Unshakeable Woman (An Unshakeable Hope)

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.