricky thing. How does He work? Does He provide whatever we ask of Him? What does His providence look like? Well, in 1 Samuel 1:10-20, Hannah prayed for a child, and God’s providence looked like that child being born!

She prays to God for a child, and even says that she will dedicate him to God. But even through all of this, she asked these things to be given IF “You will look on the affliction of your maidservant” (v.11, 18). Even in affliction, she trusted in the judgment of God.

Hannah was barren for her entire life to this point, because “the LORD had closed her womb”. Hannah most likely believed (and rightfully so) that there was no way that she could ever have a child. She might have even doubted her relationship with God, and what He could do for her.

But we know our God, who provides generously to all without reproach (1 Timothy 6:17). We know our God, who brings peace when no peace can be found by man. So knowing those things, it is clear who we are dealing with when God opens her womb and allows her to bear a son with her husband, Elkanah. And through this, the greatest Judge in Israel’s history was born: Samuel.

This is a great story, I think we can all agree to that. But how does this story apply to us today? How do we relate this story to our personal every day lives?

Well, I would really break it down into 2 parts. The first part being that Hannah prayed to God and trusted that He would do what was best. She asked that these things be given to her if she had found favor with Him. So, I think that we have to do the same thing today. Of course, ask God for what you want, ask fervently and humbly. But we have to trust that He is going to have the best plan, because He has the best judgment. Did our savior not pray “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10; Luke 22:42)? Even in affliction, He has the best judgment. Keep that in mind.

The second part I would break it down into is that we have to dedicate our blessings to God, since they come from God! Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the father of lights in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow (James 1:17)! Hannah dedicated Samuel’s service to God, because Samuel was only a blessing to her from God!

But first we must trust in the judgment of God, that what He is doing is best. The blessing may not look like what we want it to look like, but God has the best plan possible. We need to trust in that blessing from God as a good thing. Then, when we receive that blessing, give the credit for the blessing back to God.

Ask for God’s providence, because it will always be the best plan for you, even if you don’t see it right now. Praise be to God for that!

Written by: Mason MacDonald

Bibliography:

 New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995)