Our preference in life, if the truth be known, is for things to be easy. Success, prosperity – sure. That’s where God’s blessing must surely be. But Jesus … well He calls us to journey with Him, on a road less travelled. And it’s not always what we want it to be.

Adversity is a fact of life. It happens in all areas of our lives, at different times. In our finances. In our relationships. In our jobs. In our families. In our health. In our own thoughts and emotions.

Last year on the program I shared a series of messages with you called How to Stop Your Family from Falling Apart. And quite a number of people wrote to me and said, in effect: well, my family has already fallen apart. What about me? And so later this year we’ll be chatting about marriage separation and divorce, losing a loved one, singleness, childlessness … because things don’t always follow that old fairy tale ending … and they lived happily ever after.

My preference and your preference is that life should be easy – if not completely easy, then at least ten or 15 or twenty percent easier than it is just at the moment. Just a little bit less of a struggle. Just a little bit easier. Oh – and no major catastrophes. No major disasters that cause us pain.

And the key here is expectation. My parent’s generation went through World War II – my dad fought in the German army on the Russian front. My mother lived through air raids and the bombing of her home town Graz in Austria. And when I look at those people from that generation – whether European or Australian or wherever they come from, their expectations of life being easy aren’t as high as perhaps yours and mine are.

My generation – the baby boomers – we were born in the 1950’s and 60’s in a golden era of prosperity and hope. Our parents, having suffered much through WWII worked hard to give us a better life. All the modern electric kitchen gadgets, televisions (okay, black and white, but televisions nevertheless) motor cars, all those things happened post World War II – and they indeed gave us a better, more prosperous life.

And so, we boomers carried on that tradition with our children – Gen X and Gen Y – who carried it on with their children – the millennials … and so it goes on. As prosperity boomed in the west, our expectations of what is normal became incredibly inflated. Prosperity is normal. Peace is normal. Success is normal. And of course, the advertising industry chimed in, feeding us, bombarding us constantly with images of success.

Now, what I’m describing doesn’t apply everywhere. There are plenty of people listening today who live in desperate adversity – in refugee camps, in war–torn parts of the world. But even as I travel through those parts of the world, what I see is that the lure of the prosperity of the west beckons. Media is global today. TV, the internet is global. And so people feed on this inflated set of expectations – and we begin to imagine that success, peace, prosperity and comfort are the norm – or if not quite the norm, at least those are the things that we should aspire to. 

Comfortable house – tick. Nice car – tick. Healthy superannuation fund – tick. Private schooling for our children – tick. The latest techno-gadgets – tick. The latest fashions – tick.

And for men and women of faith – those of us who believe in Jesus – we tend to drop this worldly model of success onto the Bible, we try and create our own blended theology of success. We expect that following Jesus should be easy – and when they discover that it isn’t, many fall by the wayside. Surely if God loves me He wants to bless me – why am I having to deal with all the problems and challenges and issues and conflicts and adversity? Either there’s something wrong with Him or there’s something wrong with me … I don’t know but something isn’t working.

Have you ever thought that to yourself … or perhaps, if you haven’t quite articulated it that clearly, as I talked about it, you find yourself nodding your head in agreement …. Yeah …. Yeah …. That’s right. That’s what I’m feeling. 

So before we can really talk about following Jesus with confidence – and hey, if I’m going to follow Jesus, if I’m going to call Him my Lord and my Saviour, then I want to follow Him with a quiet confidence in my heart – but before we can talk about that, we need to deal with this expectation gap. Have a listen to this exchange between Jesus and a couple of would–be followers whom He met along the way:

Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead. (Matthew 8:18–22)

It seems to me that Jesus isn’t calling you and me to a life of comfort. Following Jesus is a journey and from what I can see here – Jesus isn’t promising you and me a big house with two living areas, four bedrooms and a double car garage, in a nice suburb. He’s setting out the reality – plainly and simply – that following Him is an uncomfortable journey.

I often wonder how that second guy felt, the one who’s father had just died. Jesus I really want to follow you, but my dad’s just died, and I have to go bury him first.” I remember when my father died, I don’t think I’d have missed his funeral for the world.

