God Remembers!

             When I consider the life of Hannah, I picture a woman of deep sorrow.  Like many women who are unable to bear children, she wept because her anguish was so great.  Much like Job in his suffering, she had become “bitter in her soul” (I Samuel 1: 10).

            Out of her great sorrow and grief (1: 16), she prayed to the Lord.  Her prayer was so fervent in her spirit that the High Priest thought she must be drunk.  She had not been drinking, but she was “pouring out her soul to the Lord” (1:15).  If you have ever had a time of intense emotional pain and suffering, then you know exactly what it feels like to “pour out your soul”.  It is a gut-wrenching emotion as you recognize that you have nowhere else to turn but to the Lord.  That was Hannah’s prayer. 

            As her prayer is recorded in I Samuel, there is one phrase that stands out.  “O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me and not forget your servant” (I Samuel 1: 11 NIV84, emphasis added).  Is she implying that the God of the Universe, Creator of all things, and Giver of Life is forgetful?  Does she think that God has forgotten who she is and must be reminded of her problem?  Although we’ve all probably had a similar thought at one time or another, I doubt that Hannah thought that God had forgotten her.

            Hannah was not bearing her soul to an unknown God.  She was pouring out her sorrow to the God whom she had worshipped faithfully.  At that moment, she was the broken child seeking the help of a loving Father.  She knew there was no one else who could give her peace. She knew that God knew her and her pain, but she was begging Him to respond to that pain by giving her a son.

            God’s “remembrance” is an indication that He is about to act.  In Genesis 8, Noah and his family had been in the ark for 150 days when God “remembered” him and then the waters began to recede (Genesis 8: 1).  Later, when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and cried out for help, God “remembered” His covenant with their ancestors and put His plan of deliverance into motion (Exodus 2: 14 & 3: 1 – 10). 

            God welcomes our cries for remembrance just as He did Hannah’s request.  Soon after her prayer, the Scripture says that “the Lord remembered her” (1: 19), and she conceived.  He knew exactly what she needed and when.  He didn’t need to be reminded, but He still welcomed her acknowledgment of dependence on Him.

            Our God does not forget.  He knows each of us by name and even has our names inscribed on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16).  He has counted the hairs of our heads (Matthew 10: 30).  He knows what we need before we ever ask (Matthew 6: 8), but He still wants us to ask.  He wants us to pour out our burdens to Him just as Hannah did.  He wants us to acknowledge our need for Him.  He not only remembers every skinned knee and tear that we cry, but He also longs to dry those tears and bind up those wounds.  The answer may not always be what we want because only He knows what is best, but until we are willing to admit our dependence on Him, we’ll never know what He has planned for us.  He “remembers” but He wants us to ask!

I Samuel 1

Matthew 6: 8