Objection: Asked and Answered

[Hannah] was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. – 1 Samuel 1:10 (NRSV) 

Have you ever sat for cross-examination? If you haven’t, I pray it stays that way. Regardless, you can imagine the scene: Opposing counsel keeps asking the same question in different ways, trying to find a crack or make one, hoping you’ll stumble. 

In my own court experience, one of my favorite rescue phrases my lawyers offered is, “Asked and answered.” 

Hannah needed rescuing. 

She’d been tormented in her own household. Her husband’s other wife knew exactly what bruise to press, which wounds to reopen. And with every new baby in that household, it felt like another indictment against Hannah, another public argument she’d failed. 

Desperation has to go somewhere. So Hannah got up and took her tears to God’s house. 

At Shiloh, she did her business with God in bitter, poured-out, can’t-even-eat prayer. And while Eli misunderstood her, God did not. God heard her quite clearly. 

The Bible gives us a lot of so-called “barren” women: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth. The world looked at them and saw emptiness; nothing to see here. But that empty space is exactly where God loves to dwell. 

So when you read “barren,” don’t you dare read “finished.” Read: “about to be surprised.” 

Hannah walked into Shiloh weeping. She walked out changed. The full song came later, but the answer had already begun. 

When the loud voices keep asking the same questions about your worth, your future, your grief, your God, don’t you let them trip you up. 

Because God objects. 

You’ve asked, and God’s answered to completion. 

Prayer
God Who Hears, meet me in the place where I am tired of explaining myself. Receive what I pour out. Answer me with peace before I can even see the promise. Amen.

About the Author
Kaji Douša is the Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City.