And Jesus replies – Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead. The only words that I can come up with to describe that is harsh and unfeeling. If I’d have been that guy, I’d have been thinking – Do I really want to follow this Jesus??

But Jesus here was making a point – a strong point – about what it means to follow Him. It’s not a life of comfort or compromises. Here it is again – Jesus:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish. ’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:23–35)

My friend – have you counted the cost? Are you expecting an easy ride with Jesus, or do you see the stark reality that He’s painting here? Of course we go through times of great blessing in our relationships and in our circumstances from time to time. Well, most people do. But what Jesus is saying here is that suffering and sacrifice are the norm for a Christ–follower. 

Most of us are worried about the single most important person on the planet – me! What’s in it for me? We’re constantly asking ourselves. What do I get out of this? But Jesus said:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves (Luke 9:23–25)

If we have the wrong expectations of Jesus, then we are never going to be able to follow Him with confidence. Some days it’s going to be hard. That doesn’t mean we’ve failed. It means that that’s what Jesus promised.

So – let me leave you with this question: In your heart of hearts, what are you expecting of Jesus? Are you expecting what He promised, or are you expecting what the world tells you, you should be getting?

One of the biggest reasons we experience the emotion of disappointment, is that our expectations were wrong in the first place. And that’s particularly true when we’re going through a tough patch, and we look God in the eye and ask – Why are you letting this happen to me?

Recently my wife Jacqui had an operation on her foot – and those days immediately after the operation, she was in a lot of pain. Now Jacqui is an active woman, out there doing things, planning things, helping people – that’s just who she is.

But in those few days after the operation, all she could focus on was the pain she was in. It’s pretty natural, acute pain has a way of blocking everything else out. I was still having to think about this and that, keep the ministry running (which she’s normally involved in) get meals on the table, do the shopping.

But for her, in those few days, it was pretty much all about dealing with the pain. Of course you’ve been there – whether it was physical pain or emotional pain – and you know all about that. You know how pain seems to block out the rest of the world and convince you that pain is all there is.

It’s our natural reaction to adversity isn’t it? We lower our gaze, we focus on the immediate and nothing else matters. But as natural as it is, this reaction to adversity and pain, you know something, it doesn’t serve us very well.

And what magnifies our pain often is the unrealistic expectation that we shouldn’t be having to deal with it. Hang on – I believe in Jesus and surely God wants to bless me and so why is this happening to me … is what we often find ourselves thinking, right? When all along, Jesus said …

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves (Luke 9:23–25)

That’s a picture of suffering and sacrifice, not comfort and compromise. And it seems to me that accepting that reality, is one of the hardest things to do – and yet it’s just so necessary if we’re going to get the sort of perspective on life that allows us to follow Jesus with confidence.

What do I mean by that? If we simply don’t accept reality, if we’re kicking against and struggling with reality – if we refuse to accept delivery of the reality that Jesus promised to anyone who would follow Him – how can we possibly be in a place where we can follow Him with confidence.

Listen again please to Jesus’s own words:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13,14)

So there you are, you’re travelling on that narrow difficult road that leads to life, because in your heart of hearts you’ve chosen to follow Jesus – the road less travelled. Yet you’re heading upwards on that difficult road, wishing that it was a whole bunch more like that wide, easy road that heads downwards to destruction. And that double–mindedness is what’s killing you. That double–mindedness is what’s stopping you from following Jesus with confidence, because your heart is longing after the alternative. Double–mindedness is a real killed. Have a listen:

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;, for the doubter, being double- minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:2–8)

But the problem is how do we change our mind? It’s easy for me to sit here in the comfort of a nice, isolated studio and telly ou – don’ be double–minded – and you’re thinking, but it hurts so much. It’s so hard. I’m struggling. I don’t want to be double–minded – but I don’t know how not to be. Yeah, well, I have exactly the same problem. And the answer – the how – comes to us from God. From God’s Word. Let me read you this short extract from the longest chapter in the Bible – Psalm 119 – it’s written by a man who’s struggling, who’s going through a lot of pain. And he tells us the “how” – verses 97 to 114:

Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation.

