Hannah And Her Answered Prayer - Bible Study

Hannah is one of my favorite characters in the Bible. She rates somewhere after David and Paul. Even though she is in only one of the chapters of the Bible, her life offers some important lessons.

We find Hannah in I Samuel Chapter 1. Hannah was married to a man by the name of Elkanah. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah didn’t have any.

Even though Hannah didn’t have any children, Elkanah loved her very much and treated her well. The Bible says he went to Shiloh every year to worship and sacrifice. When he made offerings to the Lord, he gave to Peninnahis (his other wife), and to her sons and daughters portions, but to Hannah he gave a double portion since she had no children. He really didn’t need to do this, but he did because he loved Hannah so much.

Peninnah, liked to pick on Hannah because she had no children. The Bible says: “And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.”(I Samuel 1:6). So it appears that Hannah and Pininnah didn’t get along well.

Marriage to more than one woman was allowed at that time if the first wife wasn’t able to bear children. Then as now, it didn’t work well to have more than one wife.

Peninnah continued to choose her every year as they went up to the House of the Lord. Hannah would become so upset that she would cry and not eat. Peninnah was probably jealous because Elkanah loved Hannah so much.

Elkanah asked Hannah why she was so upset and said “Am not I better to thee then ten sons?” Hannah got up after they had eaten and prayed to God and cried. She vowed to the Lord if He would give her a son that she would give the son back to Him to serve Him all the days of the son’s life.

Because Hannah prayed silently, Levi the priest thought that she was drunk. He told her to put the wine away. She let Levi know that she wasn’t drunk but that she was just upset and praying.

Eli told her to leave in peace and that the Lord would answer her prayer. Hannah left and her attitude was changed because now she was sure that the Lord would give her a child. Now she was able to eat again and be happy, because she had faith in God.

Sure enough when Hannah and her husband went home she became pregnant and later had Samuel. Not only did God give her a son, but he was to become a great prophet that is one of the great characters in the Bible.

Once Samuel was weaned, she took him to the temple and gave him to Levi to serve God there. This had to be a great sacrifice on Hannah’s part, but she obeyed God and kept her vow.

Hannah is a woman that we all should strive to be like. When Hannah was picked on by the second wife, she became depressed but she didn't lash out, instead she turned to God for help.

Hannah also believed that God would answer her prayer just as soon as Levi told her God would. She showed great faith and because of her faith God blessed her with answered prayer. Not only was she blessed with one son, but later she had other children.

As soon as God answered Hannah's prayer, she praised and thanked him. We need to be sure that we immediately thank God and praise him when our prayers are answered. A good idea is to praise him even before the prayer is answered to show our faith that he will do something it. The answer may be no, but even then God knows what is best for us better than we do. I forget to praise him in advance sometimes, but I try to do it.

Hannah obeyed when it was a very hard thing to do. Aren't there times when you and I don't do the right thing because of fear of others or because we don't want to give up what we have?I know I can be guilty of this. I want to be more like Hannah and I hope you do too.