Week Two. Hannah: I am the woman

Welcome back to week two of our Bible Study on Hannah. We have much to cover this week so let’s get going! We will be in I Samuel 1: 19-28

I Samuel

¹⁹ Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,^[b] saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Hannah Dedicates Samuel

²¹ When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, ²² Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”^[c]
23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his^[d] word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
²⁴ After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,^[e] an ephah^[f] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. ²⁵ When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, ²⁶ and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. ²⁷ I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. ²⁸ So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

If we can back up just a verse to the end of Hannah’s conversation with Eli I want you to notice again that Hannah agreed with Eli’s blessing and then she got on with it. The Bible says was her face was no longer downcast. Now we are picking up the very next morning and we see that Hannah arose early the in the morning and worshiped before going back to her home. I don’t want you to miss the all important message in that short sentence. You see, before anything had even come to pass, Hannah went ahead and worshiped the Lord. She praised Him before she could see the answer to her prayer. God had already answered it but she could not physically see it so she looked with her spiritual eyes of faith and believed God would do as He said and worshiped Him for it. That’s such trust! If we could all just grab a hold of that kind of faith our lives would be much simpler lived. 

Now belief isn’t where Hannah stopped. You’ll notice also in verse 19 that Hannah did her part too! She didn’t just hear God’s answer, heed His call with acceptance, and sit around and wait. She did the physical requirements necessary to create a baby. She also needed a partner in this, Elkanah. Once again, don’t miss the practical implications of this. Do you have a goal? Do you have a calling? Has God laid something on your heart? It could be anything-a family vacation, wisdom with your finances, or a promotion at work. Don’t just set the goal, ask God for help, and sit on your haunches. Yes, there are times when we are to wait on the Lord and let Him work but something interesting was recently pointed out to me, You’ve got to see this! Turn to Isaiah 40:31. It reads, “but those who hope in (wait upon) the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on (mount up with) wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (KJV in parenthesis) Look at the order there. Doesn’t that seem a little backwards? Shouldn’t we walk, then run, then mount up? No! God’s got us mounting up, then running, then walking! He’s got us barreling through the gate. What a mighty God we serve! Let’s do as He says and “mount up.” On my desk calendar every week has a different little saying up at the top. This saying this week is perfectly fitting for me right now. It says, “Place your eyes on your goals and don’t move them.” As a wife and business owner I have many lofty goals right now in those two areas of my life. If I just prayed and asked God to “help” me and sat back and waited, do you think I would see much success there? No. God wants me to mount up! Hannah believed what God had promised so much that she worshiped Him for the answer before she ever saw the physical proof but she still did her part! God + you= ANYTHING! 

Verse 20 continues the story and tells us that in the proper time Hannah conceived and gave birth to her son and she named him Samuel which means “heard of God.” How beautiful is that word picture? Hannah was heard of God and her baby was a tribute to that. As we progress a bit into the story we see that Elkanah and the family still go to the temple for the feast every year but Hannah had shared with Elkanah that she wanted to refrain from going to the temple until such a time when the child was weaned and could stay there. Please don’t miss the trust and partnership Elkanah had with his wife. The two must have a positively full emotional bank account for he never questioned it. He knew her. He trusted her. There was no argument, he simply stated, “Do what seems best to you.” Wow. Imagine how life would be for so many couples if they kept this amount of trust and communication open! That’s another study altogether, so moving on! 

Here comes the hard part. It’s time. Samuel has been “weaned” and it is time to take him to the temple. At this time Samuel could have been as young as 3 years old. Can you imagine taking your 3 year old son somewhere to leave him for good? I see nowhere in this passage where Hannah was downhearted or regretting this decision. She knew from Whom she’d asked the child and  to Whom she’d dedicated this boy. So she brought him to the temple and dedicated Him to the Lord there. Hannah took Samuel to Eli and said, “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child , and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” Eli, I am the woman. Eli, here is the physical proof of what I worshiped for. Eli, here you go! This is a beautiful passage but I also see a bit of humor in it. I’m sure there were others around in the temple to help raise the child, but imagine with me just a moment an elderly priest with two horrible grown sons of his own and here comes a woman with a 3 year old—here you go! In Eli’s defense he doesn’t appear to be against the idea. It appears he worshiped the Lord too for answering the prayer of the once downcast woman now full of joy.

What about you? Are you ready to get past this “hump” in your life and say, “I am the woman who…”? Have you been waiting on God but neglecting to do your part? Do you find it difficult to believe God hears your prayers at all? Don’t fret because I’m here to testify to you that He does! Pray and believe then worship Him for His ear towards you. Praise and depression cannot accupy the same space. Prayer really does change things. All those clichés are true! I am the woman who desired of the Lord and I am the woman who received. I am the woman who is beyond blessed and I am the woman who is ready, willing, and expecting to receive many blessings more!

Join us next week as we journey through Hannah’s prayer of praise!! Don’t forget to leave your comments below or on facebook and follow us by email in the box above my picture!! See you next week.