I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word.

Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord, and teach me your ordinances. I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law. The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts. Your decrees are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end. I hate the double- minded, but I love your law.

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

Do you see the power of what he’s saying here. It’s God’s Word that is a lamp to his feet – to help him take the next step and a light to his path – so he can see ahead a little ways. The person who wrote this psalm is going through the whole adversity and pain thing just the way that you and I do. He has enemies on his tail, and the going is tough. But what he’s saying here as he pours out his heart to God – is that God’s Word is what is making all the difference. Listen again:

Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my meditation.

Whenever someone who is going through a rough patch asks me – what can I do? How can I find peace? How can I discover confidence and faith in God? I ask them this question: how much time are you spending reading God’s Word, pondering it, praying about it, thinking, turning it over in your mind. Invariably the answer is little or no time. Man I tell you. This is the only way to discover God’s peace in the middle of the storm. Bible reading and prayer.

It sounds glib. It sounds simplistic. It sounds like – here take a couple of aspirin for your migraine. But it’s not that at all. Prayer and Bible reading are simple and powerful. And the only way I’ve managed to get through some of the really rough patches in my life has been to listen to God speak to me through His Word. 

You can read books, you can listen to guys like me yabber on, you can phone a friend, you can try all sorts of things. But I am here to tell you that there is nothing as powerful as God’s Word. His Spirit uses it to strengthen you, encourage you, admonish you, guide you, give you wisdom. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

And yet so many of God’s people, travelling through a rough patch, leave their Bible in a bottom draw, or up on a shelf, gathering dust, or in a box in the storeroom. What’s the matter with us?

Following Jesus with confidence isn’t always that easy. It’s not enough to be told, have faith in God. We need to know how. So today we’re going to embark on a bit of a live case study. We’re going to meet a woman who’s in a great deal of pain. Her name is Hannah.

A little while back on the program we took a brief look at the story of Hannah, the mother of the Old Testament Prophet Samuel and we had such a strong response to her story, I thought that today and over the next few days we’d take a much closer look at what went on.  

Now, I’m not one to grab some character out of the Bible and look at them and tell you to be like them, because you and I are all different people, with different backgrounds and giftings, and telling a duck to be like a dog or vice versa never works.

But Hannah’s story is one that absolutely touches my heart each and every time that I read with it – my hunch is that that’s why so many people responded to us after that program. It’s a powerful story of a woman in some considerable distress. 

We’re continuing on today with our series – Following Jesus with Confidence.  Not some brash, overconfident attitude. But you know that quiet confidence that you can have in your heart, that stills your fears and just gives you that wonderful knowledge that God is on His throne, He’s in control and He knows what He’s doing.  Knowing that you can trust in God’s faithfulness, no matter how crazy things get around you.

The biggest inhibitor to that that we’ve seen so far this week on the program, that we discussed last week on the program is that the success–oriented world in which we live, has convinced us that “normal” equals healthy, wealthy and wise. Success is what it’s all about and we were all born to be successful according to the world’s definition – which is pretty much, you know – big house, tick; nice car – tick; healthy superannuation fund – tick – all those temporary symbols of so–called success.

We then very quickly imagine that that is what our walk with Jesus should be like –successful. And yet the Bible knows little if anything about worldly success. God’s plan for you and me isn’t a life of comfort and compromise, but one of sacrifice and suffering. That’s exactly what Jesus promised us when He spoke to some would–be followers:

Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead. (Matt 8:18–22)

Now, we’re going to go a lot deeper with this – it’s one thing to hear someone – even Jesus – talking about this idea that following Him often means an uncomfortable journey, but it’s another thing entirely to see this principle in action. That’s why we’re circling back to spend some time with Hannah today and over the rest of this week. 

