Who Is Solving Your Problems?

Our sixteen year old just got a new phone. For a period of time (must've been a full minute and a half) she thought she'd lost games she'd saved from her old phone. She was upset. My crotchety fifty-plus year old mind said, "Let's put this in perspective, shall we? You have a new phone -- a nicer phone than Daddy and I have, we're stuck paying the bill, your crisis was shorter than a Taco Bell commercial, and you've lost games -- not car keys or a debit card, games." But, my crotchety fifty-plus year old mouth said, "You give me your problems and you can have mine." And though I was teasing her a bit, there was a part of me that longed for the advantage of greater perspective and smaller problems.

The Bible is full of people with problems. The second Adam and Eve strayed outside their relationship with God -- problems. Cain disobeyed God, and in a jealous rage killed his brother -- problems. Noah was commissioned to build a vessel so large there was no hiding it from mocking, soon to be deceased friends and family -- problems. Abraham. Joseph. Moses. Samson. Ruth. They all had their problems. The thing that's important about each one's problem is what they did about them. And it's no different for us today.

Look at Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. She has a problem -- a few, as a matter of fact. Hannah has no child. Her husband loves her, provides for her, but there is another woman -- a woman who can bear him children. Oh, and she lets Hannah know it. She rubs it in every chance she gets. So, Hannah goes to the temple and prays; but even the priest at the temple, upon first seeing her fervor, accuses her of being drunk. Hannah makes a vow: If the Lord is willing to give her a child, she will dedicate him in service to the Lord by leaving him at the temple the moment he is weaned. Hannah does have a son. And she keeps her vow, visiting this boy, no longer her child, but God's, once a year.

Fast forward a few years (and turn a few pages to 1 Samuel 13), and that boy, Samuel, is serving the Lord as His prophet. He's got himself a tough customer in Israel's current king -- King Saul. God has given King Saul and the armies of Israel victory after victory in battle. Another one is on the horizon, but Samuel is not around to offer the sacrifice and petition the Lord for favor. King Saul is watching his soldiers weary and his armies begin to disband. Time is of the essence. The enemy is closing in.  The prophet is nowhere to be found. What does the king do? Why, he's a king, he'll offer the sacrifice himself! And he does. Israel is, by God's grace, delivered from the Philistines, but King Saul, in his arrogance and haste, loses the kingdom and curses his own son.

Two situations plagued by problems; two very different solutions. Hannah surrenders; Saul pushes forth in self-sufficiency. Hannah seeks eternity; Saul seeks immediacy. Hannah knows the true joy of giving to the Lord; Saul sees only what he wants for himself. And it's amazing how many of us Christians -- I'm preaching to myself, here -- when faced with a problem, act more like Saul than we do Hannah. We panic and fret, we speed or scheme; we might even tell a "white lie" or two. What are we thinking? If the God we claim to serve can't get us through the "hell" we are going through right now, how can He possibly save us from the Hell the Bible says is saved for those who reject Him? Life is tough, no matter the era, no matter your age, no matter your economic rank, no matter your level of education... We all have problems, and until we get to heaven, we always will. (As our pastor says, "You won't find that on a refrigerator magnet.") The important thing is Who provides the solution.