Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. – 1 Samuel 1:17-18

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 4, 2016): 1 Samuel 1

The Islamic States call for revolutionaries went awry over the Christmas break. The call went out over twitter, and some of the responses from Muslims believers was simply precious. Among the jewels were @MohsinArain91’s “Sorry mate, I don’t want to risk dying before the next Star Wars comes out. Or @JayLikesIt with “Sorry Amir al-Mushrikeen, I’m busy being a real Muslim, giving to charity etc. Also, your dental plan sucks.” But the simple response of @mehmetCelebi might sum it all up – “Just read the Quran, it says no bro. Sorry mate.”

But all of this simply reveals that there is a very real a problem with the phrase “God said it.” It is a discussion ender. If God said it, then this is what we must do. But the solution just can’t be that simple. Religion is, by its very nature, very subjective. As religious people, we often argue the reverse – we seem to think that any thinking person should be able to come up with the idea of God, but in many ways we are fooling ourselves. Religion is subjective. How else could one section of Islam find a violent response as the message of God from the Qur’an while others preach its message of love and giving to charity?

But it isn’t just a Muslim problem. As Christians we differ as to what it is that God is saying to us. I am convinced that the overall message of the Bible is love for God and for your neighbor – and the definition of neighbor is any person living on the planet earth (and if we find intelligent life on other planets then we might have to broaden the definition.) We are the caretakers of the earth, a job that was first given to Adam and then passed down to the rest of us. By the way, it is a job we haven’t been doing well of late. And yet there are others that seem to believe that the voice of God is telling them the reverse – that hate is the path to the light (maybe they just haven’t seen Star Wars). Or that this earth is not to be protected and cared for by us, but rather we have been given the earth so that we can use it up and destroy it – and when this is done Christ will come back and usher us into our reward. I admit, I don’t see it, but the teaching is present within the Christian community. And it all relates back to the answer to the question – what is it that you hear God saying?

Before I go too far, I do not believe that each belief of what it is that God has said is equal. I believe that there is a true teaching. The Islamic State’s violence and another Muslim’s love are not created equal. One is right (and I side with the Muslim belief in love – it is consistent with my own belief in love, spoken from the one true God.) But maybe the major takeaway is that we need to be a people in constant conversation with other believers, willing to be shaped by the God who enters into that conversation that happens between us – something that might not happen when we are alone and unchallenged by our own thoughts.

So Hannah goes to the tabernacle to pray. Eli, the priest, thinks that she is drunk and tells this woman move along. Hannah insists that she is not drunk, but troubled – and then proceeds to tell Eli of her problems. And then it happens. To be honest, every time I read this passage I hear a priest mutter an inconsequential platitude to Hannah in order to get away. The words are probably close to our saying that we will pray for someone, but what we really mean is that the conversation has ended and we would rather be someplace else. Eli simply says “May God grant what you have asked of him.” Personally I am not sure that he meant it. I am not convinced that he even cared about the conversation that he was having with Hannah. He just wanted to be someplace else.

But that is not what Hannah heard. Hannah heard the voice of God saying that everything was going to be alright. Her countenance changed and she ate – something her husband had been trying to get her to do. Something had changed inside of her. She had heard the voice of God speaking from the lips of Eli.

Who was right? That is the easy question. It was Hannah. God had spoken through Eli, and Eli had no idea that it had happened. Later, he may not have even remembered the exchange. But Hannah would never forget it, because on this day it was not Eli who had spoken to her – she was sure she had heard the voice of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 2