Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 112

Day 112 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read 1 Samuel 1:1-8 and reflect on Elkanah and Hannah. Through Hannah’s experience of being loved by her husband yet still carrying deep sorrow, this devotional helps women consider a tender truth in marriage and close relationships: human love is precious, but it cannot fully replace the comfort only God can give.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 112 of our reading journey. 

In marriage and close relationships, we often long to be understood, comforted, and truly seen. When someone loves us, cares for us, and tries to give us extra kindness, that is a precious gift of grace. Yet sometimes, even when we are loved, there remains a place in the heart that still hurts. Even when someone tries to comfort us, the tears may not stop. Even when the other person is doing their best, the deepest empty place within us still needs to be touched by God Himself.

Hannah was such a woman. She had a husband, Elkanah, who loved her. Scripture tells us that when he gave portions from the sacrifice, he gave Hannah a worthy portion, because he loved her. Yet Hannah had no children, and Peninnah provoked her sore, making her fret. Hannah wept and would not eat. Elkanah asked her, “Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?”

There is love in his question, but there is also human limitation. Elkanah wanted to comfort Hannah, yet he did not fully enter into the depth of her pain. Human love can accompany us, but it cannot replace God’s healing. Human care can lessen loneliness, but it cannot completely fill the deepest lack of the soul. Today’s passage invites us to bring our honest tears before God, recognizing that love in marriage is precious, but only God can become the deepest comfort of the heart.

A Minute of Grace

1 Samuel 1:1-8 brings us into the family background before Samuel’s birth. Elkanah had two wives: one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Every year, Elkanah went up to worship and sacrifice unto the Lord in Shiloh. He gave portions to Peninnah and to her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he gave a worthy portion, because he loved Hannah, though the Lord had shut up her womb.

Here we see a very real tension: Hannah was loved by her husband, yet she was deeply grieved. She received special care, yet it could not stop her tears. She was not neglected in her marriage, yet she still carried a lack that no one else could simply remove. Peninnah also provoked her year by year, making her sorrow even heavier. So Hannah wept and did not eat.

Elkanah saw Hannah’s pain and tried to comfort her. He asked, “Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?” His words show that he loved Hannah and wanted his love to be enough to comfort her. But his words also reveal that human love sometimes cannot fully understand the sorrow another person is carrying.

In marriage, this scene is not unfamiliar. Sometimes one person sincerely wants to comfort, yet the other still feels not fully understood. One person may be trying to express love, while the other still feels lonely in a deep place. This does not always mean the love is false. It means human love has limits. A husband cannot be God to his wife, and a wife cannot be God to her husband. Even the closest person cannot fully carry every lack, shame, longing, and tear hidden in another soul.

Today’s theme, “Elkanah and Hannah: Comfort and Lack,” invites us to consider a real lesson in marriage: we can be grateful for human love without making it our final comfort; we can express our needs to a spouse without asking them to carry what only God can carry; and we can learn to accompany one another tenderly while acknowledging that the deepest healing of the heart belongs to God Himself.

Whispers for the Heart

1 Elkanah loved Hannah and gave her a worthy portion, yet he could not fully remove the sorrow in her heart. Have you ever been loved in a relationship and still felt that certain parts of your pain were not understood? How does this passage help you recognize human love as a gift, but not as your final satisfaction?

2 Elkanah asked, “am not I better to thee than ten sons?” There was love in this question, but also limitation. When you try to comfort someone, have you ever unintentionally explained their pain from your own point of view? Is God inviting you to listen more deeply instead of rushing someone to stop grieving?

3 Hannah’s sorrow was not ultimately resolved by human comfort; it was brought before God. Are there pains in your life that a spouse, family member, or friend cannot fully understand? Are you willing to bring those deepest tears before God and let Him become your true comfort?

As you read 1 Samuel 1:1-8 today, do not only notice Hannah’s tears. Also notice Elkanah’s love and his limitation. May this passage help us learn in marriage and close relationships to cherish human companionship while placing our deepest hope in God.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your expectations, disappointments, misunderstandings, loneliness, and unmet longings in relationships before the Lord, and let His Word meet you there.

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🪕 Response Hymn: 

1 Samuel 1:1-8 (KJV)

1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:

2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.

4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.

6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb.

7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

8 Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought · Human Love Is Limited, God’s Comfort Is Deeper

After reading 1 Samuel 1:1-8, we see that Hannah was not unloved. Elkanah loved her, cared for her, and wanted to comfort her. Yet Hannah’s pain was not something human love could fully reach. Human love is precious, but it has boundaries. Human comfort is warm, but it cannot replace God’s healing touch in the deepest places of the heart.

As we close this page and return to our own relationships, perhaps you are learning to accept the limits of another person. Perhaps you are learning not to place every expectation on one human being. Perhaps you are learning how to accompany someone who is wounded with greater tenderness. Remember this: love in marriage is a gift, but it is not God Himself. The One who can hold the heart, heal shame, and comfort tears is the God who heard Hannah’s weeping.

May today’s Scripture remind you to give thanks for human love while bringing your deepest lack before God. Cherish the companionship around you, but let God become the true comfort of your heart. In the limits of relationships, may you not fall into despair, but meet more deeply the Lord whose mercy and tenderness have no limit.

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