Good Morning Friends,
When we invite Jesus to be in our midst in worship and home life some amazing things will happen. Things like receiving new insights and knowledge and healthier emotions. When we bring our passions and gifts to the Lord to glorify God some amazing things can happen. But there is a bright and a dark side to the human condition. Our gifts can either be used for good or for evil. That is the nature of things that might actually guide us in needed new year’s resolutions. You see if we put God first in our homes and places of worship the good spills over. Today’s scripture instructs us that it is God’s authority and redeeming acts in our family homes and houses of worship that should be our focus, not so much our own authority. Here we are to seek and pray for a change in us that can be used by God for a greater purpose. Is Jesus Favoring Your House?
Scripture: After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 1:9-20 (NRSV)
They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Mark 1:21-28 (NRSV)
and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke 4:17-21 (NRSV)
Message: Today we look at Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue and showing authority over demons and continue in the story of Hannah who in desperation prays with Eli, the high priest of Shiloh, in the central shrine and home of the Ark of the Covenant. She prayed so that the restriction on her spirit and body might be lifted and she would have a child that would honor Israel. In this she claimed an identity with the promises of God. Both passages are about all in worship. Mark gets right to the point, just like the high priest Eli. But Mark gets the whole picture, and Eli does not. Eli lived in a dark time of Israel’s history. His family had been the focus of a prophecy of the fall of his house as a punishment for the sin of his sons. This came along with the capture of the Ark and the destruction of Shiloh. Mark’s Gospel in contrast to this, is designed to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Messiah and presence of God who declares the time of God’s favor in his time for his house and a time when we all might have access to God’s presence. Mark needs just a few words to share the essence of this favor of God’s presence in Jesus which is anointed on to us. Even the demons recognize Jesus as someone special, sent by God to ruin their long run in Israel. They recognize Jesus as a prophet, priest and king that has power over sin. Jesus exercised the power of God that Israel had desired for their kings, who were by and large not holy ones of God, and so their power was almost non-existent, especially in the spiritual realm as were many of those in power in the religious orders.
And So, when Hannah goes to the LORD and says in effect, “Lord, I want a child. In fact, Lord, I want a son to honor you. I want you to use me.” This prayer led to surrender and sacrifice. And that surrender and sacrifice led to celebration. The connection with the child Jesus and Mary is clear. Though Samuel was the child asked for by Hannah, the destiny of the faithful would not be wrapped up so much in him, but in the birth of another child that, like Samuel, heard the call but moreover grew up to set the captives free as Hannah’s spirit was set free. You see, the Bible is filled with all sorts of people who cry out for God’s favor. From them we can learn to pursue God’s favor by seeking God for who God is and not so much the things that God can provide for us. We can pursue God’s favor by humbling our hearts before God. When Jesus decides to take away our demons of sin, the demons know exactly what Jesus is doing so we too need to realize that Jesus intends to use us for a purpose greater than our own self-interest. Our prayers should be about ways we can better glorify God. When we do, we become part of Jesus’ territory, a sanctuary for God and hopefully a presence of God in our homes and places of worship. The pious, childless Hannah comes before her Lord and quietly prays for deliverance from her childless life for just such a purpose. Eli, however, mistakes her for a drunk. Nonetheless, he still functions as her spiritual leader, and joins his prayer to hers. Proof that God can use even poor worship leaders and priests and ministers and pastors to give a blessing to others. So, if they would point to the leadership of Jesus, the outcomes would be so much better. But to gain God’s favor does not mean that we are free from the hardships of this world. Those who have favor with the Lord still suffer but the suffering is for a purpose. This understanding should guide our worship and what it means to be favored by God and have a peace in our spirits that our sins are forgiven and that no matter what happens to us we can still be part of God’s plan. God can work through broken instruments and play a pretty good melody on out-of-tune horns like Eli. So, Hannah does bear a son, who becomes the priest-prophet Samuel, the last judge who in ending the sorry period of the judges, inaugurates the kingdom of God’s people Israel. Jesus does cast out demons to set the captives free and declare the year of the Lord and his favor. So, know this, in the midst of a world that seems increasingly dark and difficult, the thing is that from God’s perspective, we might just be living in an extremely favorable time.
Pray our eyes are illuminated to the blessings in our situations that were previously unseen. Pray we rejoice when our house is used by God for a holy purpose. Pray that we find God’s favor. Pray
Jesus is in the House, and we are ready for God to save, sanctify, heal, and free us. Pray we believe that the LORD wants to give us our deepest and truest desires. Pray we believe that God wants to bring new life into our lives, our homes, our churches, and the places we live. Pray we have patience and realize that it might well take us to become desperate before change occurs. Pray we are fed up with the status quo. Pray we are willing to pray with emotion even if someone thinks we are crazy drunk. Pray we realize that it might take surrender and sacrifice to succeed. Pray we celebrate the casting out of demons. Pray we realize that demons know Jesus perhaps better than the person in the pew next to us. Pray we do something definite about those dark areas in our lives. Pray we let Jesus into our homes and hearts and churches and let the light of Christ cast out the darkness in us so that we might truly worship God in the miracle of love. Pray in 2024 we spend more time praying and worshipping God. Pray we learn the ways of God but also who we are in relationship with God. Pray we learn to praise God in all things. Pray we learn to pray humbly and righteously for God’s favor.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 