May 22nd

Scripture - 1 Samuel 1

Observation - In Hebrew society, one of the greatest tragedies that could happen to a woman was not being able to have children. They thought that having a child was a blessing and if you didn’t have any it was a curse. Was Hannah cursed by God to not have children? The Bible never said that God had cursed her, but he did close her womb for a season. After Hannah cried out to God and prayed, he opened her womb and she conceived Samuel, who she had promised to the Lord when he came of age. 

Application - What have you been praying for that seems unanswered? God may not always answer our prayers the way we think it should happen or how it should look. Still, God invites us to always keep praying and pressing forward. Sometimes we have to shift our prayers away from ourselves and towards those who are suffering and brokenhearted. You may not see the results of your prayers here on earth, but we can know that God does hear us and is walking with us. Beyond this life, we will be rewarded in heaven one day for our faithfulness. 

Prayer - Father, I trust in you with my entire heart. There are days though that I find my faith lacking. I find it hard to have even a small seed of faith. I pray each day you would renew that faith in me and grow it large and beyond what I could ever comprehend. I rest in the fact that you do what Your word says you will do. Grow my faith father. In your name I pray, Amen.