By Kingsley Baehr

Hannah had a horrible home life.

[You can read her fascinating story in 1 Samuel, chapters 1 and 2 in the Bible.]

She was married to a man who, although he loved her very much, was clue-less. Penninah, his other wife [yes, the culture of his day allowed that, even though God had said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife {not wives}, and they shall become one flesh. – Gen. 2:24] was a haughty bully. Because she had presented her husband with children, and Hannah had not, Penninah was merciless in her ridicule and scorn toward Hannah. Sooo... Hannah had a horrible home life.

Therefore Hannah did something that we all should do when life is hard. She poured out her heart to God. If God would enable her to have a boy child, she said, she would give him back to God as a thanks-giving gift.

Hannah made a deal with God. Have you ever tried to make a deal with God, and God didn’t respond? Could the reason be that, as God looked into your heart, He could see that you had no real in-tention of upholding your end of the deal?

God gave Hannah a baby boy whom she named Samuel [which means “Name of God”]. For three to four years she nursed him, cuddled him, loved him, adored him—and then, after weaning him, she did as she had promised—she gave him back to God the only way she knew how—she took him to Eli, the high priest, for his service. How it must have torn her mother’s heart to part from her beloved son! But she had made a deal with God. He had kept His part and now she would keep hers.
There is much more to this story that for the sake of brevity we will skip, but we can’t ignore the “end of the story.”

  1. God gave Hannah three more sons and two daughters!
  2. Samuel grew up to be one of the great Old Testament prophets, who became famous as the one to whom God spoke His word during a time when the word of God was seldom spoken, because so few were listening or interested!
  3. And Hannah was able to see how God used her gift to Him for the good of the whole nation of Israel!
God is no man’s debtor. He says in
1 Samuel 2:30, “...those who honor Me, I will honor...” God keeps His promises.

Are you honoring Him in your life today?
If not, why not?
If so, you too will be honored by God in His perfect time and way.