Some answers to our prayers are not meant for us to possess. Those answers are to be given to the Lord for His use, because the answers were a miracle, not something we were able to accomplish.

Scripture tells us of a woman named Hannah who was married to a man named Elkanah. She was barren and could not have children. One of her husband’s other wives mocked and taunted her regarding her inability to bear a child.

“Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat” (I Samuel 1:7).

One year, when Elkanah’s family traveled to Shiloh to offer sacrifices and worship the Lord, Hannah slipped away to pray alone at the Tabernacle.

“Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you” (vs. 10-11).

“As she was praying, Eli the priest was watching her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. ‘Must you come here drunk?'” (vs. 12-14).

Hannah responded, “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow” (vs. 15-16).

“In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him” (vs. 17). Eli only saw Hannah’s lips moving and did not know what she was praying about.

After their time in Shiloh, “They returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.” (vs. 19-20).

Several years later, Hannah returned to speak to Eli, this time with her miracle child in hand. She said to Eli, “I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life. And they worshiped the Lord there “(vs. 27-28).

Some answers to our prayers are not meant for us to hold onto or possess as a personal treasure. We are to be given to the Lord for His use and for His glory.

We may never know their real purpose for the answered prayers until those answers have been given back to the Lord. Samuel would become one of Israel’s leading priests, something a mother with a newborn child in her arms would not consider possible. Only when we give back our blessing to the Lord will we ever come to know its ultimate purpose.