Faith in a Barren Season

Have you ever felt stuck in a barren season of life? That feeling of being fruitless when you expected growth and progress? You're not alone.

This week, we dive into the powerful opening chapters of 1 Samuel, focusing on Hannah's extraordinary story. After years of childlessness and cruel mockery from her husband's second wife, Hannah pours out her heart to God in desperate prayer, promising to dedicate her son to His service if He would answer her plea. When God blesses her with Samuel, she follows through on her vow in an act of sacrificial faith that few of us could imagine—giving back the very blessing she had longed for.

What makes Hannah's story so compelling isn't just her sacrifice, but how God honored her faithfulness. 

I share my own recent struggles with feeling spiritually and creatively barren despite outward success. Through tears and late-night prayers, God reminded me that these desert seasons often precede periods of unexpected growth and new direction. 

If you're navigating your own barren season right now, don't let it define you. Like Hannah, bring your broken heart directly to God, trust His timing, and be willing to give back whatever blessings He provides. Subscribe now to join me on this awesome study of 1 Samuel. 

Key Passages 1 Samuel 1 & 2

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Jesse Morgan Devotions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello, hello. You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast, episode 63. This week's devotional is titled Faith in a Barren Season the start of 1 Samuel. Let's go Hi. I'm Jesse Morgan. I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart my journey and love for Jesus Christ, my Savior. Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hot Podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:28

This is a weekly devotional. I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier. It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born, four months early in 2023. Through that challenging time, god worked in ways that truly amazed me. On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith, woven together with scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives. My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through. So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together. Let's all pray within. Faith in a barren season. Key passages 1 Samuel, 1 and 2. Hello and welcome back to the podcast, everyone.

Speaker 1: 1:21

I'm so excited we're kicking off our study of 1 Samuel Yay. To give you a little context on this study, as you know, we just wrapped up the book of Judges, which was filled with brutal battles, cycles of sin and God's relentless mercy. Israel kept falling short and each time God raised up a judge to deliver them. But in the last five chapters of Judges we see that God did not raise up a judge and the sin and corruption of Israel was just fully exposed like a bad pimple. So then the stage was set with the book of Ruth. I don't dive into Ruth here, since I've already done a full study on it from before, but I think it's still worthwhile to listen to it. So I'm going to link it at the bottom of the show notes if you like to go back and listen. Ruth is really important because she marries Boaz and Boaz becomes the great-grandfather of King David. So Ruth creates that lineage to David. That then creates the lineage to Jesus Christ and while Saul, you know, comes before David as king David is really the first God-appointed king after the people demanded one. So the story of Ruth, as I said, connects us to David's lineage and sets us up beautifully to start off in 1 Samuel.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Now, just so you know, I've previously done a full chapter-by-chapter devotional series on my own of the life of David, but this time I'm approaching things differently. I study and record these devotionals week by week, intentionally keeping them fresh and in the moment so they remain relatable and grounded. So my hope is that these episodes encourage you to see how God is working in your life too, because he is. The world is tough right now. There are a lot of distractions, false teachings and discouragement all around us. My goal is to help you stay grounded in the truth and walk boldly in your faith.

Speaker 1: 3:34

So today we're beginning with 1 Samuel, chapter 1 and 2, though the focus will mainly be on chapter 1. So specifically, I want to talk about the story of Hannah and the circumstances surrounding Samuel's birth. Samuel is going to be a key figure. He's Israel's basically last judge and the first major prophet during the transition into kingship, into having kings within Israel. But before we meet Samuel, we need to meet his mother, hannah.

Speaker 1: 4:05

Hannah was barren. Her husband had two wives, hannah and Peninnah, and Peninnah had several children, but Hannah had none. And every year when they traveled to the tabernacle to make sacrifices, peninnah would taunt and mock Hannah rubbing her childlessness in her face. How mean can you be? And you know what. It broke Hannah One day, in deep distress, while they were going to the tabernacle, hannah wept so hard and prayed before the Lord and she said she promised that if God gave her a son, she would give him back to the Lord for all the days of his life.

Speaker 1: 4:43

And that was her vow. And as she was praying silently, eli, the priest, noticed her lips moving and assumed she was drunk. But she explained she was just pouring out her soul to God. Moved by this, you know, eli blessed her and said go home and God will answer your prayer. I believe it. And sure enough, she gave birth to a son and named him Samuel. And sure enough, she gave birth to a son and named him Samuel.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Once he was weaned, like around age of two from basically, I guess, breastfeeding she returned him to the temple and presented Samuel to Eli, saying do you remember me? I prayed for this child and the Lord granted my request. Now I give him back to the Lord. Think, think about that. She prayed and pleaded for this child and then she followed through on her vow and gave him back. The level of faith and obedience is incredible. I don't know if I could just, you know, pray that hard and then give up my daughter. I don't know if I could do that. Anyways, something else that just really got me with this whole situation with Hannah and how she gave up Samuel and how obedient she was. But a lot of times we don't look at past that moment with the story and it's just amazing to know she gave up her son and Eli tells her who she gave up her son to. Eli tells Hannah that God will bless her for her sacrifice, and he does. Hannah goes on to have more children, but what stands out to me is the faith she had to give up that very thing she cried out for.