Hers is a story of adversity and out of that adversity, God births, quite literally, one of the great Prophets that He sends to His people.  So let’s just spend the next few minutes entering into Hannah’s pain – 1 Samuel 1:1–8:

There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

I’m not a woman –obviously – and I’ve never had the experience of wanting to have a child and not being able to. No doubt there are some women tuned in today who either have been there or who are in that place right at the moment – but even as a man, I can just so feel the pain that Hannah was going through. Body clock is ticking, her heart is to have a child, and … nothing. 

But as bad and as tough as that is … it was even worse. Because layered on top of the personal pain, were two other things. The first and the most obvious is Peninnah – Elkanah’s other wife. Polygamy was all the rage in the early days of the Old Testament. It wasn’t until society had time to grow and mature that God revealed that this wasn’t His ideal plan. 

I mean it should have been obvious – Adam had one wife Eve, not two or more. But we humans have a way of wandering away from God’s ideal for us. And God has a way of choosing just the right time in history, to reveal His plans. So at this point, polygamy was the norm. That’s why Elkanah had two wives. That would be bad enough except one of them could have children and the other couldn’t and the one that could – Peninnah taunted the one that couldn’t Hannah.   

Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.

A terrible situation. A woman who can’t have children and a rival for her husband’s affections who can and then uses that to rub salt into her wounds, year after year. And the final layer of shame, as if all that weren’t enough, was that back in those days the thinking went something like this: If you were a good and godly person, God would bless you with many children. If you weren’t He wouldn’t. So Hannah’s plight was further compounded by the fact that socially, people looked down upon her. They would have whispered behind her back She can’t be a very good person, look God has cursed her and she is childless.

Please … put yourself into Hannah’s shoes for a moment. How do you feel? Terrible right? You’d be asking some serious questions of God – Lord, why are you doing this. I’m doing my best to honour you and my husband. My rival is taunting me. People despise me. Lord what have I done to deserve this?!

I don’t know that particular pains and trials you’ve gone through in your life, but this one of Hannah’s would rank right up there wouldn’t it? I mean you can equate your trials and your pain, with what Hannah is going through. This feeling that God has forsaken you. That God’s treatment of you isn’t fair.

Now, we’re going to look at what happens next tomorrow on the program/after the break … but what happens, is a mighty act of God. In a sense, we’ll see that Hannah almost expected God to act. But I’d like to suggest that when you and I are having Hannah moments in our lives, often a mighty intervention of God is the last thing that we expect.

In fact, we don’t even expect to be in this rotten situation in the first place, because well, surely God wants to bless me and surely if I’m living through a terrible curse like this, something … something terrible must be wrong in my relationship with God.

It’s that false logic that I would like to kick in the guts today. This idea of – yes I am in God’s favour because I’m being blessed; and no – I must have fallen out of God’s favour and out of God’s plan because I’m going through this terrible patch. That’s a lie, a distortion from the enemy, who’s dropped this healthy, wealthy and wise lie on our heads. Let me finish today where I began: as I read my Bible, what I discover is that pretty much all the great things that God has done, have been birthed out of times of trial. And we’ll talk some more about that on tomorrow’s program

When we’re travelling through a time of trial, it’s not all that easy to follow Jesus with confidence. Is there something that we can do, to experience that confidence in Him, when the going gets tough? Well, as things turn out, there is. And it’s pretty simple too.

Yesterday we were talking about the story of Hannah – the desperate struggle that she was going through to fulfil the call of God on her life. Here was this woman – one of two wives of a man called Elkanah and she was childless in a world where children represented a blessing from God – and the absence of children meant that you were cursed of God.

To make things much worse, her rival, Elkanah’s other wife – Peninnah – had no problems bearing him children and she took every opportunity to point that fact out to Hannah.

Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.

… we’re told in 1 Samuel 1:6–7. Just wonderful, eh?! So, as though being childless for this woman was not bad enough – and only another woman who has wanted children but not been able to conceive can know truly how bad that feels – she carried the scorn of her rival and the scorn of her society around on her shoulders.

Okay – none of us have ever been quite in that situation, but we all relate to being in this desperate place of adversity when the whole world seems to have turned against us. Most of us want to follow Jesus with all our hearts. Not in some legalistic, religious way … but from our hearts.

