Faith in a Barren Season

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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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Song: Whip

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, hello.
You're listening to the JesseMorgan Devotions for the
Christian Heart Podcast, episode63.
This week's devotional istitled Faith in a Barren Season
the start of 1 Samuel.
Let's go Hi.
I'm Jesse Morgan.
I used to just share home decorand renovation tips on social
media, but now I'm sharingsomething even closer to my

(00:21):
heart my journey and love forJesus Christ, my Savior.
Welcome to the Jesse MorganDevotions for the Christian Hot
Podcast.
This is a weekly devotional.
I started back in May 2024, butthe inspiration for it came
much earlier.
It was rooted in a faithjourney that began when my
daughter was born, four monthsearly in 2023.
Through that challenging time,god worked in ways that truly

(00:43):
amazed me.
On this podcast, I sharepersonal stories of faith, woven
together with scripture to showjust how incredible God's word
can be in our everyday lives.
My hope is that through thesestories, you'll be encouraged,
uplifted and reminded of God'slove and presence, no matter
what you're going through.
So I invite you to spend lessthan 15 minutes with me each

(01:05):
week as we reflect on thesedevotionals together.
Let's all pray within.
Faith in a barren season.
Key passages 1 Samuel, 1 and 2.
Hello and welcome back to thepodcast, everyone.
I'm so excited we're kicking offour study of 1 Samuel Yay.

(01:25):
To give you a little context onthis study, as you know, we
just wrapped up the book ofJudges, which was filled with
brutal battles, cycles of sinand God's relentless mercy.
Israel kept falling short andeach time God raised up a judge
to deliver them.
But in the last five chaptersof Judges we see that God did

(01:49):
not raise up a judge and the sinand corruption of Israel was
just fully exposed like a badpimple.
So then the stage was set withthe book of Ruth.
I don't dive into Ruth here,since I've already done a full
study on it from before, but Ithink it's still worthwhile to

(02:12):
listen to it.
So I'm going to link it at thebottom of the show notes if you
like to go back and listen.
Ruth is really importantbecause she marries Boaz and
Boaz becomes thegreat-grandfather of King David.
So Ruth creates that lineage toDavid.
That then creates the lineageto Jesus Christ and while Saul,

(02:34):
you know, comes before David asking David is really the first
God-appointed king after thepeople demanded one.
So the story of Ruth, as I said, connects us to David's lineage
and sets us up beautifully tostart off in 1 Samuel.
Now, just so you know, I'vepreviously done a full
chapter-by-chapter devotionalseries on my own of the life of

(02:57):
David, but this time I'mapproaching things differently.
I study and record thesedevotionals week by week,
intentionally keeping them freshand in the moment so they
remain relatable and grounded.
So my hope is that theseepisodes encourage you to see
how God is working in your lifetoo, because he is.

(03:18):
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 staygrounded in the truth and walk
boldly in your faith.
So today we're beginning with 1Samuel, chapter 1 and 2, though

(03:38):
the focus will mainly be onchapter 1.
So specifically, I want to talkabout the story of Hannah and
the circumstances surroundingSamuel's birth.
Samuel is going to be a keyfigure.
He's Israel's basically lastjudge and the first major
prophet during the transitioninto kingship, into having kings

(03:59):
within Israel.
But before we meet Samuel, weneed to meet his mother, hannah.
Hannah was barren.
Her husband had two wives,hannah and Peninnah, and
Peninnah had several children,but Hannah had none.
And every year when theytraveled to the tabernacle to
make sacrifices, peninnah wouldtaunt and mock Hannah rubbing

(04:22):
her childlessness in her face.
How mean can you be?
And you know what.
It broke Hannah One day, indeep distress, while they were
going to the tabernacle, hannahwept so hard and prayed before
the Lord and she said shepromised that if God gave her a
son, she would give him back tothe Lord for all the days of his

(04:43):
life.
And that was her vow.
And as she was praying silently, eli, the priest, noticed her
lips moving and assumed she wasdrunk.
But she explained she was justpouring out her soul to God.
Moved by this, you know, eliblessed her and said go home and

(05:03):
God will answer your prayer.
I believe it.
And sure enough, she gave birthto a son and named him Samuel.
And sure enough, she gave birthto a son and named him Samuel.
Once he was weaned, like aroundage of two from basically, I
guess, breastfeeding shereturned him to the temple and
presented Samuel to Eli, sayingdo you remember me?
I prayed for this child and theLord granted my request.

(05:26):
Now I give him back to the Lord.
Think, think about that.
She prayed and pleaded for thischild and then she followed
through on her vow and gave himback.
The level of faith andobedience is incredible.
I don't know if I could just,you know, pray that hard and

(05:46):
then give up my daughter.
I don't know if I could do that.
Anyways, something else thatjust really got me with this
whole situation with Hannah andhow she gave up Samuel and how
obedient she was.
But a lot of times we don'tlook at past that moment with
the story and it's just amazingto know she gave up her son and

(06:14):
Eli tells her who she gave upher son to.
Eli tells Hannah that God willbless her for her sacrifice, and
he does.
Hannah goes on to have morechildren, but what stands out to
me is the faith she had to giveup that very thing she cried
out for.
Of course, it got me thinkingabout the word barren, and we

(06:37):
know it means being unable toconceive.
But when I looked it up inHebrew, I learned that it also
means to pluck up, to uproot, tobe fruitless when fruit is
expected.
And that hit me, you know,because, if I'm honest, I've
been feeling spiritually andcreatively barren lately.

