If you haven’t done so, please read 1 Samuel 1 and 2 to learn the story of our foremother, Hannah. She was a woman of great faith and a teacher of the importance of prayer. May you be blessed in your reading of the Scripture.
I don’t know about you but I’ve been cheering Hannah on for weeks now as I meditate on her story. My heart broke for her as I read about her despair over being childless. I was defensive on her behalf when I read about her adversary, her husband’s other wife, who ridiculed her and humiliated her. I cheered for her when she stood up and decided to bare her soul to God and seek an answer to her prayers. I have learned from her example and I pray I can be such a woman of faith.
When we pray and lay our requests before God, we always get an answer. But sometimes the answer is not yes. However, in Hannah’s case, God blessed her with a baby boy whom she named Samuel. The name Samuel means ” God has heard” or “name of God”. How appropriate, don’t you think?
I wonder if Hannah was ever tempted to not keep her vow to God and to raise Samuel herself. Even if she did have such thoughts or feelings, she must have redirected them and focused her attention on the faithfulness of God because on that day when Samuel was about 3 years old, he was handed over to Eli the priest to be trained in God’s service.
What a sacrifice! It is an overwhelming thought to me. But Hannah did not feel sorry for herself for once again being without a child. She praised God in one of the most beautiful and hopeful prayers in the Bible. Please read and be blessed by her heart for God.
Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
“Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away. I Samuel 2:1-11
Hannah had moved from a place of weakness to a place of strength. The reference to “my horn is lifted high” is an Old Testament reference to power and strength.
Hannah was able to boast over her enemies – I sure she was talking about that hateful other wife of Elkannah!
Hannah recognized that the “bows of the warriors are broken“. I believe she knew she had been under spiritual attack from the Enemy of her soul who was shooting those arrows of accusations at her. She is proclaiming victory over Satan’s schemes.
Hannah is shouting for joy that she is no longer barren. Scriptures tells us she had at least 5 other children after she dedicated Samuel to God’s service.
What a prayer of celebration! God is good. Do you believe it? Claim that promise for yourself dear friend.
Journal Prompts 1. What answer to prayer have you yet to praise God for? Write out a prayer of praise and hope as Hannah did. Pour your heart into it! Defeat the Enemy with your praise.
2. Hannah’s prayer describes the hope in a God who can reverse things. Read Isaiah 61:3. How does this Scripture describe a reversal provided by God?
Join me for my next installment of “Lessons from Hannah”.
I don’t know about you but I’ve been cheering Hannah on for weeks now as I meditate on her story. My heart broke for her as I read about her despair over being childless. I was defensive on her behalf when I read about her adversary, her husband’s other wife, who ridiculed her and humiliated her. I cheered for her when she stood up and decided to bare her soul to God and seek an answer to her prayers. I have learned from her example and I pray I can be such a woman of faith.
When we pray and lay our requests before God, we always get an answer. But sometimes the answer is not yes. However, in Hannah’s case, God blessed her with a baby boy whom she named Samuel. The name Samuel means ” God has heard” or “name of God”. How appropriate, don’t you think?
I wonder if Hannah was ever tempted to not keep her vow to God and to raise Samuel herself. Even if she did have such thoughts or feelings, she must have redirected them and focused her attention on the faithfulness of God because on that day when Samuel was about 3 years old, he was handed over to Eli the priest to be trained in God’s service.
What a sacrifice! It is an overwhelming thought to me. But Hannah did not feel sorry for herself for once again being without a child. She praised God in one of the most beautiful and hopeful prayers in the Bible. Please read and be blessed by her heart for God.
Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
“There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
“Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
“The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away. I Samuel 2:1-11
Hannah had moved from a place of weakness to a place of strength. The reference to “my horn is lifted high” is an Old Testament reference to power and strength.
Hannah was able to boast over her enemies – I sure she was talking about that hateful other wife of Elkannah!
Hannah recognized that the “bows of the warriors are broken“. I believe she knew she had been under spiritual attack from the Enemy of her soul who was shooting those arrows of accusations at her. She is proclaiming victory over Satan’s schemes.
Hannah is shouting for joy that she is no longer barren. Scriptures tells us she had at least 5 other children after she dedicated Samuel to God’s service.
What a prayer of celebration! God is good. Do you believe it? Claim that promise for yourself dear friend.
Journal Prompts 1. What answer to prayer have you yet to praise God for? Write out a prayer of praise and hope as Hannah did. Pour your heart into it! Defeat the Enemy with your praise.
2. Hannah’s prayer describes the hope in a God who can reverse things. Read Isaiah 61:3. How does this Scripture describe a reversal provided by God?
Join me for my next installment of “Lessons from Hannah”.