As I look back on that moment when I first laid hold of the truth that Jesus died for me – that, actually … the Son of God became a man, walked the dusty roads of 1^st century Israel and was ultimately nailed to a cross, to pay for my wrongdoing – my heart leapt out of my chest and I decided to claim Him as My Saviour and My Lord.

If you’re a bit like that, you know that desire in your heart to follow Jesus. The problem is when you’re having a Hannah moment, when the going gets tough, following Him with confidence just isn’t easy.

The reason that we’re in the middle of this series of messages – Following Jesus with Confidence – is that we need to know how to follow Jesus with confidence during the difficult times. For me, it’s not enough to be told – have faith in God. That’s a great theory, but how do I live it out when I’m in a difficult position? When everything and everybody seems to be going against me? Those are the questions that I need answers to.

And that’s why we’re talking about this stuff. That’s why we’re sharing in Hannah’s story, because through that story, God speaks to us about the how – how to have confidence in Jesus during the tough times. Because let’s face it, it’s in the tough times that we need that confidence. That quiet sense of – I know my Saviour lives, I know my Saviour reigns, I know my Saviour has it all under control.

And this next part of Hannah’s story is all about the how. We’ve heard about her desperate struggle, and now let’s take a look at how she chooses to deal with it. 1 Samuel 1:9–18

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favour in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

I’ve never been one to shake my fists at God – some people do. It’s not something I’ve done up to this point in my life, and I pray it’s a place I’ll never get to. But you could have understood it if Hannah had gone to God and shaken her fists at Him. She was deeply distressed and wept bitterly – not only was she childless, but she was scorned.

We don’t know anything much about Hannah’s life to this point, but as I read about her further in the OT book of 1 Samuel you discover that she is a good and godly woman. She seemed to be honouring God in every way, and yet this affliction had struck her life – and there was not a single thing that she could do about it.

Well, perhaps not a single thing – there was one thing and she was doing it right now. She was pouring it all out to God. She was praying. Prayer seems like a copout to some – and yet the Bible teaches us over and over again that prayer which yields powerful results is entirely normal in God’s site. 

And so Hannah engages in that sort of prayer – heartfelt prayer, powerful prayer. I’m sure it didn’t feel powerful to her at the time, as she was weeping there before God. Pouring her heart out. But it was. Because she came in prayer not just to meet her need, she came with a humble heart, offering this child up, should God grant him to her, to God Himself. Giving up her son – should she ever be blessed with one – into lifelong service of the Lord.

Come on you women who have had children – how difficult would it be for you to offer up your precious child to serve the Lord? How easy would you find it to be separated from this little one? But here she is – honouring God above all. That’s why her prayer is so incredibly powerful. She doesn’t tell Eli the priest what it was all about, she just tucks her time with God away in her heart … and immediately, immediately she reaps the benefit of her prayer – she receives peace from God. 

Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

That’s what’s supposed to happen, because Jesus promised us exactly that when we bring our burdens to Him. Matthew 11:28–30

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light

My friend with all my heart let me say to you that the biggest single thing that you can do, to receive the quiet, gentle, powerful gift of true confidence in Christ is to pray. To spend time genuinely in God’s Presence. Pray … and read God’s Word. Back to the Psalmist’s words – Psalm 119:105–107

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to observe your righteous ordinances. I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word.

My friend if you’re looking for the “how” – how to follow Jesus with Confidence – you’ve just discovered the answer. Through Hannah, through the Psalmist, through God’s Word. The answer is heartfelt prayer. The answer is reading and meditating on God’s Word. Can it really be that simple?

Actually. Yeah. It can. It is. 

When we’re travelling through a time of trial, it’s not all that easy to follow Jesus with confidence. Is there something that we can do, to experience that confidence in Him, when the going gets tough? Well, as things turn out, there is. And it’s pretty simple too.

It’s great to be with you again today, as we chat together about how – exactly how – to lay hold of our confidence in Christ, when we’re in the middle of a period of adversity. And can I tell you as we’ve chatted about Hannah’s story so far this week/today on the program, if hasn’t been just for you.

