1 Sam 1: 20-28
This time last week I was in Romania at the end of a fantastic week of teaching the bible to young officer cadets and officers and also teaching them how to ski.
One morning while I was sharing a chairlift with the girlfriend of one of the officer cadets, we were both looking at the slopes below at a line of little Romanian children following their ski instructor downhill. I looked at the expression on this young woman’s face I was prompted to ask her “Do you want to be a mum one day?” She didn’t take offence at would could have been perceived by some as an impertinent question, but she replied with a broad smile, “Very much indeed!”
It would be wrong to suggest that becoming a mother is every girl’s dream, but for many it is. This was certainly the case for Hannah in our Old Testament reading today.
Hannah was the second wife of Elkanah. Her rival Peninnah, seemed to be able to produce children like “Squeezing toothpaste out of a tube”, but for Hannah, it would seem the “the Lord had closed her womb.” (1 Sam 1:5)
To make matters worse for Hannah, Peninnah “kept provoking her in order to irritate her.” This further exacerbated her sense of poor self-esteem and worthlessness and made her even more desperate to have children.
Hannah was a woman of faith and she took the reality of her misery to God in prayer seeking solace at the Lord’s House, the temple at Shiloh.
The temple at Shiloh was an important place of worship for at that period of history it also housed the Ark of the covenant and the Tabernacle. It remained a centre for Israelite worship until its destruction 1050 BC by the Philistines.
Hannah’s custom was to express her prayer as one would vocally, moving her lips, but with no sound. It would seem that she preferred that the cries of her aching heart be offered to God in private.
We are told that when Eli, the temple priest saw her praying with moving lips, but making no sound, he rather crassly and insensitively accused her of being drunk. Give him some credit, though, when she shared with the old priest the pain in her heart, he relented and said kindly, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” (1 Sam 1:17)
We don’t know how long after this Hannah had to wait for her prayers to be granted. The author of 1 Sam 1 simply records, “in the course of time” (1 Sam 1: 20), but Hannah’s faith and persistence won through and she became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy whom she named Samuel which in Hebrew sounds like the phrase, “Heard by God.”
Although it was customary for Elkanah and his huge family to make an annual sacrifice at Shiloh, Samuel was still too tiny and he and his mother remained behind in their home in Ramathaim. It would also seem that Hannah had a much more costly sacrifice to offer the LORD. In bargaining her case she had promised that once Samuel was weaned she would give him to be raised as a ward of the temple at Shiloh. It was a most extraordinary sacrifice having waited for so long for a child.
Hannah was true to her word and Samuel grew up to be one of the greatest spiritual leaders in Israel’s history and in a song of praise she later sang recorded in 1 Sam 2: 1-10 it would seem Hannah’s patient faith and faithfulness was rewarded by her being mother to a further six children. After that we hear no more of this faithful woman of God.
Hannah’s story highlights for me the pains which all mothers have in bringing children into the world.
Firstly, the pain of conceiving children. There are many young women who find themselves with unexpected and even unwanted pregnancies, but still many more who strive and long to have children, but remain disappointed. In 2021, 55,000 woman patients in UK underwent IVF treatment in the hope of conceiving. That is a staggering figure and does not include those feeling the pain of infertility across the world with no hope of bearing a child.
Secondly, there is the pain of child bearing. According to a survey also conducted in 2021, 100,000 women suffered miscarriages in England alone and a further 2,866 stillbirths across the UK.
Even for those whose pregnancies reach full term morning sickness, especially during the first three months really takes the “glow” from the joy pregnancy. Some women even have morning sickness all through pregnancy. Once the time of birth comes the pain of labour is excruciating even with modern pain relieving medication.
Thirdly, the pains associated with the nurture of children. Broken night’s sleep, hormonal imbalance and postal-natal depression and the like is just the start of the pains associated with nurturing children. Little babies and children can’t express clearly the source of discomfort and sickness. New parents wring their hands in anguish unable to understand what is wrong, but regardless of personal needs mothers still have to get up, wipe up the mess, feed, clothe and teach their little ones as their first priority.
Motherhood is exhausting and it doesn’t get any easier as they get older, just different.
The fourth and final pain which is especially highlighted by the story of Hannah is the pain of “letting go.” On Thursday my wife and I stood as proud parents watching the “Pass Out” parade of our youngest son who has just completed his basic training with the German Army.
This immaculately turned out young man will always be our son, but that afternoon his mother witnessed him swearing allegiance before the dipped flag of the Federal Republic of Germany as a sworn defender of the freedom, democracy, peace and justice.
If there is a major conflict or any deployment involving the German Armed Forces, she will have to let him go and that is painful to think about.
It wasn’t until I became a father that I realised just how great a debt I owe my mother for bringing me into this world and even more so, the story of Hannah reminds us of the need for persistent prayer.
Mothers the world over need our prayers.
I want to challenge you all to use this coming week to offer prayers of thanks for your own mothers even if they have long since gone to be with the Lord. But I would like us to especially pray for women who like Hannah have longed for children, but have so far been disappointed. We should pray for those engaged in research over Neo-natal and stillbirth deaths too so that fewer women will have to suffer the anguish of losing their long awaited child.
We should also pray for women with post-natal depression especially those who feel unable to cope. We should pray for new parents, and single mothers too and for mothers with sick children and of children with special needs. We should pray for mothers in developing countries or in countries where there is a shortage of food or water and this week especially we should pray for mother whose children have been taken by force in North Nigeria by terrorist groups committed to depriving women and girls of education or engaged in the exploitation of women.
The LORD heard the cry of Hannah’s heart and He always hears the cries of your heart too.
We may not always receive what we want, but we always get what is needed to fulfil God’s purposes. Sometimes we will even get more than we want or something which we could not even imagine getting. Often God uses His people to answer the prayers and grant the wishes of others and so we must be prepared to be used by God and to take seriously unexpected urges or prompts to come to the aid of another.
In the weeks leading up to the ski retreat in Romania, the retreat organiser Capt Nebunu testified that her budget was deficient by the sum of 2,000 €. After laying out the problem before the Lord in prayer, a donor contacted her in the middle of the night stating that they had been moved by God to donate 2,000 € to the project. The greatest miracle, however, was the fact that on the last evening of the retreat, six retreatants came forward to receive Christ afresh into their hearts and lives.
God does hear and answer prayer.
We pray especially today that the LORD will use our prayers for the relief of suffering, blessing and support of mothers across the world.
Amen.