Lessons From Hannah
As we celebrate our mothers here in the United States, there are many lessons we can learn from Hannah, the prophet Samuel’s mother. She arrived on the scene at a time in Israel’s history where everyone did what was right in their own eyes. They turned their backs on Jehovah God, and worshiped idols instead. She, however, did not.
In 1 Samuel we read Hannah’s story. Her husband, Elkanah, had two wives. Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children. Hannah did not.
For years Hannah prayed for a child. For years God answered no. Although God denied giving her what she so desperately desired, Hannah never wavered from her faith in, and love for, Jehovah God.
Hannah Chose to Worship God
Have you noticed how difficult it is to live in bodies that don’t work or seem to measure up? I sure have. Yet, even in that, we can have peace knowing our hope is not in the healing of our bodies, but in God.
Even in the midst of her troubles and grief over a body that didn’t seem to measure up to her rival, Peninnah, Hannah made a deliberate choice to worship God. Unlike those around her, Hannah turned toward God instead of away from him.
Hannah Knew Comparison Causes Pain
If you haven’t realized it already, I’m sure you will find out someday, comparison can cause deep pain.
Although it would be easy to do, Hannah chose not to compare herself with Peninnah and her ability to have children. Instead, Hannah looked to God for her identity and purpose.
Hannah Took Her Sorrow to God
When our heart is overwhelmed with sorrow, we need to take our sorrow to God in prayer.
Hannah poured out her heart to God. She was honest about her hurt and pain. She didn’t sugarcoat it or try to minimize it. She told God exactly how she felt through her tears.
Hannah Left Her Requests With God
Once we pour our heart out to God in prayer, we must leave our requests with God. This is something I struggle with. Perhaps that’s why I love Hannah so much.
After Hannah prayed, she got up and continued on with her life. She surrendered her dreams, got off her knees, and moved forward. She kept doing the everyday things that needed to be done.
Once she surrendered her dream of having a son, God filled her with his peace. Hannah had done all she could do. Then she left her problem with God for him to work out, knowing he would do what was best.
Hannah Trusted God Was At Work
Another difficulty I have sometimes is trusting God with his timing and his way. We must decide if we will continue to follow God, even when he doesn’t answer our prayer the way we want him to.
Hannah’s obedience and worship weren’t dependent on which way God answered her prayer. She chose to trust that God heard and saw her. She believed whatever answer she received was God’s best answer for her.
Give God The Glory
Even when we receive what we most desire, it is ultimately for God’s glory, not for ourselves, lest we turn what we so desperately wanted into an idol.
Hannah prayed for a son. She promised to dedicate him to the Lord as soon as he was weaned.
When Samuel was about two-years-old, his mother kept her vow. She took her precious, long-desired child to the temple. There he would serve God for the rest of his days as one of God’s most powerful prophets. She left Samuel at the temple under the priest’s care; returning only once a year with a new tunic for her son.
Your Turn
I love Hannah’s heart. I love her obedience. I love her dedication to God, even in the midst of such anguish and pain. There is much to learn from this woman of God.
Giving up the son she had prayed for in tears, had to be the hardest thing she ever did. Still, that is what she chose to do. God didn’t force Hannah to leave Samuel with Eli the priest.
Leaving Samuel at the temple to serve God was his mother’s way of honoring and glorifying God. And through her sacrifice, Israel received one of its greatest prophets. A prophet God used to anoint two kings. Saul and David.
Would it have been difficult for you to leave Samuel at the temple? Are there any lessons from Hannah you find especially precious?
I wish you well.
Sandy
I would have found it very hard to leave my son at the temple.
But when I read this it reminds me of when David and his men were in hiding and his men risked their lives to get him water to drink and he poured it out to the Lord as an offering.
There are some eastern actions that I can’t understand being a woman raised in the west.
Diana, what a coincidence you mentioned this story of David. Yesterday I completed my study of 1 & 2 Samuel with this passage. I struggled with understanding why David poured out what his men risked their lives to obtain, then realized he was offering their sacrifice to the Lord, instead of using it for himself. Like with Hannah, it’s all in the sacrifice and who the sacrifice is offered to, right?
What an example of dedication!
Absolutely, Diana. Hannah’s dedication humbles me.
Thank you, Sandy. Hannah is one of my favorite Bible characters. Her sorrow and pain from being childless must have been such a heavy burden! (Did Peninnah rub it in?)
However, she turns it around by taking it to the Lord. And what an amazing blessing her sacrifice of her son turns out to be. What a wonderful example she is to me for turning her sorrows into prayer and then blessing other lives with the gift of her son, Samuel.
Oh, my goodness,Sally, don’t you just love Hannah’s heart? As you said, she is a wonderful example of turning our sorrows into prayer.