Hannah's Prayer

May 14

I Samuel 1-3

Psalm 59:14-17

Proverbs 13:17-18

John 4

Hannah’s Prayer

“And she, bitter of soul, prayed to Yahweh and wept despondently.  And she made a vow and said, ‘O Yahweh of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a seed amongst men, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life and a razor shall never come on his head.”  I Samuel 1:10-11 LSB

Hannah was barren.  In Biblical times, it was believed that children were a sign of blessing from the Lord and barrenness was a sign of God’s displeasure or punishment.  That belief is not supported by the Biblical record.  Many women in the Bible were barren before giving birth to children God planned to use mightily.

Sarah was barren before she gave birth to Isaac.

Rebekah was barren before she gave birth to Esau and Jacob. 

Rachel was barren before she gave birth to Joseph.

Manoah was barren before giving birth to Samson

Elizabeth was barren before giving birth to John the Baptist. 

In each of those situations, God used their barrenness to bring them closer to Him and to prepare them to parent the child that He was about to bring them.  We often cannot understand God’s ways or His timing, but we can trust that He is working and that He always knows best.  Hannah’s reaction to her barrenness was very different from all the other women above.  Hannah knew that God could give her a child so she went to Him and poured out her burden to Him and He answered her.  Hannah was not told beforehand that she would have a child.  Either God or an angel told all the other women or their husbands that they were going to have a baby, but Hannah was not given this promise.  She had no idea that God was going to allow her to give birth to Samuel, the judge, prophet and priest that He would use to anoint King Saul and King David and who would serve in the transition period between the period of the judges and the kings.  She just desperately wanted a child, so she begged God for one and He answered her. 

Hannah had reached a low point and she realized that she needed to do something about her situation.  There was nothing she could do about her physical barrenness, but there was something she could do about her spiritual barrenness.  When she approached the temple, she was focused on God instead of on her problem.  I Samuel 1:10 describes her as “despondent” and “bitter of soul.”  Hannah realized she had allowed her circumstances to make her bitter and anxious and she wept before the Lord.  She was broken and surrendered.  We can learn much from Hannah about prayer.  Hannah approached God in humility and surrender.  She recognized her position before the Lord.  She didn’t downplay her circumstances, but instead of focusing on the negative, she chose to focus on God and His power and sovereignty.  Hannah referred to God as “The Lord of Hosts.”  The word for hosts is tsbaah, which means “an army poised and ready for battle.”  She recognized that God is mighty and powerful, with an unseen army, poised and ready for battle on behalf of His people.  The Lord is over all the heavenly host, the angels, but He is also Lord over all creation.  Hannah was acknowledging that God alone had the power to meet her needs and she came to him humbly asking for His favor.  We often need to remind ourselves who our God is and what He is capable of.  Our problems can seem so big and horrible that we fail to see that no problem is too big for our God to handle. 

Hannah was specific in her request.  She asked God to “look on your servant’s misery and remember me.”  She wanted to make sure God understood her pain and sorrow over being childless.  Hannah specifically asked for a son.  How many things have we missed out on because we failed to ask?  Hannah came before God privately and personally.  She was not praying out loud or doing anything to draw attention to herself.  Eli saw her praying moving her mouth, but didn’t hear what she was saying.  He assumed that she had been drinking because it was not unusual for the people coming to the feasts to consume too much alcohol and get drunk.  Hannah was not praying to get attention and she was not concerned about what anyone thought about her, however, she did not want the priest to think that she would disrespect the temple in that way, so she explained her situation to him.  He responded very gently telling her to “Go in peace. May the Lord grant your request.”  It was not a promise that she was going to get what she asked for.  He was simply saying that he hoped God would do what she asked.  Prayer should be a personal time between you and God.  No one else needs to know anything that is said between you.  It is a time for you to pour out your heart to Him and for Him to lead, guide, comfort, strengthen and prepare you for what He has planned. 

Hannah trusted God with the outcome.  After laying out her concerns before God, “she went on her way, ate something and her face was no longer downcast.”  She had not received any indication whether her prayer would be answered and yet she was at peace.  She had poured out her heart to God, given Him her request and trusted that He heard her and would do what was best.  She was completely surrendered to Him.  Her demeanor did not change because she knew she was going to have a child, it changed because she had been in the presence of God and placed her faith in Him.