" ... But Her Voice Was Not Heard."

This is Part 4 of a 12-Part Series on Church Hurt

For the sake of simplicity, in this series, I am typically going to refer to any place of worship as a "church" and any type of leader as a "pastor" and/or "priest".

"Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, 'Lord Almighty, if You will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget Your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.' As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, 'How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.'" - 1 Samuel 1:9-14

In the church, Hannah had no voice. Quite literally in that moment, but also quite figuratively. And Eli seemed to be completely oblivious to the pain and grief she had been experiencing for years.

Now, in addition to becoming a place of sadness, grief, and disconnect, church had also become a place of judgment, ridicule, and criticism - because Hannah didn't handle her grief and disappointment the way others expected her to. Hannah didn't pray or worship the way everyone else prayed and worshipped. Their traditions and religion conflicted with her relationship with God! They had a "religion"; she had a "relationship". She did things differently - and the immediate assumption was that, obviously, she had to be the problem.

In the literal sense, this situation reminds me of praying in tongues or "praying in the Spirit", but instead of hearing audible words that only the Spirit understood, no one but God could audibly hear any of Hannah's words at all.

Metaphorically, though, it goes way beyond that; in the church, her "voice" - her ability to express herself - had been silenced.

I think it would be very easy to miss the even deeper implications here: the double standard and the hypocrisy that was occurring. Hannah wasn't doing anything wrong; in fact, she was doing everything right! She was going to church, worshipping and praying wholeheartedly, being respectful of the leadership even though it was corrupt. Yet Eli didn't hesitate to call out any behavior on her part that he viewed as out of line and even to call it out publicly! He seemed to have no problem addressing it and potentially holding her accountable for it.

Meanwhile, the church leadership was doing things that were genuinely "wicked"! ... And it was repeatedly going unaddressed - not only were they failing to address it, especially not publicly, but they were inadvertently enabling it by failing to hold anyone accountable for it!

If we really pause to think about it, the hypocrisy is deafening.

Yet Hannah still does the "right" thing. She treats Eli with respect, and acknowledges his position and authority, despite the unfairness of it all (1 Samuel 1:15-16):

"'Not so, my lord,' Hannah replied,

Note the lower case "lord", as opposed to the upper case "Lord"; Hannah is addressing Eli with respect for his position, despite his personal shortcomings.

'I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.

Notice the upper case "Lord" ... Hannah is distinguishing the difference between Eli, the very human and very fallible priest, and God.

More on the critical importance of the distinction between the two in a future post!

© I Lift My Voice, 2025

Click Here to Read Part 5 in This 12-Part Series on Church Hurt