"The biblical way is not so much to present us with a moral code and tell us 'Live up to this'; nor is it to set out a system of doctrine and say, 'Think like this and you will live well.' The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, 'Live into this. This is what it looks like to be human; this is what is involved in entering and maturing as human beings.'" Eugene Peterson, Introduction to 1 & 2 SamuelI am grateful that I'm not being asked to live up to Hannah's example. I can't even imagine. She must understand something about God that I clearly don't.
"Hannah was desperate to bear a child, but she was more desperate to be a part of My plan than to enjoy motherhood. She sang her song of joy not when she gave birth but when she gave her little boy Samuel to a higher calling. She had no idea what the calling would be, except that it was part of My plan." 66 LLOn the day that I gave birth to each of our children, Harry and I thanked the Lord for His incredible blessing and then gave each daughter back to Him. We promised that, in His power, we would do our best to lead them to the center of His will for their lives and to not hold on to them as our idols. We knew that we were being asked to steward their lives for the Lord.
Even so, I can't fathom taking my one-year-old child and giving her to the priest at the Temple, as Hannah did. And she was joyful as she did it! Hannah saw Samuel once a year at Shiloh; she didn't get the day-to-day joy of watching her son grow into a godly man. As I try to process this, I appreciate Peterson's reminder that I'm not being asked to do exactly what Hannah did.
But I am being asked to "live into this" example. So how do I emulate Hannah?
I think it means asking God what it looks like to be holy in my situation. To seek to please the Lord - not myself - first. To gratefully receive the calling that God has on my life and the lives of my children, whatever difficulties or hardships that may entail. And to keep my eyes on God's larger story and not get stuck in the details of my smaller story.
"We do violence to the biblical revelation when we "use" it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a kind of "boutique spirituality" - God as decoration, God as enhancement. The Samuel narrative will not allow that. In the reading, as we submit our lives to what we read, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God's. God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.
Such reading will necessarily be a prayerful reading - a God-listening, God-answering reading. The story, after al, is framed by prayer: Hannah's prayer at the beginning, and David's near the end." Eugene Peterson, Introduction to 1 & 2 SamuelAs you prayerfully consider the story of Hannah, what does it mean to you to "live into this"?
3 comments:
I agree. I'm grateful that God has not asked me to give up watching my girls daily grow up. (Although there are days when I'm not sure it's a bad idea!)
To "live into this" seems much harder than "live this way" - figure out a principle or apply a method to make life work. Pleasing God (not myself); choosing holiness (not selfishness) -- I think these are ways to live into this. But, it requires much more of me than "live this way" and I don't think I get it yet.
"It disturbs Me to watch [you] follow...managerial methods more than the holy and self-denying relating that please Me no matter what happens." [66LL]
Bev - have been thinking about you all weekend and praying for you. Praying Isaiah 26:3-4 for you, my friend! Love you.
Della - I love that God has put this friend in your life. Praying for wisdom for you and plenty of God's mercy and grace for your friend. Love you too!
"Hannah was desperate to bear a child, but she was more desperate to be part of My plan than to enjoy motherhood." 66LL I too can't imagine this, more desperately wanting to be a part of His plan more than enjoying motherhood, even though I'm not a mother yet, I really hope to be one day!! More desperately wanting to be a part of His plan more than anything else. More desperately wanting to be holy, more desperately wanting God more than the perks of this world, which eventually leave us empty and thirsty for more. For Him. I look forward to continue to read and ask God to help me to surrender my story to His and make a woman just after His own heart. Not my "feel good" life.
I love to take this new perspective of "living into this" because I too often do want to hear "live this way". What is the balance? Where does my story fit into this? (I love 1 Samuel! Excited we're here already!)
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