God is our Family

After he was weaned, she took the boy with her... [and] they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has 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 1:24–28

Samuel was likely around 3 years old when Hannah made good on her vow and took him to live at the temple. How difficult and heart-breaking that must have been for Hannah! And how difficult it must have been for Samuel. You can imagine his little cries when his mother walked away. We know that Hannah loved her son dearly and continued to visit him and take care of him because 1 Samuel 2:19 tells us that “each year [she] made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.”

But even though Hannah saw her son at least that one time a year, she didn’t see him every day. He had no mother there to care for him day in and day out. Samuel was alone. Hannah left him under the care of Eli the priest. And more specifically, Hannah gave Samuel over to the care of the LORD.

Hannah was able to do this impossible thing, giving up the child she had so longed for, because she trusted God to watch over Samuel. She trusted the Lord to provide for Samuel and care for Samuel and protect him. She didn’t abandon her son. She gave Him over to the Lord. And the Lord became mother and father and brother and sister to Samuel. God became Samuel’s family.

The same is true of every believer. When you became a Christian you were adopted as God’s child and He became your family. So, even if your earthly family lets you down, or if they are taken from you prematurely, or if you are off all on your own far away from them, know that you are never alone. You are not orphaned or widowed or abandoned in the true sense of the word, because God is with you. He is your family. He is a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, and a compassionate friend to those who have lost children.

And that doesn’t just go for yourself, it also goes for your children. It can be so difficult to let our children go… to send them off into the world. But if they are believers, then we have the added comfort of knowing that we are not the only family they have. Even if we cannot watch over them anymore, God is watching over them. And that brings us the same comfort that it brought Hannah.

How to Pray: According to Hannah

And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

1 Samuel 1:11

There is much that we can learn from Hannah's prayer in her time of misery. And both her prayer and God's answer to it have been the subject of many sermons. But what is often overlooked is the language of the prayer itself... the specific requests that Hannah makes of the Lord.

Hannah asks God to “look on her misery,” to “remember her” and to “not forget her.” These are all helpful phrases for us to remember and use in our personal prayers, because they capture something that’s common to all human experience.

It is a basic human need to know that someone cares about your pain, that someone is thinking about you, that you are not completely forgotten or overlooked. And it is good and right for you to take that need to God in prayer.

So, the next time you feel like no one sees you or no one cares, don’t sulk. Ask God to “remember you.” The next time you feel like no one understands your pain, don’t get mad at everyone else for not being able to understand your experience. Instead, turn to the one person who can. Pray and ask God to “look on your misery.” And the next time you aren’t invited to something and you feel overlooked and left out, pray and ask the Lord “not to forget you.” And comfort yourself with the knowledge that He never has.

And lastly, but perhaps most important of all. Don't forget to ask God specifically and directly for what you want. Hannah comes right out and asks God for a son. Don't let your prayers be general, fuzzy or unclear. Be specific. Don't be afraid to ask God for exactly what you want and need in prayer.