From: takeaminute+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:39:36 +0000
Subject: Take a Minute Digest for takeaminute@googlegroups.com - 1
Message in 1 Topic
To: Digest Recipients <takeaminute+digest@googlegroups.com>
=============================================================================
Today's Topic Summary
=============================================================================
Group: takeaminute@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/topics
- -- Wednesday, 9/22/10 -- INFLUENTIAL FRIENDS -- 1 Samuel 1:6, 8,
13-14 [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/t/5ea5339662a3f40d
=============================================================================
Topic: -- Wednesday, 9/22/10 -- INFLUENTIAL FRIENDS -- 1 Samuel 1:6, 8, 13-14
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/t/5ea5339662a3f40d
=============================================================================
---------- 1 of 1 ----------
From: "J.R. & Bonnie Ricks" <j-r-and-bonnie@dogwoodministries.org>
Date: Sep 21 05:09PM -0500
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute/msg/da20d759fe593dd7
Take a Minute is a daily devotional ministry of
Dogwood Ministries, Inc.
If you need prayer. contact our partners in ministry.
SJ Ministries - Ministry of Prayer <http://sjministries.co.uk/>
Or simply send your request to SJMinistries@aol.com
All other requests, please see the end of the devotional
for Dogwood Ministries addresses
INFLUENTIAL FRIENDS -- 1 Samuel 1:6, 8, 13-14
And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in
order to irritate her. 1 Samuel 1:6 NIV
Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why
don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten
sons?" 1 Samuel 1:8 NIV
Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was
not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, "How long will you
keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." 1 Samuel 1:13-14 NIV
The people around Hannah were a big help. Peninnah, Elkanah's other wife,
was a total pain in the neck, constantly making fun of Hannah for her
barrenness. She was jealous of Elkanah's love for Hannah, probably secretly
wishing that Elkanah would exercise his option to divorce Hannah for her
barrenness. Her jealously manifested itself in her ridicule of Hannah.
Then there was good old Elkanah. He loved Hannah so much, he even gave her
a double portion of the sacrificial meat - a great honor and a sign of his
devotion to her. He honestly couldn't understand her frustration, thinking
she should be satisfied with just their relationship.
To top it off, Hannah even had problems with Eli - her priest. Think of him
here as the pastor of her church. He totally misunderstood her motives,
misread what was going on and accused her of showing up at church drunk!
You would have thought that the three people closest to Hannah would have
been her greatest supporters, right? But they were not. Instead, they just
compounded her problem... because none of them looked at the situation with
God's eternal eyes. They looked at the outward circumstances and used their
human logic to act.
Sadly that's just how it happens in the real world. even with Christians.
We look at our own circumstances and those of our friends with our limited
understanding and act accordingly. Sadly, when we are in the middle of a
major problem, our closest Christian friends can become our biggest problem,
giving us our biggest headaches. Picture this. Everything in your life
starts falling apart. You pray for guidance, and are doing exactly what God
leads you to do through prayer and His word. Suddenly, every Christian
friend you have is in there criticizing you. "You brought this on yourself!
The only reason this happened is because you didn't have enough faith! Have
more faith!" "Obviously, there's some sin in your life that you have not
confessed. Get right with God!" "You just don't know how to pray!" "Do
this! You're not following the rules!" "Get it right, and God will answer
your prayer!" And it gets worse before it gets better.
The point is... in the middle of her trial, Hannah turned to the source -
God Almighty. And she stuck by Him in spite of what everyone around her
said.
The same goes for you and me. Walk down the path Jesus sets for you, and
ignore the criticism that may come. If what you are doing is in line with
His word and His will, let Him be the one to guide you. People make
mistakes. Jesus doesn't.
--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~-
-
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"TakeAMinute" group.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email with "Unsubscribe" in the subject
line to J-R-and-Bonnie@dogwoodministries.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/takeaminute
General correspondence or to subscribe to Take a Minute:
J-R-and-Bonnie@dogwoodministries.org
Donations to Dogwood Ministries: http://www.dogwoodministries.org
<http://www.dogwoodministries.org/>
Personal correspondence to Bonnie Ricks: bonnie@dogwoodministries.org
Personal correspondence to J.R. Ricks: j-r@dogwoodministries.org
--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~--~-
-
No comments:
Post a Comment