A weeping God did not despise
Hannah at the Altar
Year after year Hannah went up to the house of the Lord childless and provoked, and one year she wept so hard at the altar that the priest thought she was drunk. Hers are the tears of long, aching, unanswered longing poured out before God. And God remembered her.
“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.”1 Samuel 1:10
The tears
The heading is: The tears. Hannah was one of two wives, and the Lord had shut up her womb (1 Samuel 1:5-6). Her rival provoked her sore, for to make her fret, year by year, and she wept, and did not eat (1 Samuel 1:7). Even her husband's love could not fill the empty place; when he asked, am not I better to thee than ten sons? the ache remained. So she rose and went to the temple, and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore (1 Samuel 1:10). She prayed silently, only her lips moving, pouring out a grief too deep and too private for words others could hear. Eli the priest saw her mouth moving and no voice coming, and mistook her sorrow for drunkenness. She answered, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit... I have poured out my soul before the LORD... out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken (1 Samuel 1:15-16). Here is prayer at its most honest: not composed, not tidy, but a soul emptied out before God in tears.
What God did with them
The heading is: What God did with them. Eli, once he understood, blessed her: Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him (1 Samuel 1:17). And Scripture records the turn with beautiful simplicity: the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad (1 Samuel 1:18). Something changed before any answer came; she left her burden with God and her face lifted. Then in time the Lord remembered her, and she bore a son and called him Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD (1 Samuel 1:20). Her weeping turned to one of the great songs of Scripture: My heart rejoiceth in the LORD... there is none holy as the LORD (1 Samuel 2:1-2). We should be honest that not every barren woman in Scripture received a child, and not every long grief is answered as Hannah's was. But her story shows a God who is not annoyed by our weeping, who remembers, and who is near to the poured-out soul whether or not the answer comes as we hoped.
How it points to Christ
The heading is: How it points to Christ. Hannah's tabernacle tears anticipate the Savior who invites us to cast every care upon Him. Jesus, the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3), knows what it is to pour out the soul; in the garden He prayed in agony until His sweat was as great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Because He entered our griefs, He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15), and He never mistakes our tears for weakness or drunkenness as Eli did. Hannah's son Samuel would anoint kings, but her deeper song looked ahead to the King anointed above all, for she sang that the Lord shall exalt the horn of his anointed (1 Samuel 2:10). And the longing beneath all barrenness and grief finds its rest in the day when God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Revelation 21:4), when every empty place is filled and every honest prayer is answered in His presence.
Questions people ask
Was Hannah wrong to weep instead of trusting quietly?
No. Her weeping was itself an act of faith, for she brought her grief to the Lord rather than away from Him. Prayer poured out in tears is honored in Scripture, not rebuked; Eli blessed her once he understood.
Her face changed before Samuel was born. Why?
She left her burden with God and received Eli's blessing, and her countenance was no more sad (1 Samuel 1:18). Peace came from entrusting the grief to God, before any visible answer. That peace is available even when the answer tarries or never comes as we hoped.
Does God always answer such prayers with what we ask?
Not always in this life. Scripture is honest that many faithful people carried unanswered longings to the grave. Hannah's story shows God's nearness and His power to remember, not a guarantee of our desired outcome; our final comfort is His presence and the day He wipes every tear away.