After the Blessing

A Quick Look: Luke 17:11-17
Really Read It: 1 Samuel 1:21- 1 Samuel 2:11, Luke 17:11-17, Luke 12:13-21
Memorize:1 Samuel 2:1 Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.”

Tronco was the biggest, meanest, toughest fighting bull on the farm. Don was the biggest, meanest, toughest bull fighter on the farm. Day after day these enemies met. They fought, they speared, they ran, they jabbed, they struggled and strained for victory. And at the battle’s end, Don always raised his spear in victory while Tronco stood in silence.
You might think less of Don if you knew that the only reason he was the toughest bull fighter on the farm was that he was the only bull fighter on the farm. You might think even less of him if you knew that while Tronco was the toughest bull on the farm, he was also the only bull. And even worse, he was not a real bull. Don wanted to be a bull fighter so badly that he made Tronco from a few logs, a few boards, and four old wagon wheels.
So day after day, Don fought his fake bull, but he also prayed. Don asked God to make him a great bull fighter. And God did it. The steps are boring, but the day came when Don stood in a huge bull fighting ring with a huge bull and a huge crowd watching. Don fought that bull with great skill and great flare. He won his fight, but he lost his God. Don told his fans how strong he was, how smart he was, and how quick he was. He forgot that he asked God, begged God to make him a great bull fighter. He forgot that God did it. He forgot God as soon as he got the blessing. Don never won another bull fight. He couldn’t even beat Tronco after that, so he worked shoveling bull dung for the rest of his life.
Don is a made up guy who got it wrong. Hannah is a real girl who got it right. I hope you can learn from both of them.
Hannah had some fights in her life too. She didn’t fight with a bull. She probably didn’t fight at all, but another woman fought her, insulted her, and made her life awful. It was all about kids. Hannah really wanted a kid. If you are a kid, you see a kid every time you look in the mirror. You see kids at school, at church, at the park, at the zoo, at the pizza place… There are kids all over, but there are a lot of grownups who really want to have a kid and they just don’t. Hannah was like that. I’m pretty sure that Hannah wanted a son more than Don wanted to fight a bull. I think that she wanted a son more than you have ever wanted anything. Hannah prayed so hard that she looked like she was going crazy. And God answered. Hannah got what she wanted, she got her answer from God.
Don messed up after that and a lot of people act like he did. They get what they want and then they forget God. Hannah didn’t do that. Hannah brought her son to God’s house and gave him to God. And Hannah prayed. In her prayer she told God how great he was, she praised Him, she thanked Him. And she talked about what happens to people who forget God. The guys who get from God and then forget God loose the gift. God gives money, food, kids, health but it fades away when you forget God. Hannah’s life has a happy ending. Her first son, the one she gave to God, was Samuel. And Samuel had a great life in God and lived as a great man, famous and trusted in his country. But Hannah had other children too, and God blessed her.
Jesus healed a lot of people when he was walking around on the earth. The Bible doesn’t always tell what the people did after they got better, but one time it does. In Luke 17 there were ten guys who all had a skin sickness called leprosy. Jesus healed all of them, but only one came back to Jesus. He came, “praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him.” Jesus said that his loud praising and his thanking was showing his faith. And his faith made him well.
Hannah and this man had faith and it came out in thanks and praises to God. It made the blessings of God keep going. Jesus told a story about a man who got great blessings from God, but after he got them he showed no faith. This guy was a farmer and he got a crop so big that he became rich. Then he said to himself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”
Jesus ended the story this way, “But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
“Rich toward God” might make more sense than the word “faith.” Rich toward God sounds like a money thing. And it could be. If God does for you and it has to do with money, then part of being rich toward God is giving God money. But rich toward God is way better and way bigger than just money. Rich toward God means you remember God like Hannah. She kept her promise to God and she kept praising God and thanking God all of her life. God gives a lot of blessings that are not about money. Without money can you still be rich toward God? How did Hannah do it? How was the healed man rich toward God? What about Don? How would his story end, if he remembered to be rich toward God after he got his blessing? See if you can change that to a story with a happy ending. You could make up a new ending for that rich farmer story too. What would his life be like, if he were rich toward God?
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What would church look like if the people were trying to be rich toward God? You can watch a video of a church like that. http://www.worldrevivalchurch.com

You can find more of Nathan’s writing on lulu and helium.