I was reading 1 Samuel 1 through 2:21 this afternoon, about Hannah and her desire to have a son. The biggest thing that jumped out at me was the fact that the Lord had 
closed up Hannah’s womb (1 Sam. 1:5).
When she married the love of her life, Elkanah, she thought she was going to be an ordinary wife and have an ordinary family. Her desires were not at all unreasonable. In an agricultural society where more children meant more farmhands to help run the family business, it was advantageous and expected to have several kids. Yet Hannah did not—indeed could not—have any kids because the Lord Himself had closed her womb. That spoke to my single girl heart.
Anyone here besides me have normal, natural desires that you thought were going to be fulfilled already, but it just hasn’t materialized yet? Oh, good, I see the heads nodding and the hands going up. Make some noise out there!
Maybe you, like I, thought you’d be married by now. Nope. Never happened.
Or you did get married, but… Nope. It didn’t turn out how you thought it would. Now 
you’re divorced. Or your spouse died.
You thought you’d have children by now. Nope. Your friends are having grandchildren, and you didn’t make it to round one for children.
You thought you’d have the career of your dreams that you went to school for and slaved for. Nope. You feel something is vastly missing; maybe you even feel stuck.
You thought you’d arrived when you entered this one particular ministry. Nope. It wasn’t what you thought it would be. Certain personalities and carnal individuals have put the “dys” into function and now you don’t have the heart for it anymore. It’s hard to focus on those you’re supposed to be serving. You’re even thinking of leaving the church.
All these “Nopes” can drag a soul down to despair. I get it.It’s good to know that our God is big enough to handle all the disappointments of all His children, all at the same time, and not lose His cool. Click To Tweet
It’s hard to see God working in our lives when our circumstances (and certain people) don’t reflect His love and mercy in a way that’s easy to recognize. I’ve been there, yes sirree.
It’s not necessarily a sin to feel down. It’s not even necessarily a sin to stay down, to be disappointed with circumstances, structures and systems. People can and do let us down, and regularly.
I’ve even let myself down. I know I’m not the only one. And you know what? Sometimes I’ve felt like God has let me down.
Is it okay to say, “I feel like God has let me down?”
Well, I just did, and He didn’t get mad.
It’s good to know that our God is big enough to handle all the disappointments of all His children, all at the same time, and not lose His cool. He can handle it, because He’s God and He loves us. He wants us to go to Him with our honest questions and concerns. That’s one thing.
The other thing is that there is a reason for delayed hope (that’s what I’m calling the totality of our situation).
At first, we may not have the ability to comprehend that there might be a reason for not our seeing the answer to our prayers. You know Hannah was praying all those years for a son.
Though she is not named in scripture outside of the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, what she did and her influence in history are far beyond the scope of her wish.
What can we singles learn from a married, barren woman that can turn our Nope to Hope? Hannah responded both during her time of trial and suffering as well as her time of blessing. She didn’t hold back. There are six lessons I caught from this passage.
1. There’s always background that others won’t understand, but God knows.
I Samuel 1:1–7
You don’t find out till verse 5 that Hannah couldn’t have kids, but it was the focus of her married life. The family took their faith seriously and went through all the required religious observances, like Zacharias and Elizabeth did (Luke 1:5–25). Yet the other wife did not demonstrate the fruit of true faith.
Instead, she taunted Hannah verbally, on top of the presence of children tormenting Hannah’s soul. And the pastoral staff who usually greeted them were corrupt (1 Samuel 
2:12–17). She was so miserable that she was barely able to accept her husband’s extra portions from the sacrifice and his words of encouragement.
Lesson: Sometimes all you’ll know is God knows everything you’ve gone through to get to this point, and it’ll have to be enough. No one knew that the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb.
Forget about those who don’t know or won’t care. Nope. You’ll have to consult Him and His Word to remind yourself of His power and sovereignty, access His perspective (wisdom), and stay connected to His love.
2. Go to God with your pain first, not people.
1 Samuel 1:7–11
Hannah kept the pain of years of suffering mostly to herself, taking her tears to the Lord in the house of God. Her husband saw her suffering but did not rebuke her for nagging him about her infertility issues. She knew he loved her and couldn’t do anything about her situation; only God could.
Sometimes those around us feel burdened for our situation, but cannot do anything about it. They may try to fix you up on a blind date with their cousin, but if they’re not God’s perfect will for you, everyone involved will be wasting time and you’ll still be miserable.
Lesson: Take your honest feelings to God first before you take them to anyone else, 2 Corinthians 1:3–4. You won’t break Him… or yourself. Nope. Find scriptures that speak to your heart and pray them back to God.
Come back next Tuesday for the other half of this lesson. I’m loving this!
