Promises To God: Do You Keep Yours?

Have you ever told God, “If you do this for me, I’ll do that for you,” then realized the promise feels impossible once the blessing arrives? That tension sits at the heart of this conversation as we walk through 1 Samuel 1 and the story of Hannah, a woman who carries grief, endures ridicule, and still chooses to worship. Her prayer is so raw and quiet that Eli mistakes her for being drunk, but what’s really happening is a soul being poured out before the Lord. 

We trace Hannah’s vow and the moment God remembers her, then we slow down at the part many of us skip: she follows through. After Samuel is born, she weans him and brings him back to the house of the Lord, keeping the commitment she made when she was desperate. Along the way, we talk about the promises we make in prayer, why unanswered prayer can dim worship, and how spiritual maturity looks like serving and showing up even when we feel disappointed or forgotten. 

You’ll hear encouragement for your own “Hannah season” and practical language for surrender: praying according to God’s will, trusting God’s timing, and learning to accept whatever the answer is. Yes, no, or wait, we come back to one steady confession: it is well. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s waiting on God, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you’re holding onto today.

My prayer is that you will be reminded that God isn’t withholding His best for you. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Focus

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Hi my friends, welcome back to another Position for Purpose Conversations. I'm your host, Khalette Marie. On today's episode, I want to share with you the lessons I learned from the book of 1st Samuel. My focus today will be on 1 Samuel chapter 1. If you listened to the episode last week, you would have heard me talk about going back on going on this sabbatical and just the journey of being still before God, surrendering and submitting my life and my plans and everything just to be able to hear his voices, his whispers. And out of that, he sent me to read the book of 1 Samuel. I read it the first time. And when I was finished, the Holy Spirit said, read it again. And I felt compelled to share some of the lessons that I learned from reading these chapters with you. I'll be sharing some nuggets over the next few weeks. And my hope is that you will find these to be encouraging and uplifting, and it will help you in the way it helped me. Have you ever made a promise to God He kept his end and you didn't? I can say I resound in yes because I have done that. There are things that I've been praying to God for, and and I said, Lord, if you do this, then I this is what I will do. And I know I've made that. I have said that a couple of times. But what I have seen is that God kept his end of the bargain. And at the time what felt like a good trade-off for me, this thing I thought I could give up just to get the favor and the answer that I required from God. I realized that when I got what I wanted, what I should give back to God was for lack of a better word, I couldn't give it up. It was too much to give back. And so as I read 1 Samuel chapter 1, and if you're not familiar with it, I would encourage you to read it. But really, it was Hannah who was the Lord in 1 Samuel 1, it told us that, tells us that the Lord closed Hannah's womb and she would have gone up, they would have gone up to the temple to pray. And at this particular time, though no words came from her lips, her heart was petitioning God for a child, and she committed to if the Lord would give her the child, that she would give the child back to the Lord. It says, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. And she made that that declaration, that commitment to God, that if you bless me with a child, I will give him back to you. One of the things we noticed was that Eli saw her, her lips didn't move, but he assumed that she was drunk, right? He was saying to her, put away your wine from you. But here Hannah's response, she said, No, my lord, I'm a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now. Here Eli's responds to her. Hannah responded by saying, Let your maid servant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and she and and and her face was no longer sad. What I want us to focus on today is that even in the midst of Hannah's pain, because Pinina was teasing her and all of that, Hannah chose to worship God. She still chose to go to the temple, she still chose to go and petition the God of heaven for this desire that she had. Right? It noticed that it was a Lord who closed her womb. And even though she knew, I believe, that it was God who had done so, it didn't stop her for still going to her father to say, Lord, I need this from you. And we know that God is gonna grant us the desires of our heart according to his will, it's not just only out of because we have this need, but because it will bring him glory and honor, and that it is his plan for our lives. And so as she petitioned him and she went up to worship the Lord, the book, the Bible tells us that when they returned from worship, El Kana knew his wife, and the Lord remembered her. This morning, I don't know what you are faced with, right? What struggles, what, what, what, what challenges, what heartache you are going through, and you might feel forgotten by Almighty God. You may have been petitioning him, asking him, Lord, will you not open this door? Lord, will you not open my womb? Daddy, will you not bless me with this? Lord, will you not do this? And will you not do that? I have not seen a response. And sometimes in this, God will respond and give us that desire, and other times he won't. As we see here, it shouldn't stop us from worshiping God anyway. And let's be honest, right? I have done that, I have been praying for things, and after a while, I don't I don't worship God in the way that I know I should have because I'm disappointed, I'm heartbroken, I'm upset with the Lord. I said, Lord, why don't you do this and why don't you do that? And you know, I've been praying