If You Can't Change the People // On Solid Ground, Part 2

<p>We tend to see the world room where we are. It’s only natural. We want everyone and everything else to fit in with us. But God, well, He doesn’t quite see it that way.</p> <p> </p> <h3><span style="color: #ff9900;"><strong>A Boy Called Sam</strong></span></h3> <p>Last week on the programme we spent some time talking about the fact that when the storms of life hit and they inevitably do, what we need is some solid ground beneath our feet. It’s a scary place to be, out on that stormy ocean – we are not made for that. We are made for solid ground.</p> <p>And we began looking at the story of some people: a woman called Hannah and her son Samuel and some priests – Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas. Hannah, now here was a woman who honoured God and He honoured her – the priests, on the other hand, although they should have known better, they didn’t honour God. And as we will see on the programme this week, they reaped their just reward.</p> <p>And the reason we are looking at this story of these people, is that when we are in the midst of the storm, as we so often are, we lose our bearings. We so often lose sight of those things that really matter and for me, as I have spent time in that story, it has clarified some things for me – it’s brought them into sharp focus and my hunch is that as you and I spend some time together today, well, maybe you will find that too.</p> <p>So let’s just recap briefly on this story of Hannah. Hannah married a man called Elkanah and he had two wives: Peninnah and Hannah. And Hannah didn’t have children and Peninnah did, so Peninnah would taunt Hannah and there was a lot of pain around that, so Hannah goes to God – she pours out her heart to Him in the temple and she gets God’s peace. It is what always happens when we do that.</p> <p>Eli, on the other hand, is the priest that is at the temple at the time when Hannah comes to pour her heart out and he mistakes what Hannah is doing – he thinks she is drunk. And the priest Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas, they are bad dudes – they