INTRODUCTION

Elkanah had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah remained barren. Peninnah used this opportunity of Hannah’s barren state to provoke her, hoping that she could trouble her rival. The Christian’s primary adversary is much different from Peninnah, but Satan’s goal and resolve is identical to this example. The adversary, the Devil (1 Peter 5:8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
See All...), wants believers to live troubled, fretful, and defeated lives. If he can cause a believer to fret and to worry and to complain, he has a much greater chance of turning that believer’s heart against the Lord (Proverbs 19:3The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.
See All...). The Devil knows that if he turns the heart, he might be able to cause that believer to curse the Lord (Isaiah 8:21And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
See All...). Satan uses worry as one of the foundational elements in his multipronged attack to bring about his greater objective. He wants to turn hearts against God! Those believers who struggle most with worry offer Satan the greatest chance of success

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For children): The king of Assyria sent a letter to Hezekiah trying to make him doubt that God could help when he attacked. He wanted Hezekiah to fear and give up without a fight. Read what Hezekiah did with those threats (2 Kings 19:14-19 [14] And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. [15] And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. [16] LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. [17] Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, [18] And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. [19] Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
  See All...) and how God heard the prayer and delivered His people (2 Kings 19:35And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
  See All...).
• (For everyone): How can worry lead to greater sins for the believer? How could a person who began by worrying eventually curse the Lord? How will Satan’s ultimate plan for your life be accomplished through worry?
• Does worry come from God or from Satan? Does faith originate with God or Satan? Whose will do you choose to implement when you choose to worry? How is this a dangerous start down a dangerous path?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Ask the Lord to help you recognize the attacks of Satan..
• Ask the Lord to put a hedge of protection about you.

HYMN

WITH CHRIST, I SMILE AT THE STORM

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