(07:00):
I work in the corporate worldat a tech company and I love it.
It's a great job.
I'm home, I get to see mydaughter, I have the flexibility
that many don't and I'mgrateful for it, but still I
felt stuck a bit.
I used to chase career growthobsessively, but now, as a mom,
my priorities have shifted andthat upward path feels a little

(07:23):
unclear.
And I've wrestled with that abit in the past couple of months
really in 2025, a bit a bit inthe past couple of months,
really in 2025 a bit Evencreatively, while I have this
podcast and it may look like I'mthriving.
I felt fruitless, a bit LikeI'm meant to be producing more,
but I haven't been.

(07:43):
That barren feeling has beenweighing on me.
Then, recently, god laidsomething new on my heart,
something creative and hands-onthat 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 offruitfulness and I'm just

(08:04):
excited to see where God's goingto take me with it.
And you know, one night, justto 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 myoffice, but in the middle of the
tears I caught myself and Ipraised the Lord.

(08:27):
I praised him for the answers.
I hadn't seen yet, the successI didn't fully understand and
the clarity I was trusting himto bring.
You know, and then it clicked.
The growth I'm looking forisn't necessarily in a promotion
, it's in this new venture.
The job I have is stable, thepodcast feeds my soul and now I

(08:51):
get to walk into something newthat fulfills a different part
of me.
God reminded me the barrenseason is now ending for me.
I'm proclaiming it now.
I still don't know the specificpath of everything, but I'm
going to proclaim it and thankGod that I'm going to get out of
this season that I've beendealing with for a bit, and you

(09:12):
know, that's why Hannah's storyhits me so deeply.
She was desperate, mocked,broken, and she cried out to God
.
Then he blessed her and shegave it right back to him and
she praised him.
I asked myself what am I givingback to the Lord?
How am I using my gifts toserve him, not just myself?

(09:35):
That's the heart of it.
When we give to God, he givesback to us in ways we can't even
imagine.
That's what makes the love ofChrist so powerful.
You believe and he gives younew life.
You seek him and he draws younear.
You pour out your heart and hefills you with peace.

(09:56):
Satan loves to cloud that.
He wants us stuck in the barrenmindset, feeling fruitless,
discouraged, nothing, forgotten.
But God is always working andhe often uses those barren
seasons to birth something newin us.
I had to be reminded of that.

(10:17):
My husband reminded me, myfamily reminded me and now God
is reminding me.
If you're in a barren seasonspiritually, creatively,
professionally I want you to beencouraged.
Don't let it define you, don'tlet it drag on so long that you

(10:38):
forget who you are and who youbelong to.
You are a child of God.
Be like Hannah, cry out to him,ask boldly and when he blesses
you, give back, because whenHannah gave Samuel, god gave her
more, and he can do the samefor you and he can do the same
for me.
Love you all.

(11:00):
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you forthis amazing study to kick off
for Samuel.
Thank you for the amazingrelentless of Hannah.
Thank you, lord, for justmaking us understand that we go
through those barren seasons,but you're here to give us that

(11:21):
rebirth when we ask for it, whenwe proclaim your name, when we
praise you in advance for theblessing that we know we're
going to receive, lord, and justhelping us to understand that
we don't have to be in thatawful, cloudy, stuck,

(11:43):
discouraged time of our life.
We don't have to be in thattime of our life if we really
seek you and we continue to.
You know, focus on you, lord.
Father, bless everyone wholistened to this podcast.
Encourage them.
Know that Jesus Christ is theSavior.
We love you, lord, and wepraise you in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Friends, thank you so much forlistening.
I'm so excited to continue thisamazing journey on 1 Samuel we

(12:07):
are going to be going through.
The next phase will be Samuelhimself 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 Ithink this is going to be a very
hard study at times, but it'salso going to be very relatable.
There's so many great treasuresin here and I just hope that

(12:29):
you guys can enjoy it with me.
God bless, till next time.
Well, that wraps up this week'sepisode.
I hope these devotions help youdraw closer to God each day.
If this episode encouraged you,please share it with someone
who might need the same messageand don't forget to subscribe so
you never miss a weekly episode.

(12:49):
Also, if you feel compelled,leaving a nice review would be
so appreciated as well.
For more information or toreach out, check the show notes
or visit jessimorganhomecom orfind me on Instagram at
jessimorganlife.
Remember God's timing is alwaysperfect.
Keep trusting him Until nexttime.
This is Jesse Morgan prayingoff.