Saturday for Sabbath School we studied about Hannah. The lesson study focused on how Hannah struggled with her self-worth because she did not have a child (a point I can't argue with), but I wished that the authors had delved a little more into the basic struggle we humans have when our desires are not met.
Year after year Hannah prayed for a son and year after year her rival tormented her. What does it mean to wait and to wait some more and, oh, just when you thought you were done waiting get another full serving of wait? "Hope deferred makes the heart sick. . ."! (Proverbs 13:12).
Hannah is not the only person who had to wait in the Bible. There's Abraham longing for a son, Jacob waiting for his wife and then waiting some more to be free from Laban, Joseph waiting in the prison, the Israelites waiting four hundred years as slaves in Eygpt, Moses working an insignificant job, Jesus waiting in the carpenters shop, and John the Baptist languishing in prison.
I also need to mention the women in the Bible who, like Hannah, had to wait for a child. There's Sarah, Rachel, Ruth (see Ruth 4:13), Samson's mother, and Elizabeth.
If we can derive anything from these stories is that God knows something about waiting. In fact, it seems some of the greatest spiritual success stories are grounded in people who had to wait.
I find that few people get praised for waiting. We wouldn't want to read a romance that ended with and she waited happily everafter. Nor do we often hear testimonies about people who lost their jobs and are still unemployed. And while, as a society, we might be tempted to judge a person who has not been blessed with temporal gifts, who knows we might just be judging a Joseph, a Moses, or a Hannah.
"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 8:1-3)
Lord, make me a good steward of my disappointments; take my waiting and make it yours.
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3 comments:
So true.
By the way, I have my gripe with the Sabbath School lessons because lately they always seem to be missing the point. Not to talk about kids' lessons - it's just terrible.
Just think of how long God's been waiting for us to get out act together so He can take us to heaven!
Marlise: Yeah, funny how that happens.
Mai: True! He has been given the longest wait ever.
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