“One day, when Elkanah was sacrificing, he gave a portion of the sacrifice to his wife P’ninah and portions to each of her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved Hannah, even though Adonai had kept her from having children.“-1 Samuel 1:4
So we’re told when Elkanah visited Shiloh to make his yearly sacrifice to the Lord, he gave a portion of the sacrifice to his wife P’ninah…
But then he gave a DOUBLE portion to his other wife Hannah.
Why?
It’s because he loved her in spite of the fact she was barren and couldn’t have any children.
In other words, Elkanah pitied and really empathized with Hannah’s pain in not being able to have any children.
Now there’s an interesting perspective expressed by the Scriptures here I don’t want you to overlook.
Notice verse 4 says…“even though Adonai had kept her from having children”.
The reason I bring this up is because it’s so common in the evangelical Christian world to harbor the BS notion that only good comes from God and not evil.
However, this is contrary to what the Scripture says.
Take a look at the following verses:
“I form light, I create darkness;
I make well-being,
I create woe;
I, Adonai, do all these things.”
-Isaiah 45:7
“When the shofar is blown in the city,
don’t the people tremble?
Can disaster befall a city
without Adonai having done it?”
-Amos 3:6
“Don’t both bad things and good proceed
from the mouth of the Most High??”
-Lamentations 3:38
See, the ancient Hebrews had no problem with accepting the idea that both positive and negative things come from God…
I’m not talking about harboring an attitude of bitterness or blaming either.
It was a simple, matter of fact understanding that that was the way God operated and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it.
I know this is a hard pillow to swallow…
For example, I was in Japan when the big earthquake struck here followed by the nuclear power accident.
In fact, I was actually working at TEPCO when it happened.
Thousands of people lost their lives in one day…
And hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes literally overnight.
It chills me to think that such a terrible disaster wouldn’t have occurred without the Lord’s approval.
Yet that is what the Scripture says.
The Hebrews didn’t view God as a being who only sends blessings and not evil…
Nor do they always blame bad things on the devil like the Christians do…
Simply because that ain’t what the Bible says about how God operates homies.
Over and out.
Without doubt it is so frustrating to try and explain to people that ALL things are made by God and there is nothing that exists that was not made through Christ. (John 1:3) And whereas we are all conceived and born sinners (Psalm 51:5 & 58:3) we much prefer to embrace the God of our own imaginations than that of the God Who reveals Himself through His Written Word.
It is just natural human nature to be idolators, and so we endevor to make God in our own image(s) while convincing ourselvea we are correct in our illusions and God needs re-education.
Let us thank God, through His Perfect Sacrifice, Jesus, that we are forgiven for embracing such a misguided deception that anything exists outside of God’s active will and intentional action. It is not a surprise that as naturally born sinners we can reinterpt “all things” to mean “only some things” and to grace the Adversary with independent and self-originating creative powers all his own. To listen to some people, God is pretty much just an observer to His own creation while we creatures dictate to God what He can or cannot do or may or may not determine.
Crazy world, isn’t it? 🙂
Mark,
You nailed it. This is it exactly: “we much prefer to embrace the God of our own imaginations”
It is a grace to be able to see the Lord as He actually *is* – as much as possible. And to bend our human expectations and demands to Him as ultimate reality. To whatever degree we don’t see things His way, we are at odds with reality.
Thanks guys. You’ve nailed it. Our brains are so small to fully comprehend the love of Adonai.
@Gachoka, keep us posted. Following keenly.
It’s simple, the Most High God Elohim allows bad things to happen to us to teach us so we can learn to do good and be good. Shalom!
Amen, Robert!
Allows? As in He is not in total, absolute control of all things, that He is not the Author of all things, that anything can happen without it directly orginating from Him? Hmmmm…I am not inclined to see that God “allows” anything as everything originates from Him — everything. Everything as in ALL things are of and by God. Consider Isaiah 45:7 – “I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I, the Lord do all these things.” (KJV).