When you’re old enough to think about human nature, and to wonder about cause and effect, you discover in the Bible some behaviors that could be described as most unlikely. For instance, it was cause and effect that Lot’s wife would turn into a pillar of salt, as she did the very natural thing of looking back at her home town burning after being warned by God not to.

On the other hand, it was entirely unlikely that Hannah would walk her little two or three year old son to the tabernacle and present him to Eli, the high priest, then turn around and leave him there for the rest of his life. It’s true that Hannah had made a promise to God that she would do this if He gave her a son, but all of human nature was against it. Hannah was the childless second wife of her husband, and the first wife had both sons and daughters. Hannah had no children of her own, and if she was ever widowed, she would be without anyone to provide for her or to protect her. She was already the object of abusive remarks from Peninnah, the first wife. Hannah had no reason to believe that she would have more children than Samuel, her little boy. Everything was weighted against her giving up her only child.

This was when one of the most unlikely events occurred, as Hannah walked to the Tabernacle with Samuel, whom she had just weened, and said to Eli, “I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord,” and he worshiped the Lord there. (1 Samuel 1:26-28)

The likeliness of such an action can be explained only in the prayer that Hannah had prayed. She had wept and prayed from her heart. She didn’t stop until Eli rebuked her, and a certain peace came to her: Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. (1Samuel 1:18) Hannah’s prayer was answered before she was pregnant. The Holy Spirit of God had communicated with her to bring her peace. What she offered to God, her as yet unborn son, was sufficient for God to accept and answer her prayer . It wasn’t her words, but her spirit, that God answered, for He knew that Hannah would keep her promise. In return, God added three sons and two daughters to Hannah, for God’s bargains are never entirely mutual; He always gives more. When Samuel grew up, he established his home in Ramah, where his parents and siblings lived; and Hannah’s unlikely bargain changed Israel forever.

Love in Him,

Prue