Hannah, A Woman of Faith

I Samuel 1-2:11---Please read this on your own, but this summarizes.

Hannah is a barren woman. She continues to ask the Lord to give her a child. Hannah tells the Lord that if he gives her a son, that she will give him back to the Lord to serve him all of the days of his life. The Lord gives Hannah a son, and she in return does what she promised. She gives takes him to the house of the Lord as soon as he was weaned and leaves him with the priests to serve God.

Discussion:

• Can you relate to this story? Please share.
• Do you think you would have kept your end of the deal in the end?
• How did Hannah's faith lead her actions?
• How does this story affect you today?

I can relate to this story, I told my husband earlier this week that we should have named our oldest son Benjamin, Samuel...because as you will find in the reading, Hannah named her son Samuel, because she asked the Lord for him. The Hebrew translation of Samuel is."heard of God."

My husband and I tried for 16 months to have our first child...while that may not be long compared to many people, it seemed long to us. Of course, everyone we knew was getting pregnant and having children. After a year, we conceived and lost a baby. This was really hard on us. After this happened, I just kept praying, and it dawned on me that God had a specific little life that he was waiting for..a child whom He already knew and had planned...and for some reason, I was at peace with that, and not as sad about things...then finally after we were really at peace with things, we conceived our son Ben. Such a challenge and such a blessing! Full knowing that God has a plan for his little life! As I have read this story, I am so impressed with Hannah, re-reading it as a mother, I am so impressed with the fact that she was able to let him go, away from her, and back to serve God. It was her faith and courage that led his outcome of being the first Judge of Israel, and such a faithful leader for God. I have tried to think of other stories in the bible where someone asks for child, and God hears their prayers, and after a time of faith, he blesses them. Here are some other people I thought of:

Elizabeth, in the New Testament, wife of Zechariah, mother of John the Baptist,

Sarah, in the Old Testament, Abraham's wife, Issac's mother, Jacob's grandmother.

Rachel, in the Old Testament, Jacob's wife, mother of Joseph and Benjamin

The consensus that I came to was that the Lord hears the prayers of a faithful women, and after enduring the wait, he bestows his blessings in ways we could never have imagined. Although it must have been hard for Hannah to give Samuel up, the Lord did bless her with more children...and I have to say, I cannot even imagine how proud she must have been of her little boy as he grew and became such a great man of God.

Next week: Luke 8:40-56