Dear Hannah Pt. 2

for Part One (and an explanation on what in the world this letter is about) see Dear Hannah.

Dear Hannah,

As the time for saying goodbye to my son gets close, I find myself wondering what you thought when you were in my position.  Were you like I am? Did you think..."How could something so good be so painful”?  You had asked the Lord for a baby boy and that is exactly what He gave you.  You had promised to give your boy back to the Lord.  Those are good things:  answers from the Lord, promises to the Lord.  Why, then, could they be so painful?  Did you wonder that?  I do.  My son is a gift from the Lord too.  He is a joy in our family and a wonderful part of every one of our days.  We have also dedicated him to the Lord.  Not in as dramatic a way as you, I suppose, but we did stand before a body of believers and promise to raise him in the ways of the Lord.  Our son is strong and healthy and God has prepared him for this new phase of his life.  I imagine you saw that in Samuel as well.

When I read back over your experience, I see that your husband said to you, “may the LORD help you keep your promise.” (1 Samuel 1:23 NLT)  Wow, this is where the rubber meets the road, though in your time, I guess you wouldn’t have understood what that means...I guess it’s where the horse cart wheel hits the cobblestone?  Anyway, did you have second thoughts about your promise?  Did you regret your promise?  If I had a guess, I’d say probably not.  I don’t have second thoughts or regrets about promising to give my son to the Lord.  But I certainly see now that, when it comes down to it, it’s easier said than done!

Another thing I noticed when reading about your experience is that, when you asked God for a son, you prayed to the “Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” (1 Sam. 1:11a, NLT)  When you said, “LORD,” you were calling on Jehovah, Israel’s name for God. (Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary)  When you said, “Heaven’s Armies” (hosts), you were implicating a war, campaign, or hardship.  (Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary)  It’s as if you were calling on God as the KING and MIGHTY GOD of your nation as well as the CAPTAIN of the armies of Heaven itself to answer the desperate, seemingly insignificant prayers of one small, very average woman praying in the temple.  And what happened when you had the audacity to approach the throne of Heaven with your silly little request and promise?  The KING OF HEAVEN’S ARMIES agreed!  And this same JEHOVAH is Who helped your keep your promise. 

Well, Hannah, I like the idea of an army keeping watch over my son!  So, if you could do it, so can I!  I will keep my promise to God “even when it hurts” (Psalm 15:4b).  I will call on the LORD of Heaven’s Armies to help me keep my promise.  If He gave strength to an average Jewish mom living out in the hill country of Ephraim, I am sure He will do the same for an average American mom living in the islands of Asia!

My son and I enjoy the calm of a Middle Eastern sunset, only about 150 miles from where Hannah and Samuel lived in the hill country of Ephraim.  Taken about 13 years ago.