What Hannah Teaches Women Still Waiting

By Summer Martin

Waiting is sometimes never a fun season. We live in a world that gives us instant gratification. Streaming services, social media, food service delivery. And when we have to wait an extra 5 minutes for our moment of dopamine we get angry. If you are a woman who is still waiting on a certain prayer to be answered, there is a unique kind of ache that comes from that. 

Waiting for: 

-a husband

-a positive pregnancy test

-healing

-reconciliation

-answers

You’re just waiting for the prayer to be answered. Sometimes it feels as if it will never come, other times you embrace the fact that the best blessings come in God’s timing, and His timing is always just right. 

Any of you who have spent any length of time waiting, you know that it isn’t simply just waiting on the prayer you are waiting for. Waiting itself has a way of exposing our hearts, and what we believe about God when He seems silent. It yanks back the covers of our fears, our expectations, and sometimes even our idols. There are women in the Scripture who endured a waiting period, but the one who stands out for me right now is Hannah. 

Hannah’s Story Was More Than Infertility

When you bring up the story of Hannah, most people think about her infertility, and the priest thinking she was drunk as she was crying her heart out in prayer to God. 

Prior to finding her there on her knees crying to God with words that weren’t even audible, she endured disappointment. She watched others experience what she longed for. She carried grief and hope into the presence of God. 

And to make it even more painful for her, Peninnah mocked her. 1 Samuel 1:6 states that Peninnah “provoked her grievously to irritate her” because the Lord had closed her womb. Her pain wasn’t private. It was visible for those around her to see, and it followed her into worship. 

I know several women who feel this pain all too well today. They may not be mocked, but the questions “When are you having kids?” or “Why aren’t ya’ll pregnant yet?” are still sometimes some of the most grievous questions that they could be asked. 

Perhaps you are one of these women who are longing for children while pregnancy announcements fill your social media feed. Or you have longed for a godly husband while attending yet another wedding. Perhaps you are a woman who is longing for restoration in your marriage while you see all these people with seemingly perfect marriages while everyone assumes yours is too.  The details of your longing may differ, but the ache of waiting is familiar. 

Hannah Took Her Pain to the Right Place

One of the most beautiful pieces of Hannah’s story is not simply that she prayed, it is where she ran with her pain. She didn’t bottle it up. She didn’t pretend that everything was perfect and okay. She didn’t allow bitterness to become her identity. She poured her soul out before the Lord. Scripture tells us that she prayed “in bitterness of soul” and “wept bitterly” (1 Samuel 1:10). God is not intimidated by honest prayers. 

Too often we think we must clean ourselves up before coming to Him, but Hannah reminds us that our deepest grief is welcomed in His presence. He knows our hearts, He is the one who knit us together in our mother’s womb. He invites us to bring them to Him anyway. Waiting is not a reason to withdraw from God. It is always an invitation to draw nearer. 

Waiting Doesn’t Mean God Has Forgotten You

During times like this the enemy loves to prowl, to feed on discouragement. His desire is to make you question God’s promises and love. “If God loved you, he would have answered by now”. 

Get behind me Satan. 

Scripture tells a different story. God had not forgotten Hannah. His silence did not mean absence. His delay was never neglect. God waited for His perfect timing. We may not be able to see God’s plan, just as Hannah was unable to see what God was doing, yet God was faithfully working according to His perfect wisdom for Hannah. And He is doing the same for you and me. 

Praise God! That truth is just as comforting today as it was then. Whether you have been waiting months or years, your Father has not misplaced your prayers. He has not forgotten your name. He has counted every tear. He has never stopped being good and holy simply because His answer hasn’t arrived yet. 

Beware of Letting Waiting Define You

It’s easy for us to get lost in the waiting. In an identify we let be defined by our deepest longing. The infertile woman. The single woman. The woman whose marriage is struggling. The woman who seems to never have answers to her prayers. But our identity is never found in the emptiness we feel. Before you are a wife, mother, grandmother, empty nester, or a woman still waiting, You belong to Christ. The latter half of Isaiah 43:1 says “Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine”. 

Your identity remains resting securely in Him. Your circumstances may change. Christ does not. 

God’s Answer Was Bigger Than Hannah Could See

God did bless Hannah, and gave her a son with the birth of Samuel. She loved him so much she dedicated him to the Lord, and gave him to the Lord. It wasn’t just a fulfillment of her prayer and dream. Samuel became one of Israel’s greatest prophets anointing both Saul and David, both of which played a significant role in God’s redemptive story. 

Hannah saw the child she longed for. 

God saw generations to come. 

While we should not assume that every earthly longing will be fulfilled exactly as we hope, Hannah’s story proves to remind us that God’s purposes are always larger than what our mere perspective could contain. You see God always answers prayers. Sometimes His “yes” comes differently than expected. Sometimes His “wait” lasts longer than we imagined or wanted. 

And sometimes His answer is “no”. Yet every answer flows from the same sovereign God. 

Waiting Is Never Wasted

Perhaps you are like me, still waiting. Your prayers have seemingly remained unanswered. You wonder if anyone understands, or even if they care. Take heart. The same God who heard Hannah, hears you. The same God who sustained her through years of disappointment is able to sustain you through your own disappointment. He is the same God who has remained faithful when we are faithless. 

I know that waiting is rarely enjoyable, but God uses it as one of His greatest classrooms. He teaches us dependence on Him during these times. Our faith is deepened. We are conformed into the image of Christ. The waiting itself is not the goal, but it is part of the sanctification process, and knowing the God who walks with you through it is the goal.

Final Encouragement

If your heart is weary in this season of waiting, please don’t lose hope. Keep praying, keep trusting, and keep bringing your honest heart to the Lord, and be vulnerable because He already knows. Your story may not unfold exactly as Hannah’s did, but the sovereign God of the Universe who held Hannah through years of waiting, is the same God who holds you today. He sees every tear, and hears every prayer. And He is faithful—even while we wait.