Psalms 65 is a wonderful song of thanksgiving praising God for the beauty of the earth. Even nature gets involved with this praise in verses 12 and 13 when it tells how the hills gird themselves with joy and the valleys sing for joy. As we continue with the story of Hannah, she brings Samuel to live in the temple with Eli, and afterwards gives her own song of thanksgiving. She too sings for joy rejoicing in her deliverance. God blessed her, a barren woman, with a son, Samuel. She praises God for God’s holiness, steadfastness, all knowing, and power. She tells how God can turn things around. Those who were stumbling, now have power. Ones who were starving, are now fat with food. Barren women now give birth to seven children. What a contrast from the “bitter of soul” woman we encountered last week. She realizes that the Lord who can bring death, can also raise up. God can bring low but can also lift high, raising the poor from the dust, and the needy from the garbage pile. She, her...

“...pouring out my soul before the Lord.” I Samuel 1:15  In I Samuel 1 we find a troubled Hannah. You see in that time one of the only things a woman could do to have any notoriety was to give birth to a son. But alas, Hannah hasn’t been able to do so. She is barren. Rubbing salt into the wound is her husband’s other wife who has born sons and gives Hannah a bad time about it. Reading between the lines one might guess that this wife is actually jealous of Hannah since her husband seems to love her more shown in how he gives Hannah double portions.  The men in this story provoke her more. Her husband saying, “Aren’t I better than ten sons.” Then we have Eli, the priest, accusing her of being drunk. He thinks this since when she prays her lips are moving, but no verbal words are coming out. This is because she is deeply distressed. The scripture tells us that she wept bitterly, translated in other Bible versions as having “bitterness of soul.” As she explains it to Eli in her...

  “Jesus wept.” John 11:35 Jesus wept is the shortest verse in the Bible yet one of the most powerful since it gets us in touch with the humanity of Christ. The verse appears in the story of Lazarus. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were siblings who were close to Jesus. Yet when Jesus hears the news that Lazarus is sick he doesn’t rush to him but instead he purposefully stays away two days. He tells his disciples he does this so that many may believe. Jesus doesn’t arrive until Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days. When Jesus sees Mary and the friends of Lazarus weeping, he is greatly disturbed and greatly moved. The King James version uses the word troubled and tells how He groaned in spirit. Jesus shows great empathy for the friends of Lazarus who are suffering from this loss and he weeps along with them. Even though he knows He’s going to raise him from the dead for the greater purpose of the disciples and others to believe in his divinity, his humanity feels the pain and sorrow...

  “The Lord watches over the strangers, He upholds the orphan and the widow.” Psalms 146:9 A wonderful example of this verse is the story of Ruth and Naomi. Most times when it’s taught, Ruth’s loyalty to her mother n law Naomi is emphasized with her famous words of: “ Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Your God, my God.” When you read the entire book of Ruth, however, you will see God’s loyalty to these two widows. How God truly watched over them, protected, and provided for them. Together they return to Naomi’s homeland Judah where they hear there is food. Ruth here is not only a widow, but she is a Moabite - a stranger. One provision the Jewish people had for the poor was the practice of gleaning. Once the fields had been picked they allowed the poor who included widows, orphans, and strangers to “glean,” pick up what was left - the remnants of the harvest.  So, Ruth, the poor widow and stranger, in order to provide for her and Naomi, goes to a field to ...