Answers to Prayer: Yes, No, or Not Yet
a sermon based on 1 Samuel 1:4-20
by Rev. Randy L Quinn

 Most of us can name a time in our lives when there was a change or a transition.  We can remember a time when life was “different” than it is now, or we can point to a date on the calendar and say it was a turning point in our lives.

Ø      Sometimes that transition had to do with work – we either found a job or retired from work.

Ø      Sometimes the turning point had to do with school – we either began a degree program or finished our studies. 

Ø      Sometimes that change had to do with our marital circumstances – we became married or widowed or divorced. 

Ø      And sometimes that transition had to do with children – we gave birth to children, adopted children, or watched the last child leave our home.

We can name a time “before” and a time “after” the event.  The changes were not always what we expected, but there were consequences that took place as a result.  After some changes, our lives become better; while other changes may make things worse.

As I read the story of Hannah, I am struck by the various characters in the story that act as if everything is OK the way it is.  They don’t seem to want anything to change.  Hannah is the only one who thinks there is a need for change; everyone else acts as if there is no need for transition.

Ø      Peninnah likes being able to torment Hannah – she seems to get as much pleasure from Hannah’s reaction as she does her own children (vv. 6-7)!

Ø      Elkanah seems to think his love for Hannah should be sufficient for her – that she doesn’t need anything other than his undying affection (vv. 5, 8).

Ø      Eli doesn’t want people disrupting the worship service – even when he finds out she isn’t drunk, he expects her to leave the premises (v. 7).

Only Hannah wants things to change.

And given the fact that things are not going very well for her, I guess, that’s understandable.  If we think back and reflect on our own lives, I’m sure we can name a similar time when things were not going well for us, a time when we longed for something else.  It may not be as dramatic as Hannah’s desires, but certainly there was a time when you wished things were different.

Ø      Maybe you were struggling through school and wished for easier classes.

Ø      Maybe you were lonely and hoped to meet someone, maybe even marry someone.

Ø      Maybe you had a boss that was overbearing and you longed for a day when someone else would be your boss – or you could be your own boss.

Ø      Maybe you were overwhelmed with commitments from work or school or family and kept looking forward to the day off you had coming.

I know I can think of several of those occasions in my life.  I remember the longing I had to finish the process for adopting Jesse and Mariah, for instance.  It seemed, at times, as if there was always one more hurdle to jump as we slowly made the case that their biological parents were not able to care for them properly and then made the case that our home was the best option for them.

That process all culminated in September, 2003.  And then we celebrated with their baptism on Easter Sunday, 2004.

What a joy.  What a relief it was.

That same year I remember waiting and wondering if there would be an open appointment in Kansas for us – or if we would remain in Washington.  We liked where we were, but we needed to be closer to Ronda’s parents.  That opportunity came two weeks after the baptism.

It was a longing fulfilled.

But I also remember the yearning and the longing I have had for things that never came to be.  I remember, for example, the pain I felt when Janet broke off our engagement and the long weeks and months when I hoped she would reconsider – a longing that ended two years later when she sent out invitations to her wedding and she married someone else.  (I didn’t get one, I just heard about it.)

No matter how much we want change to happen, no matter how often we pray, not all longings will be fulfilled.  Even the Apostle Paul learned that not all things we long for and pray for will happen (2 Cor. 12:7-9).

Hannah had good reasons for her longing.  In a society where future security rested in having children, she had none.  Even though there were children in the household, it was clear they would have no concern for her after her husband’s death.  Her husband may have loved her, but he didn’t intervene to prevent her from being harassed and teased.

I don’t know how many times or how often she had prayed for a child.  I don’t know how many times or how often she had prayed for a son.  I don’t know how many years she went away from the annual festival disheartened.

But I do understand her desire for change, and I know some of the longing she experienced.  And I know you do, too.  But on this particular trip, things did chang.

There is a danger, I suppose, in trying to figure out what she did differently this time – as if we can figure out the formula for making God do our bidding.  It is always a gift of grace when God grants us a request – a gift from the One who can grant requests or deny them – or yield to our will and cease to be God.

But if you pay close attention, you see that the change happens before the birth of Samuel, before the answer to the prayer is received.  It says she “was sad no longer,” but that was before the last worship service (v. 18).

Something happened that changed her outlook.  Her longing was over.  Her season of yearning was ended.  With or without a son, she was content.  God may have said, “Yes.”  God may have said, “No.”  God may have said, “Not yet.”  The answer didn’t matter.  Hannah walked away a different person.

And the only thing that seems to have happened is that Eli noticed her.  He thought she was out of place.  He thought she was drunk (vv. 12, 14).  He didn’t even ask her what her particular prayer was (vv. 15-16).  He simply added his prayers to hers as he gave her a benediction, a common formula not unlike our “Have a nice Day:”  “Go in peace; [may] the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him” (v. 17).

But I don’t want to put too much power in the prayer of Eli.  Eli will have his authority taken away from him and his children will be cursed by the child born to Hannah (1 Sam. 3:12-18).  If anything, this story simply reveals how inept Eli is – he didn’t even recognize a woman in prayer when he saw one!

The curious part of her story, to me at least, is that when she is granted her request for a son, she returns to Eli and gives her son to him (1 Sam. 1:28, 2:11).

The object of her desire, the longing she has had is finally fulfilled, and she releases it.

It’s like a child wishing for a new bike for Christmas and telling everyone of his request.  His parents hear about it.  His grandparents hear about it.  His teacher hears about it at school.  Santa hears about it.

Everyone knows he wants a bike for Christmas.  And then when he gets his heart’s desire and finds a bike under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, he walks it down the street and gives it to a boy who already has a bike.

Something happened to Hannah that day that changed her outlook.  Somehow she came to the conclusion that she didn’t really need a son – she knew she needed to simply trust God.

Children may be the primary means by which God provides for elderly widows, but it’s God who provides.  In fact, when Hannah sings a Psalm of praise in the next chapter, there is very little mention of her own wants and needs.  Instead she sings of the power God has to change life’s circumstances so that poor become rich and the weak become strong – with only half a line reserved for those who are barren experiencing the blessings of a home full of children (1 Sam. 2:5).

The transformation, the change, the conversion that takes place in Hannah’s life comes – not from an answer to prayer, but – from a newfound trust in God.  And it is that trust that can be heard in this the story – a story that really is only beginning.

You see this story is the beginning of a dramatic change in the history of Israel.  Hannah may be the only one in our text who wanted change, but at this point in history all of Israel was longing for change.  They wanted a King to rule over them, a King to lead their armies in battle against the Philistines (1 Sam. 8:5; see also Judges 21:25).

Their desires are really a rejection of God as King (1 Sam. 8:7).  God doesn’t want to grant their request; but eventually God relents and gives them what they want – and in the process they begin to put their trust in people rather than God.

In many ways, Hannah set the standard by reminding us to trust God, no matter what the answers to our prayers may be.  God will remain faithful.

May we remain faithful to God this day – and every day, no matter how God answers our prayers, no matter what changes we may experience in our lives.

Amen.