Love Asks Why
I recently preached a message of this title and it still resonates in my heart. We read from 1 Samuel 1, a very popular text. Focus is obviously always on Hannah, but God drew my attention to Elkanah’s cry, Love’s cry, His cry.
“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
This cry of his is based on the fact that He loved her, and out of love, he made provision for her, covering her weakness (see verse 5). But Hannah had a rival, and she was more conscious of her enemy than she was of her husband.
We’re told Peninnah would provoke her whenever they went to the temple, provoking her on the basis of her weakness, her infertility. She would provoke her in order to irritate her, provoking her until she’d cry and not eat (see verse 6 and 7). Note her rival’s timing and her intention. Note her target and how we are only told of the provocation after we are told that Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion.
Peninnah was jealous of what Hannah had, love. With all the children she had, we are not told that she was loved by her husband. She reminds me of Leah. Another woman in a polygamous marriage who learnt the hard way that the children you birthed couldn’t buy you your husband’s love (read Genesis 29:34-35). Love can’t be bought, it’s freely given. She provoked Hannah because she couldn’t change Elkanah, she couldn’t change the way He felt about her and the things he did for her out of that love. So she would provoke Hannah so that all Elkanah meant and did didn’t matter much.
Our enemy knows that there’s nothing he can do to change God’s mind about us, and he can’t take away from us what God has given us. What he does, and the only thing he can do, is mess with our minds. He provokes and taunts us in order to agitate us, to be in a state of mind where we do not acknowledge who and what we have but rather what we don’t have.
This brings us to the significance of Peninnah’s timing. She only provoked her when it was time to go to the temple. God’s sanctuary is a place of help (see Psalm 20:2). It is where we meet Him and cry out to Him with our needs (remember Solomon’s prayer at the dedication). In the right state of mind, Hannah would cry out to God about her weakness/lack/inability and God would divinely intervene and fill the gap. By affecting our state of mind, our enemy ensures that though we go to God’s house, we come out empty because our minds are too occupied to receive the provision that God has prepared for us out of love. He keeps us so occupied with our issues that even when we are in the right place to receive help we’re too disturbed to ask for it.
Love asks why we are weeping when He has given us every reason to rejoice; when we have come to Him and can cast our cares on Him. Love questions why we don’t eat, why we don’t make use of the provision He has made available to us. Love wonders why we are downhearted and hopeless when He has promised us a life in abundance. Love begs us to see His value in our lives; He is worth far more than any earthly possession.
When Hannah responds to her husband’s cry, we don’t hear of her weeping to the point of refusing to eat again. Instead we hear her praying, pouring her heart out to God. And when she does that, her face was no longer downcast, even without a baby in her hands. That’s the power, peace and provision we have available when we know God, only if we get our minds right.
“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
This cry of his is based on the fact that He loved her, and out of love, he made provision for her, covering her weakness (see verse 5). But Hannah had a rival, and she was more conscious of her enemy than she was of her husband.
We’re told Peninnah would provoke her whenever they went to the temple, provoking her on the basis of her weakness, her infertility. She would provoke her in order to irritate her, provoking her until she’d cry and not eat (see verse 6 and 7). Note her rival’s timing and her intention. Note her target and how we are only told of the provocation after we are told that Elkanah gave Hannah a double portion.
Peninnah was jealous of what Hannah had, love. With all the children she had, we are not told that she was loved by her husband. She reminds me of Leah. Another woman in a polygamous marriage who learnt the hard way that the children you birthed couldn’t buy you your husband’s love (read Genesis 29:34-35). Love can’t be bought, it’s freely given. She provoked Hannah because she couldn’t change Elkanah, she couldn’t change the way He felt about her and the things he did for her out of that love. So she would provoke Hannah so that all Elkanah meant and did didn’t matter much.
Our enemy knows that there’s nothing he can do to change God’s mind about us, and he can’t take away from us what God has given us. What he does, and the only thing he can do, is mess with our minds. He provokes and taunts us in order to agitate us, to be in a state of mind where we do not acknowledge who and what we have but rather what we don’t have.
This brings us to the significance of Peninnah’s timing. She only provoked her when it was time to go to the temple. God’s sanctuary is a place of help (see Psalm 20:2). It is where we meet Him and cry out to Him with our needs (remember Solomon’s prayer at the dedication). In the right state of mind, Hannah would cry out to God about her weakness/lack/inability and God would divinely intervene and fill the gap. By affecting our state of mind, our enemy ensures that though we go to God’s house, we come out empty because our minds are too occupied to receive the provision that God has prepared for us out of love. He keeps us so occupied with our issues that even when we are in the right place to receive help we’re too disturbed to ask for it.
Love asks why we are weeping when He has given us every reason to rejoice; when we have come to Him and can cast our cares on Him. Love questions why we don’t eat, why we don’t make use of the provision He has made available to us. Love wonders why we are downhearted and hopeless when He has promised us a life in abundance. Love begs us to see His value in our lives; He is worth far more than any earthly possession.
When Hannah responds to her husband’s cry, we don’t hear of her weeping to the point of refusing to eat again. Instead we hear her praying, pouring her heart out to God. And when she does that, her face was no longer downcast, even without a baby in her hands. That’s the power, peace and provision we have available when we know God, only if we get our minds right.
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