HANNAH’S PRAYER

“Hannah was childless” (1 Samuel 1:2).

“Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears” (1 Samuel 1:10). She was “heartbroken” (1 Samuel 1:10, CEV), “in deep anguish,” (1 Samuel 1:10, NLT), and “deeply distressed” (1 Samuel 1:10, ESV).

Adoption agencies were non-existent. Fertility doctors were only science fiction. There was nowhere to turn… except to God!

So, Hannah was relentless in her prayers. “Year after year, when she went up to the Lord’s house … Hannah would weep and would not eat” (1 Samuel 1:7). She and her husband “would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Armies” (1 Samuel 1:3).

On one occasion, “she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, ‘How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!’ ‘No, my lord,’ Hannah replied. ‘I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment’ ” (1 Samuel 1:12–16).

Like Jacob, Hannah wrestled with God, refusing to give up until the Lord blessed her (Genesis 32:24-32). She believed that God makes the impossible possible. She trusted that God could open her womb. She knew that she could give birth to a son. So, she persistently pleaded with the Giver of Life.

She pleaded, implored, begged, and beseeched. She was tireless, determined, steadfast, unrelenting! (Does that sound like us and our prayer-life?)

“After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, ‘I requested him from the Lord’ ” (1 Samuel 1:20).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).