The Bible is loaded with strong women. From Eve who had to adapt to a much harsher world and more pain as a result of The Fall to Noah’s wife who supported her husband in his odd hundred-year-long project. There was Sarah, who willingly and without murmur followed Abraham into the desert of the unknown. Rebekah, Deborah, Jael, Ruth, and on and on and on.
These women never took or usurped a man’s position, yet their strength and support of the men in their lives is breathtaking. Not only this, but their hope was strong and their faith was unwavering. Many times I find myself reading about the quiet strength and faith of these women and I have to wonder if I would have been able to do what they did.
Hannah wanted a child so badly that she promised to give him to the Lord if she had a baby boy. What a vow! She would willingly give up the very child she had prayed so hard and so long to receive. God did hear Hannah’s prayer and he did send her that baby boy.
God fulfilled his side of the bargain, now Hannah had to fulfill hers. I can’t even begin to imagine what that would have been like. Here, Hannah had prayed year after year for God to give her a son. Finally, she is given a son and only keeps him until he is weaned, which is about three or four years, and then takes him to the temple where she leaves him so he can serve God. The only time Hannah will get to see her son is when the whole family goes up once a year to sacrifice.
How hard that must have been, to leave her little boy there, so far away. I’m sure in those three or four years she had him, Hannah must have grown very attached to Samuel. I can’t imagine leaving my toddler anywhere for even a day, let alone a year! Hannah’s commitment to God was so strong that she was willing and happy to give him back what he had given her. Not one word of regret or complaint did she utter as she left her son at the temple and returned to her home, knowing she would not see him for another year.
I pray that each of us would, like Hannah, be able to act on the reality that everything comes from God and that we would have the grace and the joy to be able to give what he gives us back to him so he can use it for his glory.