for so long, and why not? And all of that, and it dims my worship with God. But as I grew in maturity in Christ, I realized that's not, it should not hinder me. And unanswered, an unanswered prayer should not hinder me from worshiping God, from doing the things that God has called me to do. Because my heart pasture should be, Lord, even when you don't do this, I will still love you because you have the best for me. And I can tell you, even as a mature believer, it's not always easy to apply that to my life, but it's something that I try my hardest to and ask the Holy Spirit to help me. So one when Hannah conceived and she bore her son, she says, she called him Samuel, she says, because I have asked for him from the Lord. So she asked, What was the promise? The promise was that if God blessed her with a child, was that she would have given him back to the Lord. Now, as we look further into the book, it tells us that when the family went back up to worship, that Hannah stayed and determined that she would wean the child, and then I will take him that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever. And her husband said to her, Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him. Only let the Lord establish his word. Then she stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. And look here, I can't even imagine how every diamond she had to breastfeed him and just to gaze in his face, what thoughts were in her mind to say, I will have to give this child back to Almighty God. Remember, at this time, she there is no promise that Hannah would have more children. And so she determined that she would give this child back to God because it was just about him, God fulfilling a promise for her, and it was her desire to do what she has purposed in her heart to do. And when Hannah weaned him, she took him up with her, and she took three bulls and an eva flour and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. Can I tell you? Hannah worshipped the Lord there, and she said, Oh my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman. Sorry, this is what she said to Eli. I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord for this child I prayed and have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord. So they worship the Lord there. And Hannah fulfilled a promise she made to Almighty God when she committed herself to giving the child back to God if he would bless her. No, today the topic is on have you made a promise to God? He kept his part and you didn't keep yours. And it's not so that you can feel bad, right? Because I can feel bad as well. But it's to look to the God whom we go to and we ask that when we give back to him, right? When we give back to him what we have committed to him, God will bless us. And it might not always be the type of blessings that you're seeing in the physical, but it increases our faith. There is just something about, you know, when you've made a promise to God and the times when you actually kept it, how good you feel, even when you don't see God's response to your request, and you know you said, Okay, Lord, and I haven't seen your answer as yet, but you know what? I'm going to do this thing that I have committed to giving you in faith, in faith, in faith, and when God responds likewise, there is just something there is just this joy, this peace, like this overwhelming love in our hearts for Almighty God. So today I don't know if you're in a Hannah type of a situation where you're asking God to do something for you, and you're believing that He will. People around you might be saying, Oh, but she's asking the Lord for that. And I don't think that the Lord will give it to her, and you might be feeling downcast this morning. My encouragement to you is that God will grant you desires of your heart according to his will. According to his will. So if you know what the will of God is for your life, you can pray that according to his will, and God will answer in his time. It's not a guaranteed yes, right? And it's not an immediate response either, it's not always an immediate response either. So my hope is that you will continue to hold on to God as Hannah did, that you will continue to go to Bethel, you'll continue to go to Shiloh, you will continue to go to the temple, you'll continue to kneel at your bedside and you will worship Almighty God. You will show up in the places where God has called you to serve. So while you're praying, while you're petitioning the throne of Almighty God, you're showing up by serving Him and you're saying, God, let your will be done in my life. This is my desire, but let your will be done in my life. Your will is what my desire is. And Father, if it's not a yes that I'm that it's not the yes that I desire, and you say no, help me to accept the no because I know you want the absolute best for me. Admit to him that, Lord, it will not be easy to hear the no, it will not be easy to be disappointed. But I'm guaranteed that because you love me, because you want the best for me, and because you have the best for me, the answer if it is no, it is well. Help me to say it is well. Whatever my lot is, it is well. It is well. So my encouragement to you today is to be reminded that it is well. Whatever the response is to your petition, it is well. If God has granted you the request of your heart, it is well. If he says no, it is well, and if he says wait, it is well. Let us pray. Spirit of the living God, I honor you and I exalt you today. I magnify your great name because you alone are God. Father, you know my sister this morning. You know what she's petitioning you for. You see her heart, Almighty God. And I pray, Lord God, that you will minister to her today in ways, Almighty God, that she can't even comprehend. Fill her heart with your love, with your peace, with your patience, and with your joy as she waits on you, as she serves you and as she worships you. God, I pray today that you'll just have your way in her life. Bless her abundance to Almighty God, I pray. In Jesus' name. Amen and amen. See you next time on another position for purpose conversations with your host, Collect Marie. Bye.