My wise 92 year-old mother-in-law always says, “You can get bitter or you can get better.”  We always have the choice as to how we will respond to what life brings us.  It never ceases to amaze me how much value God places on giving us the freedom to choose.  Ever since our first parents, we have had the opportunity to determine our responses.  They responded to God’s command by disobeying which God gave them the freedom to do.  And here we are today with the same freedom to decide how we will respond to God, to others, and to circumstances.  We aren’t robots.  We determine our own responses for good or for ill.

Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching a small group of children the Bible story about Hannah pleading with God for a child then how the child God gave her grew to be someone God used to help his people.  I got to thinking about how our choices decide the outcomes of our lives.  Infertile Hannah could have allowed her loss to make her bitter against God but instead, she poured out her heart to him.  For years she had been childless. But one day on her yearly pilgrimage to God’s house, she added a solemn vow to her pleading request to God for a child. Instead of clutching the thing she desired most, she was willing to return it to the Giver.  

“ And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life…”. 1 Samuel 1:11

The Bible gives us a realistic view of real people’s lives and feelings.  We see that we can be real with him and express our true feelings.  He knows them anyway, so why not own them?  Admitting our hurt is a good starting place for making our requests to God who is tender and understanding.  We choose whether our hurts drive us away from God or push us into his comforting arms.

“Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord… “I am a woman who is deeply troubled.  I was pouring out my soul to the Lord . .  I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”  1 Samuel 1:10,15-16

Hannah had waited and we assume had prayed for years for a baby.  She could have given up hope both in being a mother and in God who hadn’t answered.  But she chose to persist in asking and hoping.  She was convinced that God listened even if he hadn’t given her what she asked.  I know I need to take a lesson from Hannah.  I, too, have prayed for things for years without seeing results.  But I, too, believe that God listens so I keep asking.

God answered her prayer after the priest, Eli, blessed her and asked God to give her her request.  Eli was the God-appointed man who oversaw worship and taught the people in God’s house.  He was the spiritual leader.

Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.  “Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed . . . and she was no longer sad.”  1 Samuel 1:17-18

I think there is a principle here.  Sometimes God especially honors prayers offered by those in spiritual leadership.  Please let me qualify that.  God is never manipulated by our formulas.  Just because a leader in the church prays for something, doesn’t mean God is obligated to answer.  But sometimes we can express our humility by asking our spiritual leaders to pray.  And their strong faith gives us faith to believe God will answer.

“Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord…The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.  Elijah [God’s prophet/ spiritual leader/teacher] was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!”  James 5:14,16-17

After she returned home from God’s house she conceived and gave birth to a son.  How she must have delighted in this son she had waited so long for!  But there is a turn in the story – as soon as she had weaned him, she made good on the vow she had made to God – to give the child back to God to serve him for life.  What?!  After years of longing and waiting, now she is relinquishing the child when he is only a few years old?!  Couldn’t she have waited to fulfill her vow until the boy was older?!  I think I would’ve hung onto him longer.  But she wanted to fulfill her part of the bargain she made with God.  He had done his part and she wanted to do hers without delay.

“When the child was weaned, Hannah took him young as he was to the Tabernacle in Shiloh  … After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli.  “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord.  I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request.  Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And he worshiped the Lord there.”  1 Samuel 1:24-28

She gave her only son to the spiritual leader of the nation so that the child could assist him in his service to God and grow up in God’s presence. And what emotions did she choose to feel?  She could have felt heartbroken and dejected.  No one could have blamed her.  She was losing her only son after only a few years of enjoying him,  But, instead, she proceeded to pray aloud praise to God!  She chose to be happy to give her child back to a God that made her strong, who is holy, who is above all and provides security.  She declared him to be the God who knows each person and appoints their time and circumstances on the earth.  She extolled God’s nature and actions and even prophesied before it happened that there would be a king and Messiah.

“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong.
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
For the LORD is a God who knows,
And by him deeds are weighed.
The Lord brings death and makes alive;
He humbles and he exalts.
He will guard the feet of his saints,
He will give power to his king and increases the strength of his anointed one.”  1 Samuel 2:1-2, 3,6,7,9,10

Then she resolutely headed home without her beloved son to an empty house. But there’s more to the story!  The boy she gave up grew to be a  God-force for good in bad times.  And Eli, the priest, prayed for her every year when she returned to worship and God listened and gave her three more sons and two daughters.  

Let’s be like Hannah who kept praying and trusted that God was listening.  Let’s also be faithful like her to give back to God what he has blessed us with.  Let’s be strong like her in the happiness that comes from God!

“My heart rejoices in the LORD!
The LORD has made me strong.”  Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1