Hey family. My apologies for not showing up yesterday as l was not feeling too well. By God’s grace l am alright now. While festive season is a joyful time, for some, it is a time where the absence of their departed loved ones is most felt. It is actually a time that triggers grief based on the fact that the people they once spent this glorious season of ‘Family Time’ with are no more. Maybe a divorce, a loss or disunity. I would like to say to you, take it a day at a time. We grieve differently and we heal at different times too. I also pray God’s loving embrace over you . .
I have been meditating on the story of Hannah from the book of 1Samuel chapter 1. Despite of the situation she was facing, the woman kept on following her husband to Shiloh. I mean our generation has sort of ‘normalized’ the detachment from God or any godly activity when the trying times come. We stop going to church, why? ‘Because l went last week and did not come back with Samuel’. We stop serving God, why? ‘Because those l serve with got their blessings, but l haven’t’. So, Hannah showing up in Shiloh year after year is really evidence of her strong character. Many people think they are Hannah, but the truth is they are not. Hannah did not ‘give up’ when she was mocked by her ‘rival’. We give up because someone said something, and we choose to leave God because of people.
Many believers do not have emotional intelligence. It shows when we would rather fight Peninnah than to present our needs before God at the temple. How did Hannah keep showing up? We read about the fact that she travailed in prayer, but l am wowed by the fact that she returned from Shiloh with nothing, for only God knows how many years, but she would still go back. Back to church. Back to prayer. Back to praise and worship. Back to scripture. Yes, without the child, without the husband, with people’s mockery, still going back to The Lord.
When you read down to chapter two, you find that a time when Hannah decides to go alone and travail. Her attitude changes. She is no longer going as a one who is following her husband because of a family tradition, but as one who is in need of a personal encounter. While many of us do show up in Shiloh, we do it out of tradition. “Its Sunday, l am expected to be in church. I am expected to serve.” And that is why we keep returning with no testimonies. We have no expectations. We have no hunger. We have no desire to engage on the altar. We simply desire to fulfil a duty. Let me be the person to tell you, you will return without a testimony.
‘For surely there is an end and the expectation of the righteous shall not be cut off’ [Proverbs 23:18]
What are your expectations? Do you have any at all or do you say, ‘It is what it is?’ What is it that you hope to receive before the end of the year? In 2025? Or have you become numb you don’t even care whether Samuel comes or not? You do know there’s people like that even in Shiloh, yes? They show up but they are not there. They are still praying but they are not engaging, still fasting but rather hunger striking because of religion and obligations but not necessarily coming into contact with the altar. Positioned by the pool but not getting healed. Being at the right place, at the right time but with the wrong posture at heart. So, the result is many trips to Shiloh with no evidence thereof. I ask again, what are your expectations? Don’t cheat yourself of a life of miracles, signs and wonders because you have killed your dreams. My darling, GOD IS ABLE TO DO JUST WHAT HE SAID HE WILL DO.
Revisit the vision board again. Dream again. Hope again. Expect. Then show up in Shiloh with those expectations. Won’t He do it?
I love you.