Speaker 1: 6:33

Of course, it got me thinking about the word barren, and we know it means being unable to conceive. But when I looked it up in Hebrew, I learned that it also means to pluck up, to uproot, to be fruitless when fruit is expected. And that hit me, you know, because, if I'm honest, I've been feeling spiritually and creatively barren lately. I work in the corporate world at a tech company and I love it. It's a great job. I'm home, I get to see my daughter, I have the flexibility that many don't and I'm grateful for it, but still I felt stuck a bit. I used to chase career growth obsessively, but now, as a mom, my priorities have shifted and that upward path feels a little unclear. And I've wrestled with that a bit in the past couple of months really in 2025, a bit a bit in the past couple of months, really in 2025 a bit Even creatively, while I have this podcast and it may look like I'm thriving. I felt fruitless, a bit Like I'm meant to be producing more, but I haven't been. That barren feeling has been weighing on me.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Then, recently, god laid something new on my heart, something creative and hands-on that I could pursue alongside with my mom. I'll share more about that soon, but it felt like a spark, a way to step into a new season of fruitfulness and I'm just excited to see where God's going to take me with it. And you know, one night, just to share, like my feelings and what's been going on with me, one night I was just overwhelmed and emotional. I cried and I prayed in my office, but in the middle of the tears I caught myself and I praised the Lord. I praised him for the answers. I hadn't seen yet, the success I didn't fully understand and the clarity I was trusting him to bring. You know, and then it clicked. The growth I'm looking for isn't necessarily in a promotion, it's in this new venture. The job I have is stable, the podcast feeds my soul and now I get to walk into something new that fulfills a different part of me.

Speaker 1: 8:56

God reminded me the barren season is now ending for me. I'm proclaiming it now. I still don't know the specific path of everything, but I'm going to proclaim it and thank God that I'm going to get out of this season that I've been dealing with for a bit, and you know, that's why Hannah's story hits me so deeply. She was desperate, mocked, broken, and she cried out to God. Then he blessed her and she gave it right back to him and she praised him.

Speaker 1: 9:28

I asked myself what am I giving back to the Lord? How am I using my gifts to serve him, not just myself? That's the heart of it. When we give to God, he gives back to us in ways we can't even imagine. That's what makes the love of Christ so powerful. You believe and he gives you new life. You seek him and he draws you near. You pour out your heart and he fills you with peace. Satan loves to cloud that. He wants us stuck in the barren mindset, feeling fruitless, discouraged, nothing, forgotten. But God is always working and he often uses those barren seasons to birth something new in us. I had to be reminded of that. My husband reminded me, my family reminded me and now God is reminding me.

Speaker 1: 10:24

If you're in a barren season spiritually, creatively, professionally I want you to be encouraged. Don't let it define you, don't let it drag on so long that you forget who you are and who you belong to. You are a child of God. Be like Hannah, cry out to him, ask boldly and when he blesses you, give back, because when Hannah gave Samuel, god gave her more, and he can do the same for you and he can do the same for me. Love you all. Let's pray.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Heavenly Father, I thank you for this amazing study to kick off for Samuel. Thank you for the amazing relentless of Hannah. Thank you, lord, for just making us understand that we go through those barren seasons, but you're here to give us that rebirth when we ask for it, when we proclaim your name, when we praise you in advance for the blessing that we know we're going to receive, lord, and just helping us to understand that we don't have to be in that awful, cloudy, stuck, discouraged time of our life. We don't have to be in that time of our life if we really seek you and we continue to. You know, focus on you, lord. Father, bless everyone who listened to this podcast. Encourage them. Know that Jesus Christ is the Savior. We love you, lord, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Friends, thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 1: 12:02

I'm so excited to continue this amazing journey on 1 Samuel we are going to be going through. The next phase will be Samuel himself and Eli a little bit, and going through into Saul and, of course, we're going to hit David. So I'm very excited because I think this is going to be a very hard study at times, but it's also going to be very relatable. There's so many great treasures in here and I just hope that you guys can enjoy it with me. God bless, till next time. Well, that wraps up this week's episode. I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode. Also, if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well. For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessimorganhomecom or find me on Instagram at jessimorganlife. Remember God's timing is always perfect. Keep trusting him Until next time. This is Jesse Morgan praying off.