Category: Scripture

From the Holy Bible

Hannah’s Sacrifice

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

The story of Hannah in I Samuel is one that has many lessons to teach, about perseverance, faith and keeping your word. Today, I want to focus on what happened to Hannah, the vow she made and the sacrifice she made to keep that vow to God.

Hannah was one of Elkanah’s wives but she was distraught because she was barren. On an annual trip to the temple, Hannah cried before the Lord, silently begging Him to open her womb. Eli, the priest there, thought she was drunk but she told him that she was not drunk but in despair. He blessed her with a prayer that God would answer her prayer.

This is the vow that Hannah made. If God would only give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord for his entire life. Sounds like a hard bargain to me, but she made it and kept it.

Hannah did indeed have a son, named him Samuel and did not go with Elkanah to the temple the next year because she told her husband that she was waiting until he was weaned so that she could give him to the Lord, just as she had promised. Now, think about it. She had no children, gives birth to her only son and promises to give him back to the Lord. That is dedication! That is keeping a promise!

Follow through is always important and Hannah is a model of following through. Once Samuel was weaned, she took him to the temple and gave him to Eli the priest to train him. Samuel worships the Lord at the temple after his mother leaves him there. I don’t know about you, but when one of my children was in a different aisle in the grocery store, I used to panic, looking everywhere him/her until they were safely next to me again. I cannot imagine leaving my child with another man, one who is a priest, but nevertheless not a relative or someone you know well and then walking away, knowing that the child will grow up there, not with me. Keep in mind that Hannah had been barren and Samuel was her only child. Yet she keeps her vow and walks away.

As a well-known commentator named Paul Harvey used to say, this is the “rest of the story.” God blessed Hannah with more children: three sons and two daughters. He saw her willing sacrifice and that she fulfilled it and blessed her above and beyond what she had given.

Hannah’s vow to God was a sacrifice that I am sure that I could not make, but she did and the nation of Israel was blessed because of her great dedication to the Lord. I am not saying that God will always do for each of us what He did for Hannah, but I am saying that when you pray to God, pray with purpose, with wholehearted determination to be heard and to hear from Him. He does always hear and always answers, just not always in the way we expect. Hannah had her prayers answered and her dreams fulfilled because she was a dedicated servant of the Lord, one who prayed instead of becoming bitter and blaming Him for her troubles. I want to be like Hannah, willing to listen to God and His answers and to receive the answer that He gives, in His time.

May you each have a blessed day and may you be fully aware of the sacrifice that God made of His Only Son so that we could become His children.

The Wicked Perish

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song1 Comment

My whole thinking about this verse has changed, I think, because I have had a heart change. When I read this verse previously, I was exultant, much as one would be when a fierce enemy is defeated. Now, I read the verse and I am saddened to think that so many will perish in their sins, lost and without hope for all eternity. Instead of praying for Jesus to return quickly, I am praying for Him to tarry so that others may be saved.

Jesus did not want sinful men to perish. Instead, He desired that we become workers in the harvest fields, telling the lost about the way to be saved.

I like the way this verse is written in The Message because it is forthright and easy to understand. We don’t have to have a lot of knowledge in order to share about Jesus. We just need to keep what we say simple…who Jesus is (the only Son of God) and what He did (died for our sins). We can use various scriptures (like the “Roman Road”) or even our own testimony. The important thing is that we share. Refer back to the first Scripture. If we don’t share, then they die in their wickedness and are lost forever. Sobering thought, isn’t it? It is an awesome responsibility that the Lord left us, but He also gave us a Helper, His Holy Spirit, to guide our words and our steps towards the people who need Him in their hearts. We need to be obedient because I truly believe that the time is shorter than it has ever been before. I am no longer willing to sit back and gleefully look forward to God’s judgment on sinful men. I must, you must, we all must, hear the call of the Lord and rescue them, as much as it is in us to do so. We have to share the Gospel in the hope that some will repent and be saved.

“Rescue the Perishing”-Islington Baptist Church

Friendship

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

Friendships in life are so important to our well-being and to our having a positive outlook on life. Six years ago, my best friend in Virginia passed away after a long illness. Heidi was the one whom I could talk to about anything and everything, including my faith. She and I both got into the habit of eating lunch together once a month, going to each other’s houses to visit and just chatting on the phone regularly. We met at the school where we both worked and since she helped me acclimate to a new school and new requirements, I looked to her for assistance a lot that first year, forming a friendship that seemed to be unlikely. You see, I’m not wealthy. Heidi was. I’m a biological child of the parents who raised me. Heidi was adopted from Germany as a child. We got to be really close when Heidi’s marriage dissolved due to her husband’s infidelity. I became the one she leaned on as she gradually came to accept that the philanderer was never coming home again and that she could survive without him. When she met Bob, her future spouse, she was so in love that it radiated from her entire being and I was delighted for her. I was her matron of honor and we celebrated this new chapter in her life together. But less than ten years later, Heidi was in terrible health. I’m so thankful that she had Bob to be by her side as she faced one devastating health crisis after another. I went to the hospital weekly to be with her, reading to her, chatting and laughing at fond memories. Friendship is important, so when Heidi died, a part of my heart died, too. She passed away only a few months before my father, so those two losses in the same year almost did me in. But God did not leave me. He never does. He made sure that I had others checking on me, calling me and lifting me up in prayer. God’s friendship is eternal and we never have to worry about death separating us from Him as long as we know Him as our Savior.

