Hannah’s Prayer: God Remembers

This is one of my most beloved passages of Scripture, both because of how God’s power and tender love are displayed, and because He used Hannah’s story to give me hope during my years of infertility.

Hannah’s story, found in 1 Samuel chapter one, is best read in full, for we can only see its truest beauty when we know it is about more than Hannah wanting a child. It is about relationships, it is about God’s power withheld and poured out. We see the unkindness and even hatefulness of others, and we witness the deep love and encouragement of a husband. It is about the faithful act of worship, the emotions, prayers, faith, and hope of one whose heart is poured out before God. It is about the watchful eyes and encouragement of a priest, the power of prayer, the timing of God, and the waiting, while still pressing on in life. It is about God remembering the words of His daughter and pouring out His blessing on her. Likewise, it is about a daughter remembering and responding with a grateful heart and faithful obedience. It is about then, and it is about now - for ultimately, it is about us remembering and knowing, as Hannah did, just who our God is and what He can do when we humble ourselves before Him in faith - believing He is able.

Hannah was Elkanah’s wife. She was one of two wives. Scripture says that the first was Hannah and the second was Peninnah. Elkanah cared for Peninnah and their children, but Scripture makes it clear that he took special care of Hannah and loved her, even though the Lord had not enabled her to have children. Peninnah, however, did not treat Hannah with the same kindness as Elkanah. Instead, we are told that she was her rival, “an adversary who provoked her to the point of exasperation, just to irritate her, since the Lord had not enabled her to have children. This is how it would go year after year. As often as she went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnah would offend her in that way.”

As for Hannah, she was very distressed. She prayed to the Lord and was, in fact, weeping. She made a vow saying, “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you would truly look on the suffering of your servant, and would keep me in mind and not neglect your servant, and give your servant a male child, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.”
1 Samuel 1:10-11

When Hannah made her vow to God, she did so with great respect and purpose. She did so in faith that God would give her the child she prayed for, and she reciprocated with a commitment “to dedicate the child to the LORD all the days of his life”. Look back to the earlier portion of the story where we read that she prayed often, and watch as she responds to the priest, humble but unashamed, and notice how she does not seek to hide her anguish from God. Do not miss how prayer and the encouragement from Eli, the priest, brought about a visible and inward change.

Eli replied, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request that you have asked of him.” She said, “May I, your servant, find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and got something to eat. Her face no longer looked sad. They got up early the next morning. Then they worshiped the Lord and returned to their home at Ramathaim. Elkanah was intimate with his wife, Hannah, and the Lord called her to mind.
Then Hannah became pregnant.  
1 Samuel 1:17-20

It is also important to see how she went on with life, and when God sent the child she had asked Him for, she was neither forgetful nor oblivious, nor too caught up in life to respond accordingly, concerning the vow she had made to the Lord.

In the course of time, she gave birth to a son. And she named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him.” Then the man Elkanah and all his family went up to make the yearly sacrifice to the Lord and to keep his vow. But Hannah did not go up with them, because she had told her husband, “Not until the boy is weaned. Then I will bring him so that he may appear before the Lord. And he will remain there from then on.”

Then her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what you think best. Stay until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord fulfill his promise.” 1 Samuel 1:21-23

We can only imagine how difficult it must have been for Hannah to keep her commitment to leave this child she had longed for and prayed for behind, in the House of the Lord. Yet Scripture says that is exactly what she did.

She took him up with her as soon as she had weaned him, along with three bulls, an ephah of flour, and a container of wine. She came to the Lord’s house at Shiloh, and the boy was with them. They slaughtered the bull, then brought the boy to Eli. She said, “My lord. Just as surely as you are alive, my lord, I am the woman who previously stood here with you in order to pray to the Lord. For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me the request that I asked of him. So I also dedicate him to the Lord. For all the days of his life, he is dedicated to the Lord.” Then he (Samuel) bowed down there in worship to the Lord. 1 Samuel 1:24-28

If you are reading with us through the Bible reading plan, you will see that Hannah’s story doesn’t end there. As we read in the next chapter of 1 Samuel chapter two, “... But Samuel, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen garment like that of a priest. Each year his mother made a small coat for him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.” And the Lord blessed Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.” 1 Samuel 2:21