The Anxiety of Hannah

This month, we have been dealing with the difficult subject of anxiety. Anxiety disorder is a pervasive issue in our culture and can be an invasively crippling challenge for those of us struggling with it. Last week, we focused on anxieties brought on by our own past sins and failures and we briefly looked at one example from the life of Jacob to help us learn how to overcome anxious thoughts in those areas for ourselves. Today, we are going to look at another common cause of anxiety; unmet desires.

Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” This is something that every one of us can relate to; the pain of waiting for something that seems like it’s never going to come. What makes it worse is when it seems like you’ve done everything right, everything you were supposed to do, but it just doesn’t happen. Now, some of these can really be just minor issues, something that seems really important right now but given some time and perspective, it turns out that it wasn’t such a big deal. Our childhood and adolescent years are filled with these types of experiences. In the moment, it’s hard to imagine a worse situation but looking back on it from an adult perspective we’re able to frame the situation properly. On the other hand, there are certain longings of the heart that just won’t go away or be ignored. It gnaws away at you, causing you to lose sleep, retreat from life and become overwhelmed with disordered and anxious thoughts. In scripture, we see this kind of anxiety expressed by a woman named Hannah.

1 Samuel chapter 1 recounts the story of Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah. Already in the 2nd verse of the entire book, the reason for Hannah’s distress is made clear:

“He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”

In those times, there was no such thing as a life insurance policy. If a woman was widowed, oftentimes her husband’s wealth and property was claimed by the nearest male relative, starting with his sons. In a situation like Hannah’s, Peninnah’s sons would inherit everything and would be obligated to take their mother in and care for her, while Hannah would most likely be cut out and forced to beg or starve. On top of that, childlessness was seen as a curse from God, while having many children was seen as God’s favor. On top of her financial security issue, Hannah would also face the ridicule of her community and neighbors, only to have Peninnah openly mock her to her face. Despite all of this, Elkanah favored Hannah and tried to ease her difficulty.

1 Samuel 1, starting in verse 3:

Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

If you have struggled with anxiety, you have probably had similar conversations with well-meaning loved ones. They want to help, they’re trying to be understanding, but there’s just a disconnect going on. On the other hand, I’m sure you’ve also experienced your fair share of ridicule, as well. Unfortunately, these are all too common experiences throughout our lives, whether we are dealing with anxiety issues or not. When anxiety does start to set in, that is when we will begin to interpret the rest of our daily lives through the lens of this overwhelming area of brokenness.

For Hannah, all of these years of pain finally came to a head one year after they had made their sacrifices in Shiloh. Starting now in verse 10:

She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lordof hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”

As painful as all of her experiences had been up to that point, imagine being in Hannah’s position, pouring your heart out to God in the midst of your distress and the priest tries to kick you out because you were such a mess that he assumed you were drunk. Sadly, even today, many pastors and church leaders don’t always handle these situations very well. Some people have been made to feel like they were a burden by the very ones called to shepherd them.

This is the point where most people would throw in the towel. Offense is taken and they leave worse off than they were when they came. Anxiety will cause us to frame a situation like this with thoughts like, “You never should have come here – What did you think was going to happen? - No one is listening to your prayers – Maybe God is just as sick of you as everyone else is.” To rephrase Pat Benatar, the mind is a battlefield. If we’re not on guard, a moment like this can be twisted to reaffirm all of our greatest fears and bury us deeper into our anxious spiral. Hannah surely faced a similar choice to either succumb to anxiety or to press forward through the pain. Instead of allowing the misunderstanding of Eli to cause offense and drive her away, she forged ahead and laid it all on the table. She took a risk, choosing to place her trust completely in the goodness of God even when everyone around her, even the chief priest, seemed to be against her, and what happened next?

Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

Hannah brought her anxieties and all of the pain of her unmet expectations and laid them bare at the feet of God. This is exactly what He wants us to do. “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” - Psalm 55:22. 1 Peter chapter 5 goes even deeper.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Now, it’s likely that if you’ve heard that verse before, but listen closely to the context with what is written next.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

The context of “cast your anxieties” onto Jesus because He cares for you is directly connected to the attacks of the enemy as the devil prowls around like a lion seeking to destroy us. This attack is an attack in our minds and the defense we have, the protection we can run to, is found in bringing those anxious thoughts and throwing them on the back of Jesus. He is strong where we are not, and by the Holy Spirit, we can be strengthened to walk through the difficulties we face. Not every one of our anxieties will have the outcome we were hoping for like Hannah’s, but we are promised that He will work all things out for our good and for His glory.

We sincerely hope that this month’s series has been helpful, encouraging, and maybe even a little bit challenging but in a good way. Let us know what you think or any questions you might have in the comments section below!