“And [Hannah] was in distress of soul,
praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly. She vowed, saying, O Lord of
hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid and
[earnestly] remember, and not forget Your handmaid but will give me a son, I
will give him to the Lord all his life; no razor shall touch his head.
And as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli noticed her mouth.
Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved but her voice was not
heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, How long will
you be intoxicated? Put wine away from you.” 1
Samuel 1; 2:1, 21 AMP
You have heard the phrase, “It’s a cruel,
cruel world out there.” How often have we been confronted by someone who
did not understand us or what we were going through? We are judged by
unbelievers for what we believe. We face ridicule by those who do not
understand how we could have faith in Someone who lived so long ago.
Sometimes this prejudice comes from within the Church, and it hurts us to the
core. This is what I would like to address today, outspoken judgment in
the Church.
I have had “well meaning” Christians from
church come up to me and express doubt about what I was doing, “Now Linda, do
you really think that is God’s will for you?” Another hurting comment I
heard often when I was younger was, “You know Linda, if you would loose some of
that weight then you might be able to get a boyfriend.” Sometimes the
things spoken are not directly to us but about us disguised in the form
of a prayer request from one member to another, “I think we ought to pray for
Linda. Can you believe what she did? Oh, you haven’t heard?
Well let me tell you….”
Judgments and gossip seem to hurt more when
they come from our fellow believers. We feel they should know better, and
they should!
Hanna was going through a very tough time in
her life. In her age and culture women were considered cursed by God when
they did not have children. To make matters worse, Hanna’s husband had
another wife and “…her rival provoked her greatly to vex her, because the
Lord had left her childless.” (1 Sam. 1:6b AMP) Then on her
family’s yearly visit to Shiloh to worship the Lord she went to Temple (tent of the Lord)
and cried out to God in her frustration and need and Eli priest accused her of
being drunk.
How often are our words (meant to correct an
issue we see in the Church or in another believer) cutting and
unnecessary? It was Eli’s job to watch over the Temple (see to its upkeep, minister the
sacrifices, and lead the people in their worship of the Lord). Maybe He
thought he was addressing some drunken lady who could become disruptive.
No matter the reason, he made a rash judgment and literally called her a drunk
in God’s house. How quickly we believers tend to judge a situation that
we think we have some say or control over and then our mouths blurt out
something hurtful like Eli did. It is no wonder that James wrote:
“But the human tongue can be tamed by no
man. It is a restless (undisciplined, irreconcilable) evil, full of deadly
poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men
who were made in God’s likeness! Out of the same mouth come forth
blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.”
James 3:8-10 AMP
How easily thoughtless unloving words of
ours can give sorrow to others. How absolutely necessary it is for us to
guard our tongues! James also tells us that no man can tame the
tongue (James 3:8). The only way to tame the tongue is God’s way:
“But He gives us more and more grace (power
of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is
why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace
[continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).”
James 4:6 AMP
Go hard after God (Psalm 63:8) and dig into
His Word every day (Psalm 119:11). When you do, I promise you, you will
receive more and more of His grace and you will find hurtful judgments and
words no longer spring into your mind and mouth but instead what you speak will
be the grace of God.
