Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

1 Samuel 1:8

For Encouragement

My thoughts on how life would have been like if I had not quit graduate school and had gone on to a career on Wall Street besieged me. All the other opportunities that abounded in New York City as a permanent resident of the ‘great’ USA assailed my peaceful morning. “Look at your classmates who did not leave Ghana. They are comfortable in positions of influence and wealth. But you, who knows you?” Just then, the Spirit of the Lord brought up the story of Hannah at Shiloh to comfort and refocus me (1 Sam. 1:3-8). 

She was the beloved of the two wives of Elkanah, but she was childless, while Peninnah, the second wife of Elkanah, had sons and daughters. Culture looked cruelly on Hannah as a barren woman. Peninnah also ensured that Hannah experienced the disdain close-up and well too. She enjoyed provoking Hannah at every opportunity. Though Elkanah favored Hannah in everything, she was not satisfied. As Job said, “For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water” (Job 3:24).

 Whenever Hannah became that melancholic, Elkanah would comfort her with these words:

“Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

The Lord was asking me the same question. “Kwame, why are you oppressing yourself this way? Why are you so disheartened? Don’t I mean more to you than everything you could have been?

I repented and asked for forgiveness. My heart flooded with thanksgiving, for the Lord has blessed me more than I could ask or imagine. 

Maybe regrets of your past are eating you up at this moment. Hear the word of God. He is more than anything you think you could have been or acquired. You do not even know if your imaginations about what would have been, are accurate. But God, who knows all things, has led you this way through your best and worse decisions. Give glory to Him.

Let us stop reaching for yesterday instead of tomorrow, and let us enjoy Jesus Christ, our All-Sufficient God today. His will and choices for us are impeccable and infallible.