"To Hannah"

After the Lord saved me in the fall of 2000, the first piece of Scripture that ever really stuck with me was 2nd Timothy 2:3-4. Here Paul penned the following words, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (New King James)

When I first read that, I must confess that it made me a little fearful. I wondered…‘what was I going to have to suffer?’ I was hoping for the ‘life more abundantly’ and ‘joy’ and ‘peace’ parts of salvation that I had heard so much of. But the Lord spoke to my spirit clearly…“You therefore must endure hardship…”

As my new life in this great salvation unfolded, the Lord seemed to be gifting and calling me to Evangelism…some have even said extreme evangelism. As I began serving and preaching in Ghana, Malawi, India and the US, the Lord gave me a great boldness that allowed me to preach to Muslims in front of mosques, to preach to Hindus in front of shrines, it was in this portion of my calling that I thought surely my suffering would spring forth.

On my first long mission trip alone in Malawi, October 2006, I felt so overwhelmed that the Lord was calling me to be willing to preach the Gospel even if it meant being a martyr in the process. I wrestled with the Lord over this for an entire day and night and wept over it. Finally, broken around daybreak, I conceded to the Lord, ‘Ok Lord…I’ll do it…I’ll give my life for the sake of the Gospel.’ It was then the Lord spoke to me, ‘Dying once for the Gospel is easy…but are you willing to live for the Gospel? Can you die daily?’ 

The whole time I was fretting the wrong thing. 

Often I would, and still do, think back on this lesson from the Lord and wonder, ‘where will this suffering come from?’ I began thinking about the stormy seas I have faced in my seven years as a Christian. I have prayed about this for years, and the Lord gave the teaching of Hannah that ties these two lessons together. I pray you will read this and be blessed from it.

“To Hannah”
On a February 2008 trip to California, I began studying 1st Samuel. Below is a summary of 1 Samuel 1:1-7. 

“1 Now there was a certain man…and his name was Elkanah…2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh...4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: 5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. 6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.”

Now consider the following in regards to the passage above:

• Mark the Environment - This was a godless time for Israel; indeed devotion to the Lord was more of an exception than the rule. The Book of Judges ends with this verse: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Judges 21:25

• Mark the Devotion – This man, Elkanah, was faithfully devoted to serving the Lord. He and his family went year after year. 

• Mark the Family – Elkanah had two wives. Though many of God’s men throughout Scripture had more than one wife, from the beginning it was not so. (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5,6; 1 Corinthians 6:16) We are not sure from Scripture which wife was married first and which second. It may be a parallel to Jacob and his two wives Leah and Rachel. Regardless, Elkanah apparently made a choice to have two wives, which directly led to the strife between the two wives. I have heard it said that we are often times beaten with the rod of our own making. He also opened the door to the division by showing Hannah favoritism.

• Mark the Barrenness – While we are not sure why at this point in Scripture the Lord caused Hannah to be barren, it is clear the Lord was behind it. We see this in Genesis 29:31 with Leah and Rachel. Here we read, “And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.” While it does not say the Lord closed Rachel’s womb, it did say He opened Leah’s because she was not favored.

• Mark the Adversary – Notice that the ‘adversary’ the Scripture refers to is Peninnah...the other wife. The adversary was inside Hannah’s own house. Her attacks were coming from someone that should have been an encourager not a discourager, a help and not a hurt. 

• Mark the Occasion – The adversary apparently attacked when Hannah was trying to worship the Lord. The Scriptures tell us that year by year as Hannah went to the house of the Lord to worship, that was when the adversary attacked her and broke her. This time should have been off limits for the attacks, yet the adversary used them as prime time to inflict emotional, physical and spiritual torment.

Selah. Take a moment to ponder this situation. Place yourself in Hannah’s shoes. You have been barren for so long. You are trying to be a good follower of the Lord. You are worshipping God faithfully, and yet all the while a person in your own family is severely tormenting you. How would you handle it? Would you retaliate? Let us see how Hannah handled it. 1 Samuel 1:8-18.

“8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 9 So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. 10 And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. 11 Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” 12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” 15 But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 16 Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” 17 Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” 18 And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”

• Mark the Quiet Longsuffering – Notice how Hannah simply endured the unrighteous treatment of Peninnah. It would appear as though her husband was oblivious to the tormenting brought on by the other wife; he thought she grieved only about being barren. She does not appear to broadcast her grief to anyone, not the priest, not the husband, no one. She just suffers quietly.

• Mark the Course – Hannah does not scheme for her revenge, and she does not seek to deliver the tormentor into the hand of God or men. She simply cries out to God from the depths of her broken heart for an open womb. She seeks a righteous solution not a vengeful one for she knows that if the Lord opens her womb the tormentor will have naught to torment her about.

