Biblical Story Of Hannah With Lessons

Biblical Story Of Hannah With Lessons

TEXT: 1 Samuel 1

In our topic today, we want to study the biblical story of Hannah and at the end of the story, we will learn some lessons from the story. Our anchor text is taken from the book of 1 Samuel chapter 1.

NOTE: Kindly Read My Dream Interpretation Book And Other Inspiring Books...

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests, whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.

Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”
One day, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up, and Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house,

But Hannah’s deep anguish she prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 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, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk, he said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him. “Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So, in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” So, when it was time for the family to go and sacrifice to God, Hannah did not go because she wanted to wean the baby before dedicating him to God as she has vowed to God.

The lessons to learn from the story of Hannah are listed below:

1. We must never stop praying: Prayer is a medium we use in communicating with God. There are times in life we will feel overwhelmed with issues of life, but we must never give up our praying life. We may lack words to say or pray to God, but we should never allow it to take our prayer life from us. If we are conquered in the place of prayers, we have lost the battle to the devil. Just as we read in the story, Hannah wept bitterly, cried so many times but she made up her mind never to stop praying until she was convinced that God heard her. This is a big Lesson for us that no matter what we are facing or going to face we must never allow it to take our prayer life from us. The bible says we should pray without ceasing. 1Thessalonian 5:17.

2. We must ask in faith: The bible admonishes us to pray till our joy is full. Hannah prayed till joy replaced her countenance till sadness was completely taken away from her. That was faith in action. We must learn to pray in faith. When we pray in faith, sadness leaves us, we are no more troubled or worried about how the problem is going to be solved, we have left it and casted it on God trusting and believing that He is able to make way for us where there seems to be no way. Faith is seeing those things that are not, as though they were. Our faith must be so strong that fear is taken away completely away from us.

3. We must not the words of our oppressors or mockers oppress us, rather we should be challenged to do more and pray more. There is no one that is being mocked or oppressed that will be happy, just like we read in the story, that Hannah cried the more when been mocked by Peninnah, even though Hannah cried years upon years, she encouraged herself in the Lord and did not allow the mockeries she was getting from Peninnah held her down, she was motivated to pray more to God and not give up asking God for a child.

4. We must never give up. Giving up must never be an option. No doubt troubles and trials are part of life, but we must never give up on hope. God has promised us victory at the end of every storm. He said in the world we will face troubles and trials but we should be of good cheer because He Has conquered the world for us. Trials make us strong in faith and hope, so we must never consider giving up knowing fully well that though it tarried but it shall definitely come to pass, if we faint not. Winners don’t quit, it is losers that quit. Challenges of life is a process in life that must happen for our stories to be heard. Just like the story of Hannah is encouraging us today, our stories will also encourage others, if we don’t give up on ourselves and on God.