A desire only God can answer

 1 Samuel 1:9-18

Shall we begin with a quote from Henry Blackaby; “God will never call you to what you can do.  His calling will be what He can do.”  Hannah after trying just about everything in the fertility business of her time, now the Scripture does not tell us that, but I’m betting she has.  She comes to understand what Blackaby is saying in the above quote.  So after years of trying, she is ready to give it all to God, and Hannah is a lady of strong belief in a big God.

Now the account gets interesting after Elkanah and Peninnah and the children had eaten, Hannah gets up, and we find her in the tabernacle and Eli, the obese priest, is sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s tabernacle.  Hannah is telling God something like this; I can’t, you never said I could, You can and the desire of my heart is pleading for Your will. 

But she does not stop telling the Lord what she wants and what she will do with this gift she is asking for.  Picking up the account in verse 11, “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.”

Do you recall that in verse 9, Eli the priest was sitting at the door and he is watching Hannah pray and weep, but no words are coming from her mouth, so he like many of us make a judgment, she is drunk.  So he asks her, “How long are you going to be drunk?  Get rid of your wine!”  But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.  Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.  Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” ¹⁸ And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.”

Paul Harvey would often say, “and here is the rest of the story” and that is so appropriate at this time!  ^“They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her.  And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”  The meaning of the name Samuel is "God has heard, " and He did and He is still listening today, but are you asking according to His will?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice