Hannah's Cry

“ She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said ‘ O Lord of Hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life , and no razor shall touch his head”

      Reading through the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 the Lord broke my heart. Hannah was a barren woman, a woman with the desire for a son, it wasn’t a bad desire, or one that went against the will of God, if anything the desire for a son aligned itself beautifully with the Word, yet it was a petition the Lord had not granted her. 

    Though her husband’s second wife ridiculed Hannah for not being able to bear children, her husband Loved her deeply and was blatant about the favor he had towards her, he provided for her and comforted her, yet not even the devoted love of her husband was enough to take away her desire for a son.

     She did the only thing she knew to do,  as a servant of God ( mentions it at least three times in that one chapter)she took her request to her Master, the Maker and Creator of the Universe. “ O Lord of  Host if you will indeed look upon the affliction of your servant” , this is the first portion of Scripture in which the name “Lord of Hosts” is used in reference to God, a name meaning the commander of the angel armies, the supreme ruler of the heavenly realms. Do you know how much skill and strategy is needed to wage earthly battles, let alone heavenly ones?! The same One who is strategically waging war on a Spiritually Universal level, had a strategic and specific  battle plan for Hannah and has a specific and strategic plan for me and you as well ( if that doesn’t bring peace into your mind I don't know what else will)

       The beautiful thing about Hannah’s Cry though ( in my opinion anyways) was the heart behind it, it wasn’t to stop the ridicule of her husband’s second wife or to gain status in the community. She was simply “pouring out my soul before the Lord” (verse 15). She was pouring out her heart and soul, her desires and her dreams before the Lord, dumping out all the contents of her heart out for the Lord to see and saying “Lord this is what I want, this is what’s in my heart”, but she didn’t just stop at pure unadulterated honesty before the Lord, she then proceeded to say that the desire she had, she would give right back to the Lord. She wasn’t just saying Lord “Gimme Gimme Gimme!” In genuine humility, she lifted her heart up towards the Lord saying “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give our servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (Verse 11) ( side note, please note the many times she used the word Servant when referring to herself, humility is definitely always needed when presenting your heart before the Lord as well as a genuine heart worship and service to the Lord.

     It was a challenge for me on a very personal level. I felt the Lord asking me “ If I answer your cry, will you give it back to me?”. I’m at a point where I can honestly say yes I would, but I couldn’t have gotten here without the Lord, and that period of anxious waiting, He had me go through. My desires are great and all but the important thing is that I give my all to the Lord, that includes them too. If I want to work here or there, travel, encourage , teach whatever it might be those things aren't bad in and of themselves, the problem arises when I don't give those desires  right back tot the Lord, instead of saying  "Lord this is what's in my heart, if you would give them to me, I'll give them right back to you and use them to glorify your name" I might sometimes stop at only  "Lord this is what's in my heart, give them to me please". There is such a huge difference especially within the Heart of the one Crying out.
     “ And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel” (Verse 20). Due Time, there is sincerely a time line that the Lord is woking out, it was not that Hannah’s desire or Cry was against the Lord’s will, He just had a specific time frame in which He needed and wanted to get things done. Not to mention if He hadn’t of withheld this son from her, she might have never have consecrated Samuel unto the Lord in the manner which she did, which allowed Samuel to receive intense instruction in Hebrew Law and it was this equipping that complimented quite strongly the call God had placed on Samuel’s life in being a Prophet to the nation of Israel and in being a spiritual influence in the life of King David, the only man in which the Bible states was a Man after God’s own Heart. More importantly though, that time of waiting on the Lord did a work in Hannah's Heart, and strengthened her faith in the Lord and the trust she had in Him in a way that nothing else probably did.

    If you are asking the Lord for something, and He’s not giving it to you, could simply be that what you’re asking is not His will for your life, but it could also be that your heart is not in the right place to receive the blessing, it could be possible that if you receive whatever  it you are asking for , the Lord knows you would not give it back to Him, and it would end up distracting you from the Him more than drawing you closer to Him.

   Ask yourself honestly, could you utter Hannah’s Cry “if it be Your Will Father, I Will Do it Unto You”?