Intro:
This is our 2nd week for this month of June 2022. We have heard a lot of encouraging exhortations about how to have a character with unshakeable hope. And so, I researched a character in the Bible with the same kind of spirit. And God impressed upon my heart the life of a woman who had an unshakeable hope and because of that spirit, she was well acknowledged because of what she believed. Today, we will study, look and learn at the life of…
Hannah – An Unshakeable Woman
1 Samuel 1:1-22
1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. 3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” 9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” 12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” 15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” 17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” 18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. 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, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” 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.”
To summarize the story, we knew Hannah was barren and could not have a child and that she was a laughing stock of Peninnah her rival to her husband Elkanah. Now the only way for her to redeem herself to Peninnah is to have a child through a miracle even though Elkanah loved her much than Peninnah. Her passion to ask God for a child and her unshakeable hope to have it is admirable and from here we can learn and apply to our lives how can we have that kind of spirit. So the question is…
How can we show our unshakeable hope just like Hannah?
1. Realize what we Lack. – v2b “Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.”
Hannah needed to accept the fact that she is barren and God has closed her womb (v6). Because of this, she realized what she needed was a way to have children. For Hannah, being child-less is difficult since her rival Peninnah had children and this is her way of provoking Hannah which irritates her. And this brought Hannah to ask for a child in order to stop her misery. However, she also knows her limitation since God chose to close her womb.
God knows what we want and what’s best for us. Although Hannah knows that there is a hope on what she needed and she believed that it’s only a miracle for her to have a child.
On our lives, we need to accept and realize that we can’t have all what we wanted in life. Some were blessed with material things and some were not. There will always be a trade-off. For Peninnah having children may only be the reason why she was being loved by Elkanah. But for Hannah, she was loved by her husband because of who she is despite her bareness.
God is a balance God. In His many ways, we cannot question God on His intentions and reasons why these things happen in our lives. He is truly a sovereign God after all. But what we know is that He is our provider “Jehovah Jireh”. David knew this when he said in…
Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” Like Hannah though she lacked children yet it was complimented by the love of his husband by giving her double portion of meat because of his love for her.
God will not allow our poverty to overpower us. He is our great provider despite our lack. God always have a way to bless His people as soon as they realize their nothingness upon the sight of God. Even in the midst of trials like Job. In the end Job was asked by God and he acknowledged that he is nothing in God sight because he don’t understand the purpose of his trials.
Job 40:2- NLT “2 “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” 3 Then Job replied to the Lord, 4 “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand.
Same with Hannah. But she chose to be silent and just cry everything to God that someday there will be an answer. Do we have prayers like Hannah? Though we may not pray for a child but on the same intensity, we dearly asked God to answer all our prayers so God can redeem ourselves from our misery and hopelessness.
Her condition did not deter Hannah from having hope. Because she knew God loves her and her husband.
To have an unshakeable hope like Hannah then we need to accept and realize our nothingness and that God is the only solution we need.
Aside from realizing what we lack is to…
2. Reaffirm those who Love us – v8 “Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
Yes, we may lack it in some areas of our lives but still there are people who can support and understand us in our current situations. Still there are people who are able to accept our inferiority as compared to others. Like Elkanah, he loved Hannah despite having no children and this makes her a better and not a bitter person. We can have our own family to support and love us whatever may happen, and they are our fortress during these situations. Then we need to reaffirm our love for those people around us. How blessed we are if we have our loved ones surrounding us during our lowest and saddest moment of our lives.
To have an unshakeable hope and persistent character, all we need is to have a positive perspective in life. That we can see things beautiful in ugly or unpleasant situations we may have. If people can love us whoever we are, how much our God? He reaffirms His love towards us despite our weaknesses.
Even if we are now living a contended and comfortable life or a life full of misery and pain, God’s love is there available for us and affirms us.
Romans 8:38-39 “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
And so, God’s love affirms us to hold on to our unshakeable hope just like Hannah. He knew it’s not only her husband loved her but also God as well.
Do we feel unloved and unsecured? Feel the warmth of God’s love today embracing and comforting us. Just like Hannah, her husband understood her need to have a child but he could not give it to her. And so, she…
3. Remember the Lord – v10-11 “10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
Let’s face it, people may also fail us even our very loved ones whom we trusted, especially in our desperate situation. Most of the time whenever we needed them, they forgot us or even could not understand us. But not with our God. Hannah was put in that desperate situation that she was misunderstood by her husband and thought that he alone could satisfy her need. And so, this opted Hannah to rely on God and remember Him. She knew God is the only answer to her struggles, and pain as God will never forget us nor forsake us on this kind of situations in life.
Psalms 136:23 “He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever.
Isaiah 49:15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”
All we need is to put our whole trust in God for He never forgets. He remembers us always and so likewise we need to remember God not as our last option but our first option always. Like Hannah, she remembered God’s promise on not leaving her on this kind of situation. This made her hope to have a child unshakeable.
Do we have a prayer that we need to remember God’s promise on us? Think of it because this will…
4. Reject all Lies – v12-16 “12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” 15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
People may judge us and tell us many discouraging words like Eli that instead of consoling Hannah, he mistakenly identified her as a drunkard and a wicked woman. Yet Hannah did not take it as personal but instead she was challenged to reply Eli her true condition. On the hand, Hannah did not even retaliate against Peninnah with all her provocations to Hannah despite all the lies she heard on Peninnah.
Instead of drinking wine and forgetting all our problems in life, we can rebuke all these negative thoughts being injected into us by the devil. Satan is the author of all the lies that he wanted us to believe.
John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding on to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
The Bible said that Satan is the accuser of the believers but was already been defeated…
Revelations 12:10 “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
To have an unshakeable character, we must learn how to accept criticism constructively so we can change but we also have to reject all the lies this world wants us to accept, especially guilt and condemnation. Let us always be focused to God’s purpose on us that He only wanted the best for us and not to harm us. Let us have an unshakeable hope to be on His Godly purpose.
Last way to have an unshakeable hope is to…
5. Regain our Life full of hope – v19-22 “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, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” 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.”
The last way to have an unshakeable hope is to regain our life full of hope by fulfilling whatever we promised and commit to God. You see God can immediately give Hannah a child but He waited for this situation wherein Hannah will commit and dedicate something to God which is valuable to her. Does this something that is considered to be her loss? Absolutely not!
If we will read the succeeding verse in 1 Samuel 2:21 “And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.”
Samuel gave Hannah the hope to have a normal life with her husband Elkanah and with her children while her eldest son Samuel was serving God in the temple.
She regained a life full of hope by being in full dependence of God’s provision to her. Like what our theme verse for this month says in 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
To have an unshakeable hope is for one’s purpose to give fully for God’s service for our labor like Hannah and Samuel will never be in vain. I remember Abraham when his son Isaac was asked by God and Abraham did not hesitate to give it to God, for he knew God won’t allow this to happen by killing his son. Yet his labor was not in vain.
Maybe God is asking something from us and that we have not responded yet to God. This may also be the reason why we are asking something from God that He hasn’t given yet. We need to regain our life full of hope that God will not forget His promise for us.
Conclusion:
How did Hannah show her unshakeable hope?
1. By realizing what she Lacks
2. By reaffirming who Loved her
3. By remembering the Lord
4. By rejecting all Lies
5. By regaining Life full of hope
