Written by: Adrian Snell

1 Samuel 1 v 9-11
Once, after they had eaten their meal in Shiloh, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the entrance to the LORD’s house. Hannah was so sad that she cried and prayed to the LORD. She made a promise, saying, “LORD All-Powerful, see how sad I am. Remember me and don’t forget me. If you will give me a son, I will give him back to you all his life, and no one will ever cut his hair with a razor.”

Notes
The Bible is full of wonderful stories like this one. Extraordinary things happening to ordinary people, very human responses to the things of God. I love the way God chooses those through whom he works to fulfill great things – great promises.

Hannah is married to Elkanah. He has a second wife called, Peninnah (quite usual in those days, but don’t practice it yourself!). Elkanah was very much in love with Hannah, but in spite of her longings, she couldn’t have children. Meanwhile, Peninnah had sons and daughters, and added to Hannah’s misery and anguish by ridiculing her for being barren.

We know where this is going to lead – the birth of Samuel who is to become one of Israel’s most significant prophets greatly used by God. But at this moment. Hannah, his mother to be, knows none of this. She only knows the pain and sorrow of barrenness, and the cruel mockery she receives from her rival.

One day she can bear it no longer and simply cries out to God for help, promising that if only God will bless her with a son, she will offer him back into the Lord’s service for all of his life.

I know a lot about crying out to God in times of longing and despair. I believe that this is where God wants us to take our anguish and our questions. Don’t be afraid of honesty when you come to him. You are safe in his presence. He sees the heart, and a child should not be afraid to cry in the presence of her Father. 

1 Samuel 1 v 12-17
While Hannah kept praying, Eli watched her mouth. She was praying in her heart so her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “Stop getting drunk! Throw away your wine!”
Hannah answered, “No, sir, I have not drunk any wine or beer. I am a deeply troubled woman, and I was telling the LORD about all my problems. Don’t think I am an evil woman. I have been praying because I have many troubles and am very sad.”
Eli answered, “Go! I wish you well. May the God of Israel give you what you asked of him.”

Notes
I think these verses tell us a great deal about the intensity of Hannah’s anguish and the depth of her relationship with the Living God. There is something very moving and disturbing about the face of one in prayer, eyes pleading, lips moving in silent prayer, yet no sound…just the sense of a broken heart…This was Hannah, taking her longings to the only place where there could be an answer, for God alone has the power over the bringing of new life.

If this moment weren’t so poignant, it would be laughable! Eli totally misinterpreting Hannah’s expressions as …drunkenness. What an insult to one already in such pain?

I imagine it didn’t take very long for Hannah’s very sober and passionate response to alter Eli’s viewpoint. And lets hope he was somewhat embarrassed at his hasty judgement. 

Now there’s a message for all of us? How quick we are to judge people by our limited understanding of the circumstances that bring them to where they are. How very much we need in these busy, busy lives we lead to take the time to understand the context for the way people behave sometimes? Today, if you meet or see someone in pain – a family member, a friend or associate - how about taking them aside and asking them to share a little of their story, making sure you have the time to listen…no rush…just you and them and your genuine, God given compassion.

1 Samuel 1 v 18-20
Hannah said, “May I always please you.” When she left and ate something, she was not sad anymore.
Early the next morning Elkanah’s family got up and worshiped the LORD. Then they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had sexual relations with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. So Hannah became pregnant, and in time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “His name is Samuel because I asked the LORD for him.”

Notes 
One of the things I most love about God’s word is the freedom we are given to read between the lines! 
I mean, there is just so very much story, emotion and drama packed into these verses, yet in a way they give us the barest minimum and without the sometimes distracting emphasis of too much detail.
Having received Eli’s blessing, indeed his confident assurance that God would answer her heart cry, Hannah returned home full of excited expectation!

Early the next morning, Elkanah and his family rise to worship The Lord, and then Elkanah and Hannah return to their house and make love. Isn’t that beautiful? Their sexual intimacy followed a time of spiritual intimacy – one flowing out of the other, as natural as breathing. 

And sure enough, this act of lovemaking was to lead to Samuel’s conception. And this is the reason for his name, roughly translated; “I asked the Lord for him”.

We cannot know why Hannah had to wait so long for this answer to her prayers, or why she had to suffer the anguish along the way. But surely we can identify with those times when all we can do is lay our lives and our longings before God, and trust Him in the darkness of uncertainty? Do we truly believe that our wholeness and wellbeing matters more to our Father, Mother God than words can ever express, and can we live our lives in that confidence?

1 Samuel 1 v 21-22
Every year Elkanah went with his whole family to Shiloh to offer sacrifices and to keep the promise he had made to God. But one time Hannah did not go with him. She told him, “When the boy is old enough to eat solid food, I will take him to Shiloh. Then I will give him to the LORD, and he will always live there.”

Notes 
Undoubtedly no day goes by without Hannah’s awareness of the promise she has made to God over Samuel, and the implications for her, him and the family as a whole.
There is a sense here that she has a confidence and a clarity over the timing and the preparation needed for all concerned before Samuel is physically given over into God’s service under the priesthood of Eli. 

Who knows how many tender, beautiful and formative hours Hannah spent with Samuel as a baby at her breast, feeding him, talking, praying over him…What strength of character, what depth of relationship with the living God must Hannah have had to willingly nurture this child, so longed for by her, knowing the sacrifice she was to make after his first few years of life? 

In some respects, she reminds me of Mary, mother of Jesus…indeed I suspect that we are expected to see the parallels between these two remarkable women?

