“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
- Proverbs 4:23
We will find ourselves frustrated. We will also find lots of different reasons to be frustrated.
1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.
- 1 Samuel 1:1-7
Our frustration can build until we reach a breaking point.
...Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.
- 1 Samuel 1:7
10 She was deeply distressed…
- 1 Samuel 1:10
God invites us to “pour out our souls” to Him.
10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.
- 1 Samuel 1:10
15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”
- 1 Samuel 1:15-16
We can choose to put our faith in God.
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
- 1 Samuel 1:17-18
Find God’s favor through our frustration.
19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”
- 1 Samuel 1:19-20