A Dissection of Hannah’s Prayer (1 Samuel 1:11)
“And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.” – 1 Samuel 1:11 NLT
Hannah’s Prayer remains one of the most famous prayers in the Bible. It was a prayer that caused God Himself to open a door that He had previously closed, 1 Samuel 1:5 (NIV) tells us that “the Lord had closed her womb”. And we know from Isaiah 22:22 & Revelations 3:10 that what God closes, no man can open. Don’t let anybody deceive you into thinking that the miracle of conception and birthing a child is of the power of man or medicine. Ecclesiastes 11:5 reminds us that we’ll never be able to understand the mystery of how a child is formed in their mother’s womb. For any woman to become pregnant is a miracle in itself, but for Hannah, a woman who struggled with infertility for years, to have received this testimony, is an extraordinary miracle.
This begs the question, what was so great about this particular prayer that Hannah prayed? I would like to make the assumption that 1 Samuel 1:11 was not the first time Hannah came to the Lord with this particular issue. After all, Hannah and her husband would travel to Shiloh year after year and Hannah was repeatedly reminded of her childless state by Peninnah; her husband’s other wife (1 Samuel 1:3–7). I am sure this would have been number 1 on her Prayer List and something she would have regularly prayed to God about. But it was this particular prayer that moved God and caused Him to remember her and grant her the desire of her heart. Whilst preaching about this chapter one day, I remember my Dad summarising the essence of Hannah’s Prayer in 3 words – Specific, Sincere and Sacrificial.
Let’s start by looking at SPECIFIC. In her prayer, Hannah tells God to “give me a son”. She was clear in what she wanted and left no room for misinterpretation. There’s a reason why the Bible tells us in Matthew 7:7 to ASK first before our request is given unto us. Do you think God wants us to ask because He doesn’t know what we want? Absolutely not! Make no mistake, God knows our every thought, in fact Psalms 139:2 (TPT) tells us that He “understand my every thought before it even enters my mind.” Often times, when communicating our needs with the Father, we tend to be vague and just assume that God will fill in the gaps in our requests. But there is power in being specific in your prayers and requests to God. Remember the story of the two blind men in Matthew 20 who cried out to Jesus for help and Jesus asked in verse 32 “what do you want me to do for you?” to which they responded “Lord we want to see! Heal us!”
One of my favourite verses in the entire Bible is Philippians 2:9–10 which says “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth”.
Everything in this world has a name, but then there is THE name – Jesus. The Bible declares that all these names must submit to THE NAME. So in your prayers, call out that sickness by name, call out the name of child you’re worried about, call out the name of job you’re trusting God for. Bring these names to the Lord and then command the name of Jesus over them and watch what the power in His name will do.
Hannah’s prayer was also SINCERE. We get an insight into Hannah’s disposition in 1 Samuel 1:10 (NLT) which says “Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.” Hannah’s childless state would have been the greatest burden in her life, in fact the thought of it repeatedly reduced her to tears and made her to lose her appetite (1 Samuel 1:7). We see this sorrow even more clearly when the nature of her prayer is revealed in verse 13, “Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk” (NIV). She had endured years of this sorrow, but on that faithful day, something in her snapped and she made up her mind and refused to endure one more day of this sorrow. She was ready to pray the kind of prayer that would put an end to years of shame and embarrassment.
This type of prayer is one that is birthed from sheer desperation, the kind of prayer you pray when you know deep down in your heart that there is nobody on this planet that can help you other than God. The kind of prayer you pray when you know there is no where else to turn to and God is your only hope. The first time I prayed this kind of prayer was the day I became saved and most recently again when I celebrated my 7th year Salvation anniversary. These are the types of prayers that move God. David was an expert at this, in Psalms 34:6 (NLT) he said “in my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles.” There are certain situations in life that call for you to make these type of sincere prayers. We should never feel embarrassed to admit that we are completely helpless. The God we serve is a Jealous God (Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24) and He wants us to see Him as our only source of Help. That’s why David declared in Psalms 121:1–2 (NIV) “I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Hannah knew that God was the only One who could help her and she demonstrated this in the sincerity of her prayer to God. She didn’t care about how she would look or where she was, she lost herself completely in the presence of her Maker and bared her soul to Him.
Lastly, Hannah’s prayer was SACRIFICIAL. Now, this is one of the most amazing aspects of this prayer. For Hannah to plead with God for a son, and in the same breath make the promise to return the son back to God is a sacrifice that very few would be willing to make. I’m not sure if this was a commitment she had made with God in her previous prayers, but if not, it could be argued that this was the missing ingredient in those past prayers.
We so often ask God for blessings and miracles, but do we think about how we can use those blessings to honour God? In Psalms 50:15 (NIV) God says “call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” The primary motivation for any thing we receive for God should be to honour and glorify His name.
James 4:3 (NIV) gives us an insight into why sometimes our prayers are not answered: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” What is the motive of your prayer? Is it so that we can brag about it to our friends? Hannah’s motive could have easily been to shut Peninnah up and put an end to her insults, but instead she desired to give back unto the Lord. How will God benefit from giving you that testimony? How can the Kingdom of God be advanced through that answered prayer? The result of Hannah’s sacrifice was the birth of Samuel – one of the greatest prophets of all time. I believe deep down that Hannah knew that her sacrifice would not go unrewarded and this is confirmed in 1 Samuel 2:21 where we see that God granted Hannah 3 sons and 2 daughters.
Another sacrifice she rendered was a sacrifice of praise and worship. 1 Samuel 1:19 tells us that the following morning after she had made her petition known unto God, she “arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah.” We see just how important this sacrifice is in Psalms 50:23 (NLT) when God says “giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me.“ I cannot overstate the importance of thanksgiving. You don’t have to wait until you see the evidence of that answered prayer before you thank God. Hannah worshipped Him before she knew she had actually fallen pregnant. Her gratitude was not dependent on her situation or what she could see, she thanked Him simply because He was God.
There is a lot to be learned from Hannah’s prayer but it goes without saying that none of these 3 elements of her prayer would have mattered if Hannah was not a genuine child of God. In her prayer she said “if you will only look on your SERVANT’S misery”. Hannah was a woman who genuinely served the Lord, despite her not having a child, she still made the journey to Shiloh every year to worship the Lord. If you are not yet a genuine child of God, please understand that nothing I have written today will apply to you. The Bible says in Psalms 34:17 (NIV) that “the righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.” The key word in that verse is the RIGHTEOUS. We are also told in John 9:11 (NIV) that “God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.”
This is my plea to anyone reading this who has not yet given their life to Christ or perhaps maybe was once committed to God but has backslidden, please do not let this moment pass you by. Let’s put praying for fertility or healing or wealth aside for a moment, if there is any prayer you need to pray today, it is a prayer of salvation. The only prayer a sinner can pray that God will answer is a prayer of salvation. Psalms 51:17 (NLT) says “You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
There is a reason God has caused you to stumble across this post today, it is not a coincidence or by chance. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:2 that TODAY is the day of salvation. Not tomorrow, not next week…TODAY. If you are tired of living a life of sin, if you are ready to accept Jesus today as your Lord and Saviour, then please just repeat this quick prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have come to You today wholeheartedly to give my life to You today. I know that I am sinner and I do not want to live like this anymore. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. I believe that You lived, You died for my sins and You were resurrected. Please come into my life and take complete control from this day forward. Please give me the grace to live a life that pleases You and help me to serve you for the rest of my days.
If you have said this prayer, CONGRATULATIONS! Now you can begin to live in the promise and assurance that whenever you call on the name of the Lord, He will hear you!
May the Lord bless you all, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
