Day #30: Hannah’s Prayer (Ben Chidester)
In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, we read of a story of a man with two wives: one who had borne him many children and another, Hannah, who had borne none. You can imagine the sadness that Hannah felt. For many of us, the longing for children is deep and strong; to be deprived of that blessing and joy is a hard calling to bear. Struggles with infertility can be deeply painful and personal in our day as well. (See note below.) And as if that reality were not hard enough, the other wife made it worse by boasting of her many children and taunting and provoking Hannah. On top of the emotional pain, Hannah experienced shame. As we read the story, we wonder “will God not vindicate Hannah? Will He not lift her up and humble her rival?”
Hannah’s plight parallels that of Christians in this world. Evil and sin often seem to be more fruitful than righteousness. Sometimes, it seems like the wicked are blessed more than the upright. And evil is often provoking and taunting us. The devil strives to cast doubt upon the fruitfulness of the ministry of the Gospel. He brings our sin to mind and points out the lack of fruit in our lives.
Hannah’s character in the midst of her trial is an example to us. She does not allow the boasts of her rival to get to her. Instead, she commits herself to prayer and her plight to the Lord. In His timing, the Lord answers her prayer and gives her a son, Samuel, and in response, she prays the following prayer of praise:
(1 Samuel 2:1-10) And Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
“There is none holy like the Lord:
for there is none besides you;
there is no rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble bind on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.
“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,
for not by might shall a man prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Hannah’s prayer is an encouragement to us to keep walking in the way of the Lord, in spite of opposition. It is also an example of how to pray in the face of the oppression of the evil one. Her prayer is directed to God, but it is also a proclamation to the worldly powers that God is good and He is sovereign. When the devil boasts and seeks to discourage us, we can defy him by proclaiming, like Hannah, what God is like and reminding him that God will have, and indeed already has, the victory.
Several hundred years after Hannah, Jesus’ mother Mary prayed a prayer very similar to Hannah’s, in which she too praises the Lord’s righteousness and faithfulness. It was also a response to the Lord’s blessing of a long-awaited child, but this child was much greater than Hannah’s son Samuel. This child would be the one to ultimately vindicate God’s ways and to bring down the powers of evil. It is because of Him, that we can pray confidently like Hannah and Mary and proclaim to our adversary that he shall be “broken to pieces” and “brought low” and that the Lord and His Anointed will be exalted.
Editor’s Note: For couples struggling with infertility, the many Biblical stories about miraculous conceptions can feel like salt being rubbed in a wound. Sometimes, well-meaning Christians can further grind in the salt with careless words of encouragement and false promises. We should be careful to understand what is (and what is not) being promised in regard to our desire for children. There are many Biblical stories about people struggling with fertility and then getting pregnant. Abraham and Sarah, are another example. For some people that sort of experience matches their own. They struggled with infertility and then, God answers their prayers and they have a kid. But for other Christians, the story does not end that way. When the waiting of prayers extends beyond a certain period of time and life stage, it can become clear that procreation is not happening. These sorts of stories can become particularly painful when it seems like God does not answer our prayer. How do we read this story in a way that makes sense of those realities?
First of all, we have to recognize that the Bible does not promise that every Christian will be able to have children, even if they want them. For some of us, marriage does not become an option. For others, the struggle with infertility does not culminate in conception. This is not the result of someone lacking faith or failing in any way. We live in a fallen world with broken bodies and sometimes our natural longings are met with frustration.
Secondly, it is helpful to remember the way some of these stories relate to the unfolding of God’s Old Testament promises. The center of the story about Abraham and Sarah is God’s promise to bless the world through Abraham’s offspring (Gen 12:1-4.) When Sarah remained childless, it is not just a personal disappointment, but it calls God’s plan of redemption into question. Interestingly, the conception of Jesus is, to my knowledge, the last miraculous conception recorded in the Bible. Of course, God continues to answer prayers. Sometimes he does provide miraculous healing and sometimes miraculous conceptions. (Only Jesus was a sinless and virginal miraculous conception.) But sometimes God does not heal us and sometimes our disappointments continue. This is a hard reality we wrestle with. But in terms of the Biblical story, Jesus concludes the promise to Abraham to bless the world through a lineage of offspring. Jesus is the chosen “seed of Abraham” and after his resurrection, the Biblical interest in genealogies and conceptions seems to fade into the background.
Third, while God does not promise to heal every disease in this life or overcome every struggle with infertility, he does promise to work redemptively in our disappointments. For some couples, their struggle with infertility moves toward the beautiful resolution of adoption. Far from being second-best, adoption brings redemptive transformation into hard experiences. This is not surprising given that God uses the language of adoption to describe his relationship to the church (Gal 4:4-7.) For this reason, theologian J.I Packer argues that the theological concept of spiritual adoption (by God) is the highest Christian teaching. Human adoption reflects this beautiful truth and shares some of the same redemptive beauty. Personally, my life has been richly blessed by family members and church members that I have gained through adoption.
For others, the disappointments of family may culminate in our church relationships. The church is called the family of God (Eph 2:20-22.) When Jesus called people to follow him, he warned that it would be costly. Sometimes it would mean the loss of family relationships. For some people, following Jesus means saying “no” to an ungodly romantic relationship or introducing tension into a family relationship. But, in the immediate context of this warning, Jesus promises that through his church we will receive 100-fold family connections in this life and into eternity. The promise is so good it is worth reading in its entirety (below.) None of these struggles are easy and nothing I am saying here makes the pain entirely go away. But I encourage you to follow Hannah in pouring your heart out to God, and to lean into your spiritual family in pouring out your disappointments to your church and friends. (MK)
Mark 10:29-30 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”