Hannah was desperate. She had been patient for way too long, and it was getting more difficult to put up with Peninnah’s mockery and side comments. It got so bad that even after eating and drinking at Shiloh, scripture says Hannah was in ‘deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.’ [1 Samuel 1:9, NLT]. As you very likely already know, she meets the priest Eli who consoles her and prays that the God of Israel grants her request for a son.
When this story is told, it is one of two things that appears to be highlighted as the reason that Hannah conceived Samuel – the fervency of her prayer and the intercession of Eli the priest. Now while I do not despise the bearing of fervency in prayer or the prayer of the man who stands in the gap, it was neither the two that gave her her breakthrough.
Hannah was a disturbed woman. She had been anxious ever since Peninnah joined the family. But scripture says after Eli prayed for her, she ‘went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad’ [verse 18]. Peninnah had not moved out of the house. The mockery was not about to change, and Hannah knew it. But she went back and began to eat again [which means she had stopped eating at some point], and she was no longer sad.
Why? Because she had just obtained a confidence that what she hoped for will actually happen, an assurance of the thing she could not see. [Hebrews 11:1, NLT]. Because she was sure she’d receive the thing she hoped for, certain of the thing she could not see [GNT]. Because she had the substance of the thing not seen, and evidence of the thing she hoped for [KJV]. Because she had set her eyes on God.
Seeing was not believing for Hannah. Believing was seeing, and accepting the truth of its existence before her physical eyes could see the thing she hoped for.
Hannah’s confidence was not in her prayer, but in the God the prayer was to.
Hannah knew that all good things came from the Lord, and that God was the personification of goodness. It was not her moaning in prayer that gave her Samuel. I bet she had done same in her closet several times. It was not even Eli’s prayer for her. It was in her confidence that God had finally heard her. And this confidence she expressed by wiping her tears, putting a smile back on her face and getting under the sheets with Elkanah 😉 [1 Samuel 1:19].
Substance is the real physical matter of which a thing consists. Evidence is the basis for belief or disbelief; knowledge on which to base belief [Advanced English Dictionary]. What God expects of your faith in Hebrews 11:1 is for you to hold on to the reality of the goodness of the person to whom the prayer is made. It is holding on to a real physical matter of that thing you’ve been hoping for; to have a knowledge that all good and perfect things come from the Lord on which to base that non-commonsensical belief that you have that thing even before your eyes can see it and your hands can touch it.
What is your confidence in? Where is your substance of things hoped for? Can you have evidence of the thing you do not see? What is the expression of your faith?
Of course, all of this is nonsensical. It wouldn’t be called Faith if it wasn’t.
And to an ardent reader of the blog, Happy Birthday Yvonne OBP!! 🥰😘
Thanks for this. BLESSS YOU
Bless You tooo, NN2! See how nicely that rhymes?😉
Thanks for this. BLESSS YOU
Bless You tooo, NN2! See how nicely that rhymes?😉
Wow!!! I damn needed this word!! God may your name be praised. God bless you for sharing
God bless you too Someone! May His goodness be manifest in your life for His name sake!
Amen
Wow!!! I damn needed this word!! God may your name be praised. God bless you for sharing
God bless you too Someone! May His goodness be manifest in your life for His name sake!
Amen
God bless you Rad! Word right in season
God bless you too Sena! Thank you for always coming back! 😘
God bless you Rad! Word right in season
God bless you too Sena! Thank you for always coming back! 😘
Thanks Raddie🙌
Thank you too Rev!
Thanks Raddie🙌
Thank you too Rev!
Bless you Rad!!!!
Bless you too Yvonne! Happiest Birthday!!
Bless you Rad!!!!
Bless you too Yvonne! Happiest Birthday!!
God bless you for sharing this .
God bless you for reading Carhy! Keep coming!!
God bless you for sharing this .
God bless you for reading Carhy! Keep coming!!
Woow it is always good to have confidence in God and more so trust in him. As pastor Afrique always says trust is everything in the Christian walk with God. Surely he will certainly answer when we fully trust him. Amen
Amen Naa! Thanks for reading! Keep coming!!!
Woow it is always good to have confidence in God and more so trust in him. As pastor Afrique always says trust is everything in the Christian walk with God. Surely he will certainly answer when we fully trust him. Amen
Amen Naa! Thanks for reading! Keep coming!!!