The Blessing Behind Unfulfilled Longings

I’m attempting to read through my Bible twice this year, and as I read through the first few chapters of 1 Samuel last week, something stood out to me that I had never considered before.

You may know the story of Hannah. (If not, go read 1 Samuel!) She longed for a child, and not only did she experience the ache of barrenness, she did so while also experiencing the humiliation and hurt of watching her husband’s other wife bear child after child, even bearing verbal taunts from the woman Scripture refers to as “her adversary.” And if that wasn’t enough, her husband (who really did seem to love her dearly) made it clear he didn’t understand why she was so devastated.

In utter desperation, Hannah finally went to the tabernacle to pour out her heart to the Lord. The high priest, Eli, thought she was drunk and began to rebuke her, but when he found out what was really going on, he blessed her and sent her away.

During that desperate time of prayer at the tabernacle, Hannah made a promise. If God would give her a son, she would give that son back to Him, to serve God at the tabernacle.

Even as a child, staring up at the flannelgraph figure of Hannah holding the little coat she made yearly for her precious boy, I wondered, How could she have given up her own child like that?

Last week as I read the story again, I realized what it was that enabled her to give her child back to the Lord. It was that long season of aching emptiness, the painful struggle and humiliation. It was the very withholding of the thing desired that led Hannah to the place where she could willingly offer back to God her son for whom she had so desperately longed.

I was reminded this week of a passage in Deuteronomy 8 which ties in perfectly with Hannah’s story. As Moses reminds the Israelites of all the things God did for them throughout their wilderness journeys, he mentions an interesting aspect of God’s provision:  

“And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” (v.3)

Did you catch it? That word “suffered” means allowed. God allowed His people to go through a season of hungering so that He could teach them to depend on Him. Their dependence on God for physical food also taught them to depend on God for spiritual food as well.

God had to allow the Israelites to experience hunger so that they would realize and surrender to the truth that God was their only source of provision, physically or spiritually. Later, Moses brings God’s provision of manna up again:

“Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end” (v.16)

There are likely many reasons God may be withholding something from you which you greatly desire, but perhaps one of them is to bring you to the place of desperate dependance which leads to total trust because that’s what He knows will bring you good.

God’s desire for our spiritual wellbeing is what prompts Him to withhold the things we most desire. Hannah’s story has what we would call a “happy ending,” in that God blesses her with more children after she dedicates Samuel to serve God in the tabernacle. But that happy ending came at the end of a long struggle, a God-allowed hungering that drove her to dependance and trust on God.  Because we know God is good, we can know that our stories, too, will have “happy endings,” though not necessarily in the way we wish or expect.

And now to you, dear reader:

Whatever it is that God seems to be withholding from you today, you can trust that it is for your good. Hold on to the truth of God’s love and goodness as you trust and depend on Him to do what is best. Like Hannah, pour it all out to Him in prayer –He always hears and cares!

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7