The doctor’s words dashed our dreams and drove us to despair. “You’ll never be able to have children.” What followed was years of pleading with God to overturn the doctor’s prediction… and years of God’s silence. I identified with Hannah, the barren first wife of Elkanah (1 Samuel 1), who also heard the deafening sound of God’s silence.

Who Was Hannah?

1 Samuel begins with Elkanah’s genealogy, the primary source of his honor. When we meet Hannah in the second verse, we discover the primary source of her shame. Although she was Elkanah’s first wife, he married a second wife (Peninnah), probably because Hannah gave him no children. A woman in her culture could carry no greater shame. Hannah had failed to fulfill her reason for existence—to provide her husband with a son. Society viewed her as cursed by God. No one understood her pain. Not Elkanah, who thought his love for her should override her heart’s desire for a son. Not Peninnah, who taunted Hannah with her higher honor, insinuating Hannah’s God lacked either the desire or power to solve her problem. Not even God, whose silence filled her heart with anguish.

How Hannah Responded to God’s Silence

Desperate, Hannah broke away from the sacrificial meal during one of the family’s annual trips to Shiloh. She fled to the tabernacle, where she poured out her pain to God in prayer. As she wept, she promised God if he would give her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord. When the priest discovered she was distressed rather than drunk, he spoke a blessing over her:

Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.

1 Samuel 1:17

Notice, Eli didn’t promise God would grant her request. Nevertheless, “[Hannah] went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” (1 Samuel 1:18) Why? She found relief in surrendering her burden to the Lord. He would do what was best. Hannah trusted him even when she saw no evidence of his answer. Rather than assuring her he would give her what she asked, God gave himself. His presence gave Hannah peace. And by feast time the next year, she also had a son she named Samuel.

Why Is God Silent?

Why did Hannah experience God’s silence? Why do we? Five possibilities:

1. Secret sin: Sometimes we’re the reason God doesn’t answer our prayers. We don’t know whether this was true of Hannah, but it’s sometimes true of us. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalm 66:18) 
2. Wrong motives: Perhaps God waited to answer Hannah’s prayers until she surrendered control. Not until I wanted God’s will more than a baby did he give us one. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)
3. Refusal to hear: There’s no sign Hannah refused to see or hear God’s message, but what about us? Do we refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear? “They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.” (Ezekiel 12:2)
4. Wrong timing or circumstances: Just as God sent Jesus when the time was right, he also sent Samuel at the right time. During the wait, he was preparing Hannah and the nation of Israel, since Hannah’s barrenness mirrored Israel’s. He often does his best work when we can’t see that he’s doing anything. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son…” (Galatians 4:4, ESV) 
5. New knowledge: God’s delay allowed Hannah to discover his power as he enabled her, a barren woman, to bear a son. “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40)  

What Should We Do with the Silence of God?

Is God silent because he’s listening for something in us—an openness to a new work of the Spirit, perhaps? What God does in us while we wait is as important as what we’re waiting for. In an honor/shame culture, silence is as important as the spoken word. God is always speaking, even in his silence. What is he saying to you in his silence?

The version used is NIV unless otherwise noted.