While we must be careful about foisting modern-day medical diagnoses onto ancient people, one adjective that seems to capture Hannah’s spirit in this passage is depressed. She cries and refuses to eat (v.7). She is downhearted (v.8). She is deeply troubled, pouring her soul out to the Lord (v.15). She prays out of great anguish and grief (v.16). All of this went on for years (v.7). Hannah was barren in a culture where fertility was seen as a sign of God’s blessing. To add insult to injury, her rival would not let her forget this fact. Where was God in all of this? Had he forgotten her entirely?

While depression never crowds out God’s love (nothing can do that; see Rom. 8:38-39), it does crowd out our awareness of God’s love. The Psalmist captures this feeling well in Psalm 77:7-8. “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time?” If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all asked that question at some point.

In the midst of her anguish, Hannah cried out to the Lord. He heard her prayer, and he responded―not with easy answers, but with his presence. In a broken world where we daily experience the effects of the Fall, only Jesus is strong enough to bear the heaviness that weighs down our hearts: “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering” (Isa. 53:4a). So we can bring our burdens to him, because, counterintuitively, it is in our weakest moments when God shows up strongest.

Reflection Questions

1. What challenges you about Hannah’s story? What encourages you?

2. Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Who is this passage about? How is Jesus described?

3. How would you walk alongside someone struggling with depression?