"...and her face was no longer downcast."

One of the biggest wake-up calls I've had from scripture recently has been this: in the place of broken-heartedness, is God truly my comfort?

At the beginning of 1 Samuel, we see Hannah's oppression. She was one of two wives, and whilst it says she was the most loved, she was unable to have children. The other wife, Peninnah, would bully her.
 "...her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her until she wept and wouldn't eat.." (1Sam 1:7)
"In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. [She said] "I am a woman who is deeply troubled... I was pouring out my soul to the Lord, I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." (1Sam 1:10-16)

Hannah was broken-hearted over her lack - she faced bullying, provocation and comparison everyday. But she brought her pain and desire before the Lord and committed it to Him. She was persistent and fervent, praying to God directly from that place of suffering and presenting her heart before Him - exactly as it was.

She found comfort and relief in the presence of God, and the evidence of this is in the change in her behaviour afterwards - not only did she start eating again, but
her whole countenance and attitude changed.

"Her face was no longer downcast." (1Sam 1:18b)

Freedom from self.

I recently read a tiny book by Tim Keller called ‘The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness’. The book really is little, but what it's saying is huge.

The book is based on 1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7 where Paul talks about where we get our identity from. Basically, Paul writes that he doesn't care what others think of him, or even what he thinks of himself:  he cares only for what God thinks of him.

Keller observes the difference between what we see here, and how our society prescribes self worth. Today, we are generally told we have low self-esteem, and the ideal is a sky-high self-image. In the past it was the opposite. In Greek society, hubris - or pride - was the root of all evil.

Keller argues that in fact neither of these ideas can be correct, and Paul demonstrates this in how he lived his life.

In several letters, Paul underlines how weak he is and how many problems he faces.

"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15)

If I knew that I was a terrible person, it would lower my self-esteem. But Paul doesn't care. He is incredibly confident in his letters, and remains one of the most influential people in history.

Paul’s self-image rested on what God said about him. There are countless verses in the Bible talking about God's love for us, and more than that - we know that when He looks at us He sees His son Jesus. 

The moment we believe, God says "This is my son with whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)

This is the difference between Christians and the rest of the world: with everyone else you act right, work hard and then you get the good verdict. They try to get their self-image from being a good person, so they work hard and then get a verdict from either their own ideology, or others, that confirms they are a good person. It's the same for Atheists, Buddhists, Muslims or people from any other religion.

Tim Keller's book reminded me a lot of Max Lucado's 'You are Special'. Lucado makes exactly the same point in a great way for children but Keller really goes into it and expands it for adults. It's definitely worth paying 99p for the ebook from Amazon. He explains it all a lot better than me and uses quotes from C.S. Lewis, Soren Kierkegaard and even Madonna.