Because right now, I’m going through a tough time in the life of our ministry Christianityworks – that’s just what happens when you step up and step out to serve God. We expect everything always to go swimmingly well. We expect things always to be on the up and up – and when they aren’t the easiest thing for us to do is to imagine that somehow we’re a failure.

But life is full of the old one step forward, two steps back shuffle isn’t it? Sometimes it’s because we make mistakes. Okay – so let’s learn from them and move on. And other times, it’s because life’s just like that and things happen that are completely outside our control. 

And when things are on the up and up, we’re really happy to let everybody know about them – obviously we’re pretty clever and obviously God is blessing us – and so we don’t mind telling people about it, right. But when we’re on the back foot, when we’re going through that rough patch, we mostly try to keep it to ourselves – it’s almost like we’re ashamed about it.

But that’s not what the Bible teaches. Have a listen – Romans 5:3–5

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us

Quite a different concept – boasting in our suffering – but it’s all about letting God have His way with us. So let’s take a look at the next part of Hannah’s story, in our quest to discover how to develop that quiet confidence in God, in Jesus – during our times of suffering – the sort of confidence that has us boasting in our suffering like the Apostle Paul – way out. Crazy guy that he was. 

So picking up Hannah’s story thus far – she’s been through a terrible time of trial – childless, despised because she is barren and so she went to God and poured her heart out. 1 Samuel 1:9–11

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

And that prayer gave her such incredible peace. 

Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. (Verse 18)

I cannot begin to tell you the number of times that I have gone to God in distress about something – some great drama or problem, some great obstacle in the ministry, or blockage in a relationship –something causing me distress or pain and prayed about it, only to discover His peace.

This next Bible verse I’m going to share with you is absolutely pivotal in my walk with Jesus – Philippians 4:6,7

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

So if you hear me coming back to it again and again, it’s because it beats in my heart as an absolute truth – this promise that if instead of worrying I go to God with a thankful heart and just pour it all out to Him the way Hannah did, the peace of God will guard my heart and mind.

That’s what happened to Hannah. That’s what happened to Paul on death row over a thousand years later. That’s what happens to me every time I dare to live out and act out and pray out that promise – 2000 years on and that’s what will happen to you, when you believe this verse, this truth with your own life.

The peace of God will be restored to you. The confidence that you have in Jesus will grow – it’s like a gift from God. It’s so incredibly special. My friend, please listen to me today. God doesn’t want us to be afraid – as He said to Joshua at a difficult time in his ministry – be strong and courageous. That’s His will for your life and mine.

Strength and courage. Now – I’m a pretty strong sort of character, but let me boast here in my trials – when I’m going through a tough patch I have to tell you I don’t feel strong. I don’t feel courageous. When fear grips my heart, I feel weak and worthless, just the same as you do.

The only thing that makes a difference, is praying, pouring my heart out to God and trusting in His Word. Can I say it again – in case you missed it – because this is the crux of it. This is the heart of it. This is how to receive God’s gift of confidence:

The only thing that makes a difference is praying, pouring my heart out to God and trusting in His Word.

And it made a difference to Hannah too. She had peace. Her countenance was sad no longer. Hallelujah. Isn’t that what you are looking for? The confidence in Christ, to replace your sadness in times of trouble.

But it didn’t stop there. God blessed her, He honoured her, because she honoured Him. 1 Samuel 1:19–28:

They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.” Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three- year- old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”

She left him there for the Lord

My friend you and I serve a good God. He honours those who honour Him. It distresses me so greatly when I see people travelling through the difficult times of life – people who earnestly believe in Jesus – but they struggle so much to make it through. And so I ask them – tell me about your prayer life right now. Tell me about your Bible reading right now.

And they tell me – I don’t pray, it’s too hard. I don’t read my Bible. Two things that are so simple. Two things that open the way for the Lord to pour His Spirit and His peace and His power and His confidence into our hearts and they’re just not doing those things. Why? It’s so simple. God’s promise is so true. He wants to bring peace and confidence and courage into your heart. He truly does.