My mom used to say to be careful who your friends are because they will determine how others see you. So, I’m careful now to say that Jesus is my best friend, one who never leaves me and who listens to all I have to say, giving me wise counsel and loving me through difficult times. I have other earthly friends now, but no one as close as Heidi was. I will probably always miss her on this side of Heaven, but I hope to see her when I get there.

Friendships don’t always last. Sometimes time and distance change things, but they are important so as the Bible says, we need to chose reliable friends. And, more importantly, we need to be a reliable friend to others.

Have a blessed day, my online friends, and may each of you form lasting friendships that make a difference in your lives and show the world a model of friendship with Jesus.

A Call to Action

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

I only hear snippets of news throughout the day because I have purposed to just not listen to all of the negativity. My husband shares things with me that he thinks I need to know and pray about, but my days of watching news broadcasts from morning to evening are long done. I have entered a time of watchful expectation. I see what is going on, I hear what others are saying and I know that the Lord cannot tarry forever. He will have to judge the world for their sins that are polluting the entire earth that He created for good.

No, I am not a prophet and I am not saying that the return of Jesus and God’s judgment are imminent. I am, however, saying to be ready and to be aware that the time is coming. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon seems like he is on a real downer kind of trip. Solomon, the man with hundreds of wives and concubines, a huge palace, servants to do his bidding all the time, and the one who built an impressive temple for God seems to be in a real depression. That man is having some real “come to Jesus” moments in Ecclesiastes and this verse portrays one of them. I agree with him in that everyone should be mourning. What are we mourning? The death of sanity, the loss of common sense and the complete destruction of the moral compass that God put inside mankind but which man in his own attempt at control has chosen to destroy, not just to ignore. Instead of mourning the sins of ourselves and our nation, we seek constant pleasure wherever we can find it, trying desperately to block out that still small voice that insistently calls us to His throne and to repentance. Earlier in this chapter in Ecclesiastes, Solomon says that everyone dies. Well, of course! But everyone does not have to spend eternity in hell as is the destiny of so many who refuse to acknowledge the King. I never realized before that Solomon’s Book of Wisdom is also a call to repentance if we can only pause and listen. The days are short, we just don’t know how short before the Lord’s return. But we do know that we are called to repent, to turn from wickedness and to change our ways. Thus, those of us who are about the business of the Lord are in mourning, for nations and their people who are burying their heads in the sand and thinking that God cannot see them for what they are. Let’s not be foolish but wise. Let’s mourn for the losses but let us also take up the mantle of the Good News and declare His Truth to all, whether they want to hear it or not. They need to hear, and we need to tell.

Have a blessed day, my friends, and may you find the courage to boldly speak the truth to at least one lost soul today.

Encouragment

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Encouragement comes from reading God’s Word. It also comes from our fellow believers. There is so much negativity in the world, so I ask that you be one you spreads the positivity of God’s promises, the testimony that He has put in your heart, and the hope that is in you.

Remember whose you are and live in that light.

Have a blessed day, my friends! May your day be filled with sunshine from the Lord, health, peace, happiness and friendship.

Hope and “If” by Rudyard Kipling

On By vickleaIn Poem, Scripture2 Comments

Many years ago, I received a copy of this poem by Kipling as a gift at a graduation. Since then, I have looked for the poem almost annually to present to others who have reached a milestone in their lives and are moving forward into an unknown future. Here is the poem, and credit goes to http://www.etsy.com for this photo.

This poem does not mention God at all or what should be His place in the lives of the young person seeking to make his/her way in the world. I do not know about Kipling’s faith or lack thereof and it is not for me to judge Him. I’m simply stating that faith is not part of the poem, so perhaps a better choice for me to give as a verse or a gift would be a Scripture verse or two that would lead them to look to where their true help lies when times get tough.

You see, the poet Kipling gives rather sound advice but it does not have the foundation that it needs to make it completely useful. Yes, it’s good to trust yourself, but it’s better to trust God. If the things in life are broken, then it’s good to remember that God is there to help you pick up the pieces and build something new. God is the one who helps us to hold on when we think all is lost. And, finally, the King we need to walk with daily is Jesus and glean wisdom from His Word. Yes, the poem “If” is useful, but God’s Word is a sure foundation, one that is trustworthy and reliable, a way that we can be absolutely certain that no matter what kinds of troubles assault us, we have the Lord of all of the earth in our corner, encouraging us to battle once more and declare the victory that He has already given us. So, rather than have an “if” that depends on my human choices and weaknesses, I choose to have a certain hope in the Lord. I hope that is what your choice is, too, for it is only hope in God and His mercy, grace and love that will lead to the future that we all desire, eternity with Him.

Have a blessed day and may your life be filled with hope in the One who has always loved, helped and shielded you.

What is a Church?

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture1 Comment

Is this your image of what a church is? Well, honestly, it shouldn’t be. We are the church!

In the Old Testament, God dwelled AMONG the people, with them as they traveled and went about their daily lives. He often spoke to the people through the prophets. That changed in the New Testament.

The Holy Spirit dwells inside each of us. We are His temple.

“Creator God, keep me mindful that those of us who love You are the church. The building is a bonus.
—Gail Thorell Schilling”

Excerpt From
Daily Guideposts 2022
Guideposts
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