Sometimes it’s very important to reflect on the choices and promises we have made before God. It’s so easy to drift into a willful forgetfulness . We develop a kind of inertia, a world of excuses and justifications to explain why our actions have not mirrored our words and intentions. Lets remember one thing today, one prayerful promise we once made that we know in our hearts has not come to be. Lets confess that, and renew the commitment asking The Lord to shape our wills towards His, and to give us the courage and determination to change. 

1 Samuel 1 v 23-25
Elkanah, Hannah’s husband, said to her, “Do what you think is best. You may stay home until the boy is old enough to eat. May the LORD do what you have said.” So Hannah stayed at home to nurse her son until he was old enough to eat.
When Samuel was old enough to eat, Hannah took him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh, along with a three-year-old bull, one-half bushel of flour, and a leather bag filled with wine. After they had killed the bull for the sacrifice, Hannah brought Samuel to Eli. 

Notes
I have no doubt that Elkanah fully trusted his wife – indeed in matters concerning Samuel I imagine he was very reticent to contradict her! We can sense that he was very aware of the depth and closeness of Hannah’s relationship with God and there is a powerful confidence in his response to her decisions over Samuel.

I wonder if for a moment we can imagine what it was like, the day that Hannah woke her very young son, fed him, dressed him and prepared him for the journey that was to change their lives forever? What faith, what love and assurance of heart must have been present around and within her. Hannah surely had to be strong for Samuel too? No doubt surrounded by God’s presence every day, the preparation for this moment must have been as complete as it could ever be. 

But…the human emotions, the act of ‘letting go’ of the child you waited and longed for, gave birth to, nursed and nurtured from birth, and the willingness to trust his life so completely to God and his servant Eli. Again, there are echoes here of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac…and of course, Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

Let’s take time today to thank our God for the lives of His servants. For those whom he called and found willing to serve Him to the very end, no matter what the cost? For those who offer us a glimpse into the way God fulfills His purposes on earth. Ordinary men, women and children who say ‘YES’ to God’s call upon their lives. And then, let’s place ourselves in the same position…and know that there is no place or situation on earth that God cannot transform through you and me if we submit our lives to the King of Kings.



1 Samuel 1 v 26-28
She said to Eli, “As surely as you live, sir, I am the same woman who stood near you praying to the LORD. I prayed for this child, and the LORD answered my prayer and gave him to me. Now I give him back to the LORD. He will belong to the LORD all his life.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

Notes 
I wonder how quickly Eli remembered his earlier encounter with Hannah? What comes through so powerfully from Hannah’s words to Eli is her humility and her total faithfulness to God and the promises she had made concerning Samuel.

Never has she forgotten that her son was God’s answer to her heart cry all those years ago, or doubted that Samuel was a gift from the creator – belonging ultimately, and now to be returned, to Him.

Hannah’s attitude to life, and the gift of a child, is a profound challenge to all of us. Here in 21st century Europe we grow up with enormous expectations based upon what we understand to be, and are constantly told, are our basic ‘rights’. We find it very hard to imagine life without all we are constantly told we have a ‘right’ to. Material possessions, plenty of food, secure home, good education, fulfilling relationships, children, good and satisfying job, adequate health care…etc, etc..

It is of course entirely understandable that we will aspire towards these things – indeed that a country that cares about the wellbeing of its people should be actively seeking to improve the lives of all its inhabitants in as complete a way as possible.

But if only we would grow up with a sense of gratitude and celebration of all that God has given and entrusted to us? To receive and experience everything as a gift, belonging ultimately to the one who gave us life itself? Would that attitude, expressed so powerfully through Hannah’s life, not banish our jealousy of one another, our cynical dismissal of those whose talents or lifestyles simply remind us of our inadequacies? Would we not live simpler, more contented and joyful lives if we lived as those constantly ‘giving back’ to God what truly belongs to Him?

1 Samuel 2 v 1-3
Hannah prayed:
“The LORD has filled my heart with joy;
I feel very strong in the LORD.
I can laugh at my enemies;
I am glad because you have helped me!
“There is no one holy like the LORD.
There is no God but you;
there is no Rock like our God.
“Don’t continue bragging,
don’t speak proud words.
The LORD is a God who knows everything,
and he judges what people do.

Notes 
As we come to the final passage for this week, what a beautiful contrast are these words, this ‘prayer song’ from Hannah’s heart, with the desperate heart cry of a barren woman we read at the beginning. 

As a composer, I would have no difficulty setting these wonderful, honest and passionate words to music!

And yet, perhaps the deepest message we can take from Hannah’s life story, is that there was never a point at which she ceased to worship the Living God. Whether in her brokeness and despair, her humiliation and confusion, or her joyful contentment – at all times she acknowledged her place before Father, Mother God. She was His child and she never doubted that God could be trusted to fulfill His purposes for her life, however difficult the journey might be.

Hannah’s story is so very human…as are all the stories of God and His children…and of course that’s exactly the point! One of the most beautiful things about God’s word is that we will find – and are expected to find – mirrors to our own stories and journeys of life and faith within these pages. This God who dwelt so close to Hannah, Elkinah, Samuel 
And Eli is the very same God who calls us to Himself today. Every one of our stories is unique, as it should be, and ‘bursting’ with potential! Just imagine what our lives can be when we work in partnership with the one who made us?

A final, lovely moment of reflection. Whilst Samuel was growing ever closer to God and well on the way to becoming one of Israel’s greatest prophets, The Lord blessed Hannah and Elkinah with three more sons and two daughters!! How’s that for an ending to this particular chapter of the big story?!


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes