|
 |
|
 Copyright © 2007 The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory. All rights reserved. |
|
Women of the Bible
HANNAH – TRUE TO HER PROMISE by Gladys DeMichael
Scripture: 1 Samuel 1: 1-2:11; 2:19-21
Focus Text: “I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see what He has done and be astounded. They will put their trust in the Lord” Psalm 40: 1-3.
Background: The life of Hannah; the virtues of this remarkable woman and mother of the Bible, is an often used Mother’s Day story. We learn much from Hannah about God’s grace in unpleasant circumstances and about the qualities of faith and sacrifice. Her very name – Hannah – means gracious, graciousness, grace, and favor. She is one of the few women in the Bible about whom nothing negative is mentioned. Her character is unblemished. Words to describe her would be godly, devoted, patient, trusting and self-sacrificing. Hannah was a woman totally committed to God and the maintaining of the religious ordinances of her nation. She is a beautiful example of how God manifests His presence and comfort in the midst of the most unpleasant circumstances. How did Hannah become such a testimony to God’s great grace? Difficulty, pain, suffering and sacrifice are the answers to that question. She is best known for praying in faith that God would give her a son and keeping her promise to God by devoting Samuel to God’s service.
Biblical Truth: For Hannah and for all women of faith, God uses dark times to produce a richness of life and character. ”Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4: 6-7 The Message).
Waiting is one of the hardest things we do, especially when the years go by and we see no fulfillment of our dreams and hopes. It’s a good thing to learn to wait; we spend a large amount of our lives waiting.
Hannah knew the misery of waiting for dreams that did not come true. Like all young girls, she must have dreamed of the perfect marriage, but her dreams were eventually met by a rather harsh reality. She married a Levite from one of the most honorable families of priests. His name was Elkanah. He was a good man however Hannah’s marriage to him was not so wonderful. She shared her husband with another woman, Peninnah. (1:2), which was a permitted custom of the time. Elkanah was devoted to Hannah and bestowed richer gifts upon her than he did upon Peninnah, but Hannah was childless (1:5). To have no children was a source of great disgrace for a woman in Old Testament times. She did not receive the blessing of a happy marriage and children she had hoped for. Instead of the laughter and activity of children to occupy her days, she was harassed by a jealous and heartless Peninnah, gloating over her many children (1:6). Even Elkanah did not grasp Hannah’s distress thinking he was of more worth to her than ten sons (1:8). But true to her character, Hannah found a comforting retreat for her sorrow near to the heart of God.
Biblical Truth: As children, we recited the riddle, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”. We soon discovered there was not truth in that riddle. Thoughtless, unloving words of ours can bring pain and sorrow to others. How necessary it is to guard our tongue! “If a man can control his tongue, he can control every other part of his personality. The human tongue is physically small, but what tremendous effects it can boast of” (James 3:2&5).
Although the Lord had shut up Hannah’s womb, her heart was still open toward Him. Living daily in an unpleasant environment, she was never guilty of any retaliatory conduct. For deep within Hannah’s heart and soul was a reverence for God. While her life was filled with problems, it was also filled with fervent worship. At the appointed time each year, “she went up to the house of the Lord” (1:7) with her husband to worship and make sacrifices to God. In her worship she enjoyed fellowship with God and sought the wisdom of God for dealing with her daily difficulties. Worship meant life for Hannah!
Quote: When you suffer – worship! When you are confused – worship! When you are criticized – worship! Make worship your lifestyle! (Elizabeth George)
Hannah lived the “Discipline of Prayer”. Her afflictions were heavy and many. Her tears had become her diet (1:7). Anguish of heart and bitterness of soul had clouded her spirit. Many women in her place would have given up. But Hannah shows us the better way. She prayed to the Lord (1:10). Her soul may have been dark, but her faith was radiant as she knelt down and poured out her distress and disappointment to God in prayer. Childless, Hannah was not prayerless. Barren, she still believed, and her pain found a sanctuary in prayer.
1 Samuel 1:11-12 is a moving account of a soul poured out to God in intercessory prayer. The Hebrew language has many words for the act of prayer, but the specific Hebrew word used to describe Hannah’s prayer in the house of the Lord is palal, meaning “to entreat, to make supplication”. It was a supplication without external speech. Her lips moved but there were no sounds. She pleaded with God, vowing that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to Him for His exclusive use. In the presence of God, her sorrow was released. Provocation and ridicule were part of Hannah’s everyday life. She was even misunderstood by the temple priest, Eli, who thought she was drunk (1:13-14). She was denied motherhood but she held tightly to what she did have – a life of prayer. Though weak from sadness and weeping, she continually placed herself and her situation into the hands of God.
Scripture: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” James 5:16b – NIV
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed, The motion of a hidden fire, that trembles in the breast. James Montgomery
Biblical Truth: When we pray, God blesses. He blesses with peace that passes understanding (Philippians 4:7), He blesses with comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). While we may not receive that for which we have asked, we are definitely blessed spiritually (Ephesians 1:3). Many times we are blessed by God’s generous grace to receive that for which we ask!
Hannah lived a life of “Devotion”. There was tension in Hannah’s house. Her situation seemed hopeless, as did the situation of her people, the nation of Israel, for “there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25) and the “word of the Lord was rare” (1 Samuel 3:1). God seemed to be silent and His people were lost. What happened to God’s plan? Where were the leaders He said He would provide? Certainly a son would bring great joy to Hannah’s heart and silence her critics. In the perfect timing of God’s plan, Hannah’s desires slowly grew beyond her personal longing and focused instead on the Lord Almighty. God used Hannah’s waiting time to work in her a sacred desire. He granted her request, giving her a son. She named him Samuel, meaning “The Name of God” or “A Godly Name”. Not only did Samuel’s birth delight a desperate woman, his life of faithful leadership blessed Israel and guided them to follow the Lord. He was a continual reminder to his mother of God’s mercy toward those who call upon His name.
Scripture: “Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me” Psalm 103:2 NLT.
Hannah was a woman of “Extraordinary Faith”. Hannah’s ordeal was over! She expected God to look on her, to remember, and to give her a son. She went away contented, her misery thrown aside by joy and her face radiant (1:18). She believed Eli’s blessing. “Go in peace. And may the God of Israel give you what you have asked of Him” (1:17 The Message). Her long wanted and long prayed-for child would be forthcoming! What confident faith in the Lord! Nothing in her life had changed. She wasn’t yet pregnant. Nevertheless, she believed in faith that one day she would have a son.
Scripture: “Jesus said, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” Mark 11:24 NKJV.
Biblical Truth: You can trust what God says, even when nothing about your situation seems to be changing for the better. Faith is holding on to the “exceedingly great and precious promises of God” (2 Peter 1:4 NKJV).
Hannah had only two or three years (1:23) to train her son for God, pour out her love and God’s truth into little Samuel. Samuel not only had been “asked of God” and given by God, but he had also been vowed to God and so must be given back to God. He must be given over to God’s high priest, Eli, to serve the Lord every day of his life. Hannah would keep her promise no matter what it would cost her in loneliness. As she and Elkanah approached the house of the Lord with their son and the sacrifice required for the fulfillment of her vow, she knew that she was giving God the most personal and remarkable sacrifice of all, the source of her greatest earthly joy. She was giving God her best, most costly gift – her only child. She explained, “I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord” (1:29).
With her vow fulfilled, Hannah bursts into song and pours forth her gratitude to God for His goodness. Her “hymn of thanksgiving” reminds us of Mary’s “Magnificat” in Luke 1: 46-55. Both emphasize God as the Champion of the forsaken and the lowly, the “little people of the world”. (The Wesley Bible).Her story gives us a message of hope and blessing. God works all things together for our good. (Romans 8:28) God Almighty is in charge of the outcome of our life and is at work in us through our trials and disappointments. Because He is God, He is able to take what is dark, bitter and painful and make something beautiful of it. Something beautiful, something good. All my confusion He understood; All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, But He made something beautiful of my life. Gloria Gaither
If Hannah had never had a child, she still would have gone down in Scripture’s narrative as a “woman of faith”. She is not a woman of faith because she bore a child. She is a woman of faith because she sought God when she was in her deepest distress. She is a woman of faith because she realized that only the Lord of Hosts could answer her questions, and that only He could provide the consolation and purpose in life she so desperately sought. It is God who makes life complete. “The Lord” Hannah says, “is a God who knows” (2:3).
After Hannah acted on her vow, the Lord visited her so that she conceived and bore five more children; three sons and two daughters (2:21). Isn’t that just like God!
Ponder – Praise – Pray:
Prayer Lord Almighty, I thank You for hearing my prayers. You know what I’ve been bringing to you over and over and over. You often answer my petitions in amazing and unexpected ways. I understand You know what’s best for me and You know the proper timing. Teach me to pray with humility and patience and help me be faithful and righteous as I wait and trust in You. Amen
February Study ESTHER – A WOMAN OF COURAGE |