Hannah. We know her as a woman of faith. It is so easy to skim over what her life was like to that scene when she was praying earnestly and then fast forward to that phrase that said, “…and the Lord remembered her.” But her life wasn’t as simple as that. She was a real woman who endured real problems and had to face real fears in a very real world.
So what set her apart from all other women? What is it that distinguishes a woman of faith from others who walk through life all on their own?
The answer is simple: GOD.
O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me… She prayed with bitterness of the soul. She wept in anguish. She prayed with all her heart and soul. Most of us see everything she did as she prayed in the temple but pass over what she did NOT do: she did not turn her back on the Lord.
And the rest is history. From her womb was born a legacy that has blessed Christendom for thousands of years—one of the greatest men of God ever recorded in the Bible: SAMUEL—a man of exceptional integrity, a leader, a prophet, a priest of the Most High and as he has been dubbed by many, a king maker. And it did not stop there. She became a mother to five more children.
Perhaps, you hear those little whispers of torment, too. “God doesn’t love you; if He did,you’d already have what you wanted.” “Still no answer to your prayers? Oh no… in time, no one will believe you anymore!” “You must be so sinful to deafen God’s ears so completely.” “You will never receive what you are praying for because you don’t deserve them!”
Like Hannah, hold on. What fears you may have, what hurts you may feel, what doubts may be crippling you, bring them all to the throne room of the Lord. Wait and see. For when you make God the answer to your prayers, He answers.