1 Samuel 1:1-6
"5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.
6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb."
GOD calls us all to BELIEVE, to have FAITH, and to be SAVED! We get this message again and again as we study Women of Faith in the Holy Bible. From our own experience we know our walk in FAITH is strongly effected by our prayer life. We need to reach out to GOD in prayer, pleading humbly for what we need and want. King David demonstrates this effectively in the Psalms. He communicated the holiness of GOD and his own shortcomings. We can all aspire to this level of awareness and eloquence when praying.
Another great model of prayer life is Hannah in the Old Testament. She is the focus of our study this week in the book of First Samuel. These events occurred around THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO! Life was different then but people were the same. Hannah was a young wife, married to Elkanah, who had another wife named Peninnah. They prospered in the Hill Country of of Ephratha. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Every year this faithful family made a pilgrimage to Shiloh to worship GOD and offer sacrifices.
The polygamy described here is contrary to GOD'S plan. In this time period it seems to have been prevalent among the Hebrews. They needed lots of hands to help around the house and farm. In other words they needed lots of children, or very big families. If, for some reason, a couple was not having children it was assumed that it was the woman's fault. (That was wrong, but that was the way it was.) This situation weighed heavy on Hannah. From today's verse; "And her adversary also provoked her SORE, for to make her FRET, because the LORD had shut up her womb." The other wife would ridicule Hannah for not having children. This made Hannah ANGRY and STRESSED. This motivated Hannah to PRAYER...
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