The Kind of Hannah I Want To Be.

Hannah of the Bible was no stranger to waiting. She spent many years of her life in the lull of longing, desperately desiring a child, but the Lord kept her womb closed despite her pleas. Not only did she remain barren through the years, but she had to also endure the sharp-tongued comments of her husband’s other wife, Penninah, whose womb was fruitful.

Each year, Hannah journeyed to Shiloh, where she gave sacrifices to the Lord and worshipped Him in the Tabernacle. Each year, she made that trip alone with no son to show for her years of holding out hope.

I can’t help but think of how Hannah must have felt as she annually entered that Tabernacle. I’m sure she felt very similar to the way we feel when we’re waiting on God for something and He seems silent. I bet she held a lot of anger, bitterness and resentment in her heart for the God she was worshipping that wasn’t answering. But she showed up. Maybe out of obligation, maybe to fulfill tradition, but she showed up. God can do a lot with a broken spirit when we’re just willing to get in His presence and let Him work.

One year, when she reached the tabernacle, Hannah got on her face and wept bitterly, desperately and honestly before the Lord. Years of pent up frustration, years of hope deferred – she placed it all at the feet of Jesus. There in that moment she begged the Lord not to forget her, to give her a son and she’d give him back to the Lord.

And the Lord did what His Word tells us He will do. He heard Hannah’s cry. He answered her plea. And he granted her the desires of her heart. A promise was born in Hannah’s son Samuel, a perfect picture of the faithfulness of the Father. And Hannah kept her word, and gave her son back to the Lord, mimicking the greatest giving of an only Son this world will ever know. More than giving Hannah the desires of her heart, the Lord blessed her line and legacy – from her came four more children of her own, and through her lineage came Jesus.


I’m learning today the very lesson God taught Hannah – that He gives us life when we’re willing to give it back. Our gifts, talents, possessions and joy – all to be placed on the altar of our lives as an offering of faithfulness to the One who is faithful in all His ways. Don’t let that big thing you’re contending for keep you from the tabernacle. Show up. He hears your plea. He knows your heart. Like Hannah, He will remember you.

I’m thankful to share Hannah’s name, but I desire to share her heart. I want to prove faithful in the fire. I want to praise Him in uncertainty. May my grip on the things of this world be light. And through it all, may I say, that He guards the feet of His faithful ones and lifts the needy from the ash heaps. That’s the kind of Hannah I want to be.