I want you to notice how that Hannah is truly a woman of prayer. I want you to see that in her extremity she poured out her soul to Me as she declared to Eli, “I have been praying here out of My great anguish and grief”. You see that as she rolled the burden of her soul upon Me she not only received the blessing of the priest but relief from her anguish. It says that she was able to eat and that she was no longer downcast. I want you to see that her prayer, as agonized as it was, was truly a prayer of faith and that the burden of her soul was lifted as a result. She truly believed in Me and in due season I acted and rewarded her faith, and you see that she was faithful in keeping her promise even as I had been faithful to answer her prayer. But look again and see that when she brought Samuel to My house she identified herself as the one who had prayed and asked of Me for a son. So her testimony to Eli was that I had been faithful to grant her her request and that she would now be faithful to keep her promise to give her son to My service. So you see a chain of faithfulness, the prayer of faith to Me, My response in faithfulness and the faithful response to Hannah in keeping her promise. But look again and see the expression of her prayer upon giving up her son. You see that she declares first of all that her heart rejoices in Me, that her strength has come from Me, that her triumph over her enemies and her deliverance is from Me, and she extols My greatness and My holiness, and she acknowledges that her judgment and her blessing have come from Me. She declares how I have lifted up the humble and the needy and judged and set down the proud and the self-sufficient, how that those who trust in Me shall be blessed, and those who oppose Me shall be shattered. Do you see any evidence in these words that Hannah has any regret in her heart about having to give up her son? Do you see any pride or haughtiness about what she has done as if it were some accomplishment for which she is to be commended and rewarded?
No, you see only her rejoicing in who I am, and her confidence in My justice and My judgment, in My reward for those who are needy and who trust Me, and My judgment for those who oppose Me. I want you to see that this prayer reflects a heart that truly desires to please Me, that rejoiced not only in her own blessing but in who I am and in how I relate to My people as well as to those who oppose Me. I have told you that I want to fill My house with daughters like this who will not seek something for themselves but will seek most of all that which will glorify Me. You see in her prayer that kind of heart that will glorify Me, and you see that her reward was great, not only because she was given more children but also because her son, the fruit of her faith as well as her womb, truly glorified Me.
Tags: Give Glory, God Faithful, Women