• Mark the Vow – Hannah is not seeking this grace from God simply to satisfy her personal desire as demonstrated by her vow. Note that what she asks the Lord for, she vows to give expediently back to Him. Selah. 

• Mark the Judgment – Here is Hannah, crying and weeping before the Lord and emptying her heart out to Him, and the man of God is judging her. Maybe that time was so wicked that he had never really seen a true worshipper before. Possibly the people he watched pray spoke loud prayers so that they could be heard and have people applaud their eloquent words. Not Hannah; she cried to the Lord so that only He could hear her prayers…He was the only one that mattered. She was praying to the Lord in secret so that He could reward her openly.

• Mark the Fruit – Take notice of not only the fruit of Hannah’s womb, but also her faith in righteously bearing the persecution by the tormentor; they are one in the same…Samuel. God not only blessed her with a man child as she petitioned, but with an amazing man of God in Samuel...what an honor. Acts 3:24 lists him first in the line of the prophets, and he was also the last of the Judges.

Summary & Tie In
Hannah was persecuted by those that were supposed to love her and help her. The priest should have encouraged her, yet he falsely accused and judged her. To make matters worse, all of this happened while she was trying to serve God. 

I believe this is a parallel for the church today. So many times we in the household of faith are guilty of hurting those inside the body. Often times it comes down from our pastors and church leaders, others it flows from the congregation. And many times it seems like the attacks get greater when we are seeking to do God's will.

In personal reflection, I have been cursed, spat at, threatened, etc. in preaching the Gospel, but that is expected as the people I am preaching to are spiritually blind. There is no real suffering there; it is truly an honor and a joy to “suffer” in that respect. Instead, there have been so many times in my seven plus years as a Christian that my greatest discouragement, pain and suffering has come from within the church. In all fairness, some of the people I have probably hurt most in the world have likely been inside the church. 

When discussing this lesson with a dear brother in the Lord, he told me of a saying he had heard many years ago that proclaimed, “We in the Church tend to shoot our wounded.” I believe that to be unfortunately true. A person near and dear to me recently said, after recounting all of her pains from the church, ‘I think I would rather hang around lost people every day rather than people in the church’ Sadly, that is the case for many in the church.

In our ministry we counsel hundreds each and every year in our thrift stores and it use to be shocking how many people had great hurts and pains over past church experiences leaving the kind of wounds that may never heal. Can you imagine going to a hospital for treatment for a broken bone, and instead the doctor pulls out a gun and starts firing at you? Unfortunately, this tends to be a common stereotypical perception of people in the church. 

So what do we do? 
First of all, we have to realize that God is Sovereign. One problem in the lives of Christians today is that we give the devil too much credit. If something bad happens, we say ‘it is just Satan trying to discourage us,’ etc. While that may be true of his plans, that is not the point and should not be our focus. We have to understand that the devil is on a chain, and he cannot go any farther than God allows. So the first thing that we should do is seek what the Lord is trying to do in our lives through our current trial(s).

Second is that we have to patiently and righteously endure. We have to be like Hannah and not seek vengeance or getting even. We need to allow the Lord to complete in us that which He has started. We need to allow Him to purify us and cleanse us. We must also realize that each and every trial is an opportunity for us to bear fruit, and we will bear fruit of one kind or the other. We will either bear righteous fruit or unrighteous fruit depending on our response. This is probably one of the hardest things to do in the realm of faith, to righteously endure unrighteousness treatment. However, we need to take courage from those whom the Lord has displayed before us. Consider righteous David; he was constantly tormented by Saul, yet he would never slay him nor take his kingdom by force. Consider Jesus; the pure incarnation of Righteousness in the Flesh patiently enduring the entire and eternal weight of unrighteousness at once for all time.

Third, we need to affix our eyes on the prize. Righteousness always bears fruit. In Hannah’s case, she was blessed with giving birth to Samuel, the last of the Judges and 1st of the line of prophets. Also, the Lord blessed her with an open womb that bore more children. Consider David that constantly spared the life of his tormentors, whom the Lord referred to as a man after His own heart. The Lord blessed him with the promise of an eternal kingdom that would come from his family. Hannah would not revenge her self from her tormentors, and the Lord blessed her. David would not slay Saul, rather he placed him in the Lord’s hands. The Lord blessed Him. 

In closing, the truly painful suffering comes from those on the inside, but the Lord can bring great fruit through this pain if we patiently and righteously endure. And rest assured, it will come while you are trying to serve the Lord in obedience.

Back to Index of Topics