Most of us looooove little babies; many young women get ‘baby fever’ after they have been married for a while. Hannah did! She longed for a baby. To make matters worse, she was the second wife of Elkanah, who had children by his first wife, Peninnah, who rubbed it in and made life miserable for Hannah. No doubt, Peninnah was extremely jealous because Elkanah loved Hannah and showed it. (I feel a little sorry for Peninnah, as well.) How blessed we are to be under the law of Christ and do not have to deal with several wives for one husband!
Elkanah, as husbands today, thought he was better than ten sons but Hannah knew better. When one longs for a child, then a husband cannot fill that void. The love God gives us for a child is different from the love He gives us for a husband, though both are wonderful. So Hannah cried, and cried, and cried and did not eat and prayed, and prayed and prayed.
At Shiloh, the principle place of worship in those days, Hannah prayed silently, lips moving, tears streaming in anguish, begging God for a child and even trying to make a deal with God. She promised that if God would give her a son she would never cut his hair, like the vow of Sampson’s mother, and she would give him back. Eli, the priest, observed her strange behavior, thought she was drunk and reprimanded her, until Hannah became alert and explained that she was in deep sorrow from not being able to give birth to a child. Eli responded with a promise that she would have a child. Hannah believed him and washed her face and ate, cheerful in her faith that God would give her a child.
God kept his promise as spoken by Eli and so did Hannah. She doted on her son, caring for him with devotion, until he was weaned, possibly until he was three to six years old. At last she felt compelled to give him back to God and took him back to Eli. She left him for training and service in tabernacle with Eli, continuing to love him from a distance. God blessed her with three more sons and two daughters, but she came to the tabernacle every year, bringing the child a robe she made for him.
When Hannah brought the child back to Eli, she prayed again, and this prayer is recorded for us to read in 1 Samuel 2. Even as she prepared to leave her son, not to see him but once a year, she praised God and gave Him honor, acknowledging that she had been extremely blessed.
God blessed Hannah, but she had no idea that He also had fantastic plans for the child. The little boy, Samuel, who was lent to Eli to serve in the tabernacle, grew up to be the prophet, Samuel, who spent his life striving to keep the Israelites faithful to God. He anointed Saul and David to be kings and advised them as God told him.
Who knows how God will answer your prayer? God blessed Hannah beyond what she asked with an amazing son and other children. God knows what is best for us, so the answer may be different from what we expect. For certain, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:16-18).
God wants us to pray about our needs, our sorrows and our longings. He deserves and desires our praise and thankfulness. Let us pray that God will use us in His service and that the desires of our hearts will be in keeping with His desires for us.
