Her words of exuberant praise to God were the key memory text of our Sabbath School quarterly that week. We had briefly skirted the surface of her life story as I sought to draw the minds of the Youth I was teaching to ponder upon lessons the Lord would have us draw from this pivotal woman’s life. But for many of us, her story was not new, we could recite it from memory as a consequence of being born and reared in the fabric of the Church. And so, as is many times the case, we tragically succumbed to the high price of familiarity and gave her casual glance before moving on to the study of another character in the gospel and that was that….or was it?
An afternoon later as I strode along a snow-laden path that evidenced the reality of a city knee-deep in winter, my thoughts were suddenly interrupted from self-interrogation questioning my sanity for even venturing upon a walk on such a chilly day to Hannah. While still trying to set my mind in balance following such a random mental interruption, yet another thought shot through. Were we truly sane after having so casually paid her such a lack of studious attention? Incredible, how the Holy Spirit will use the most dramatic of object lessons to impress upon an important teaching. And so I began to ponder, Hannah.
Who was she?
Familiarity will render the following responses:
She was the Prophet Samuel’s mother,
She was Elkanah’s wife.
Those eager to engage the discussion even further may expound upon to say she was the barren woman who teaches us that we serve a God who brings fertility to barren places in our lives.
Yes all very true…and yet so often that is where the subject of Hannah’s story draws its conclusion.
But alas today the Holy Spirit impressed that there is more…and still yet much more that we will learn throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity about the so not ordinary Hannah. Short of writing a book time and space will allow for the specific pointing out of the following lessons.
God Works All Things For Good
God did and still frowns upon polygamy. It is a weed that suffocates the tender, delicate plant of marriage. Our loving Creator who so tenderly fashioned the heart of a woman knows the tragic piercing that shatters that heart when the affections of her man are re-directed to another woman. Polygamy also dismally mares the beautiful picture that marriage was used to illustrate, the pure, holy, passionate love of Christ for His bride the Church. The bible does not elaborate on exactly whose idea it was to bring in Peninnah as a second wife, what we do know is what we expected to happen happened. Strife, jealousy, misery, pain, rejection, alienation and a whole host of other ill were birthed into the family through this sin. But there was one in this family, Hannah, who we are specifically drawn to who purposed in spite of the mess the family had entangled in to seek the Lord for redemption. And yes, to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, God truly works all things for good (Romans 8:28).
Embrace the Essence of being a Woman Set Apart!
Hannah was a woman set apart. Sometimes, God will use what appears to be an extraordinary circumstance in our lives to set us apart for His glory and honour. We find this profound truth in Revelation 4:11 which reads “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure, they are and were created”. The belief was widely and cruelly perpetuated during Hannah’s time that to be childless was a curse from God. As if the ache of an empty womb were not enough, many who claimed to worship the living God, failed to exhibit His gracious love to the hurting. By afflicting the afflicted, tormenting childless women with the notion that they were forgotten, rejected, cast away by God Himself, they caused many to live and die in great despondency. But Hannah chooses to forget, reject and cast away the falsehood of popular teaching and encourages us to embrace, as she did, the God who is love, He who never leaves nor forsakes!
Rise Above Condemnation
And this is exactly what sets Hannah apart. Rather than believe who her Heavenly Father was based on the negative testimony of men even though the reality of her situation seems to give that theory validity, she clings onto what she has heard the prophets declare Him to be, Merciful! And so with humility, fasting and prayer, she gives witness to the truth that “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18)
Believe, Believe, Believe
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6). Immediately following the promise given by the Priest of the Lord Eli, Hannah broke her fast, acted in accordance to faith and was rewarded abundantly by the Merciful God she clung to. Many times purposes and plans the Lord has for us are thwarted by our unbelief. Because the Lord chooses not to proclaim them by a multitude of imagined signs and wonders that we have devised in our minds that He should, when we hear a simple word of assurance spoken to us in answer to our deepest yearnings, we walk away in unbelief. May we never walk away from the proclamations of God, no matter what means the Lord may choose to bring them, be it by the gentle whisper of a gleeful child, the unexpected declaration by a preacher from the pulpit, the silent impression by the Holy Spirit that our prayer has been heard and yes even the bible promises that have become so familiar they seem have lost their power in the mind may the Lord renew a right Spirit within us and help our unbelief.
Worship in the Testimony of Praise
So back to the memory text under discussion that Sabbath morning, we hear Hannah’s praise in worship,
“And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation” (1 Samuel 2:1).
All too often we walk away with the blessings of answered prayer and forgetfulness of remembrance that we have been set upon the earth to testify of the awesome power, majesty and prevailing love of our God. To shut our mouths from giving witness of breakthroughs in our lives is not only to rob God of His glory, but adding insult to injury, to deny His power. Had Hannah not given testimony to what the Lord had done for her, those in her community at the time may have just accounted it to” natural occurrence” that she finally got pregnant. Speculation could have possibly been that perhaps she suffered from an ailment during those barren years that prevented her from bearing a child. Had she remained silent, Hannah would not have had the honor of her life being recorded for us in the bible. But scripture is very clear that it was God who remembered Hannah and opened up her womb so that she conceived.
What past experiences have we bottled up that have robbed God of His power and glory. The Lord has clearly stated “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8). God forbid on that day of reckoning we be found wanting as those who have robbed even the Most High.
Let us remember Hannah’s lessons. To be a woman set apart is not to wallow in past failures, look beyond society’s projections for our lives. We must study the word of God to show ourselves approved so we may know who God truly is and His will for our lives. Let us rise above, believe and worship the One and Only Living God through our testimony of praise. To God be the Glory, Great things He has done!
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