October 2
Verse of the Day for October 2
And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.1 Samuel 1:18 KJV
The Key of Endurance · Day 2 of 31
Reflection · 4 min read
What Hannah Said On The Way Home
Hannah goes up to the house of the Lord and prays so hard that her lips move without sound, and the priest watching her concludes she is drunk. It is worth sitting with how badly she was misread by the one man in the building whose job was to read people.
She corrects him. Not angrily — she just tells him plainly what she is doing. And Eli, to his credit, changes his mind in a single sentence and blesses her.
And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.
Read that last line slowly, because everything in it happens before anything changes. Hannah is not pregnant. She has no promise with a date on it. She has a blessing from a man who thought she was drunk ninety seconds ago.
And she eats. That detail is not decoration. She had refused food; the grief had reached her appetite, the way it does. Now she eats, and her face is different, and she goes home to the same house and the same silence she left.
Something lifted in the temple that had nothing to do with the outcome. She had said the true thing out loud to God, and the weight of carrying it alone came off her before the thing she asked for ever arrived.
The answer came later.The relief came that day.
We tend to assume the burden lifts when the situation resolves. Sometimes it lifts the moment we stop performing and say the actual thing.
Hannah went home to nothing new. She just did not go home alone with it any more.
Carry this today
What have you been too composed to say to God?
Pray
Read 1 Samuel 1:9–18
9So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD. 10And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. 11And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. 12And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. 13Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. 14And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. 15And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. 16Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. 17Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. 18And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.