God Sees Our Tears - God sees and cares about every tear that falls. Whether we receive the object of our desire or not, the promise of God’s presence is the greatest gift He gives - it will never be taken from us. Hannah shows us that engaging with God in faith requires open hands both to receive and to surrender. Through Hannah’s story of supplication and surrender we find that even tears sown in bitterness can become seeds of redemption

God sees and cares about your pain, so keep calling out and wait expectantly for His help.

"10She (Hannah) was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. 11And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

12As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. 16Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

19They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the LORD.” - 1 Samuel 1:10-20 English Standard Version

When we are in pain, it can be easy to cut ourselves off from those who care about us most — including the Lord. 

Yet Hannah, even in her heartache and disappointment over not having a child, continued to turn to God. 

First Samuel 1:19 tells us that the day after Hannah wept bitterly before Him, “the Lord remembered her.”

She had faith in His goodness and believed He would respond to her request. 

She invited God to meet her in the middle of her pain — and He did. 

Later, when she delivered her son, Hannah gave him a name born out of both the pain and redemption of her experience: Samuel, meaning “God hears.”

Seeing God’s direct answer to her prayer provided Hannah with the faith to give back to God what she desired most: her only son.

Hannah’s example shows us that engaging with God in faith requires open hands — both to receive and to surrender. 

Whether we receive the object of our desire or not, the promise of God’s presence is the greatest gift He gives, and it will never be taken from us.

God sees and cares about every tear that falls.

Through Hannah’s story of supplication and surrender, we find that even tears sown in bitterness can become seeds of redemption.

Charles Stanley

intouch.org