Friday 16 June 2017

The Wife in Hannah

In today’s discovery on marriage, I am trusting God to help us consider the marriage story of Hannah as found in 1 Samuel chapter 1. In this scripture we will notice some interesting things that happened in that marriage. First it was a polygamous marriage setting with one wife having many children and the other one having none.
The second thing to note is that Hannah who was the barren wife was the one loved by the husband (1 Samuel 1:5). So we see a wife loved by her husband, preferred to her rival in marriage but she appears to be the godly one.
What has endeared me to Hannah of the Bible is the calm and humble way with which she handled her situation. Though she was in great distress and wouldn’t eat over the challenging situation she was faced with, yet she didn’t throw any tantrums neither was she involved in the blame game. She didn’t attempt to fight back because her husband’s other wife continually provoked her to irritation.
A lot of women would agree to the fact that it’s enough heart ache that you have to share your husband with another woman, but that this other woman would continually provoke you to irritation and mock you because of your challenges was more than enough reason to fight back. But rather than Hannah do anything irrational, she cried to God. The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 1:10 that in bitterness of heart, Hannah prayed her heart out to God in Shiloh. Hannah so prayed that the prophet of the sanctuary thought she was drunk.  
In faithfulness the Bible tells us that God answered her prayers and the Shiloh visit for the following year meet her with a bouncing baby boy which she dedicated to God in fulfillment of her covenant with God. That baby boy born as a result of bitter prayers became one of the greatest prophets of Bible times. Kings reverend him and regarded his words as words directly from the Lord. But the mention of Peninnah and that of her children didn’t go beyond the first chapter of the book of 1 Samuel.
This is a very different story from that of Rachel the loved wife of Jacob in Genesis 29:14-31:55. Both Hannah and Rachel had their wombs closed by the Lord yet they were loved by their husbands. Rachel made so much fuse about her situation and would always hold her husband responsible for her challenge. But Hannah recognized her problem, and though she was depressed about it, yet she had the wisdom and temperament to run to God and cry to God who was able to take away her misery.
Peninnah provoked Hannah with the intention to irritate her, but Rachel on the other hand was jealous of her sister. So we see two women faced with exactly the same predicament yet they handled it differently. Hannah gave birth to a prophet and lived happily ever after with her loving husband but Rachel died at childbirth. Hannah justified the love her husband had for her, but Rachel was a disgrace in the life of her husband.
Situations similar to this are still happening in our world today. I know of a woman whose husband abandoned her for another woman, but rather than do the needful and run to God with a pure heart, she disdained her husband. As of the last I heard of this woman’s story, her husband is with the third wife and she is still nursing the grudge and abhorring hatred for him. This hatred has not changed the situation for her or brought her husband back to him, rather it’s making it worse by the day.
We’ve all had painful experiences about marriage and I have shared my own story on this blog more than once. But the outcomes of those experiences are determined by the way we handle them. When you allow your emotions to rule your reactions to trying situations in your marriage a favorable outcome is not guaranteed. But when in wisdom you submit your situation to God and allow him lead you on what to do and how to do it, you will enjoy peace, joy, love and harmony in your marriage. Unfortunately the end always justifies the means.   

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1 comment:

  1. I really learned from d story....you can share some of your stories on my blog so people can also read and learn... wwwmodupeakeju.over-blog.com or www.modupeakeju.blogspot.com remain blessed.

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