The God Who Sees Hannah
Over the next several weeks we are going to look at how God acts as El Roi, The God Who Sees, through four different biblical mommas who experienced grief and sorrow. We will look at the lives of Hagar, Hannah, Naomi and Mary and see for ourselves how God was faithful to meet them in their pain and sorrow. As we study the testimonies of these four Biblical women, our prayer is that you would know in the depths of your heart that you are seen and heard, that you would feel loved and known.
Hannah is a momma that my heart resonates with. While the cultural specifics of her story are a bit different, I empathize with many of the emotions she grappled with. 1 Samuel says that while she was loved very much by her husband, Hannah’s inability to have children weighed heavily on her.
I don’t know that much has changed thousands of years later. God has placed an innate desire in our hearts to carry children and raise babies with the men that we love. Like Hannah, often we are told, “No.” We are asked to wait. We experience loss and grief so heavy that some days we feel crippled. Throughout Hannah’s waiting, God saw her heavy heart. He heard her prayers.
I cannot expect others to suppress their joy simply because I am wading through the trenches of my sorrow. Somedays I feel as though it’s impossible to escape all things baby. Perhaps its a friend’s new pregnancy, a gender reveal on Facebook, or mistakenly finding myself in the newborn department of Target. Often, I feel as though my heart is being intentionally provoked. Hannah’s husband had two wives. Peninnah, his second wife, had many children and took satisfaction in provoking Hannah over her bareness. Hannah wept and was unable to eat (1 Sam 2:6). The tears that Hannah cried have also been my tears. Perhaps they have been your tears too. When tempted to wallow over the insensitivity of life, we can rest in the knowledge of God as El Roi, the God who sees. No sting of bitterness or provoking goes unseen. When life seems to be spinning madly on without us, El Roi grieves too.
What I love about Hannah’s motherhood journey is that in her anguish and grief, she remained vulnerable. Hannah leaned into her sorrow and was not ashamed of her sadness or her longing for a child. She remained hopeful through steadfast prayer and faith, trusting that God had never left her. 1 Samuel says that Eli, the priest, mistook her grieving prayers for drunkenness. There must have been times that Hannah felt utterly alone. Even her husband wasn’t able to comprehend the sorrow. As I have grieved the lives of my babies, I have found that El Roi is the only one who can walk with me unfaltering. The love and support of friends and family has indeed been a gift, but God is the only one capable of journeying with me in my sorrow to the depth that my heart needs.
What are some tangible ways that you’ve felt God act as El Roi, the God Who Sees, along your journey of motherhood? Share with us in the comments below.
- Brittany
Hope Mom to five precious babies
Brittany and her husband, Jeremy live in Colorado with their three children Mackenzie, Levi, and Evelyn, their Black Lab Boston and a menagerie of bunnies! They have two Hope Babies, Finley Sky and Asher Simeon. Brittany is passionate about encouraging women to live authentically and abundantly. She is a writer at www.littlemountainmomma.com where she shares openly about her journey through postpartum depression and her experiences of pregnancy loss.
Photo credit: Pix-Elated Photography
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