In this episode, I share more about how this truth has played out in my own life — and the steps you can take to make it real in yours.
God Desires Honesty, Not Polish
👉🏻 If God didn’t invite 100% honesty, the Bible would read very differently:
He would’ve required people to be a certain way before loving them.
Instead, we see example after example of God doing the opposite.
It’s not uncommon for Him to move towards those who are honestly seeking Him, regardless of their circumstances.
🧕🏻 Take Hannah, for example (1 Samuel Chapter 1).
Hannah was married to Elkanah. He also had another wife, Peninnah.
Peninnah had given birth to children, but Hannah had not.
1 Samuel 1:6-8 (NLT): So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. 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. “Why are you crying, Hannah?” Elkanah would ask. “Why aren’t you eating? Why be downhearted just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons?”
👶🏻 Hannah desperately wanted a child.
😥 She was also suffering because:
She wasn’t fitting the mold she was expected to fit in. (Wives were expected to produce children.)
Of Peninnah’s torment.
And, judging by verse 8, Hannah’s husband wasn’t very empathetic.
💔 So who could Hannah pour her heart out to? God.
Verses 9-18: Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of 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. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.”
As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”
“Oh no, sir!” she replied. “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.”
“In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”
“Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.
💬 Friend, did you catch how Hannah was talking to God?
Verse 10: “Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord.”
Verses 15-16: “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.”
Hannah was being honest and raw. She wasn’t worried about perfection or remaining silent.
Hannah was likely thinking something like: This is where I am at the moment. My heart longs for a child, yet nothing has happened over the years. My husband’s other wife is tormenting me. My husband isn’t being sympathetic or truly seeing my pain. Society doesn’t like that I’m not fitting into the expectant mold. And so I’m going to approach God as I am right now and pour out my heart honestly without worrying about what people think.
❤️🔥 And how did God react?
Verses 19-20: The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more. Then 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.”
Friend, God “remembered her plea.”
👉🏻 He wasn’t repelled by her raw honesty. He didn’t ignore her. He didn’t disqualify her because she wasn’t meeting a certain standard. He didn’t tell her to be happy with her smaller role or to be silent.
God was moved by her honesty. And what’s more, He honored it by giving her a son.
Verses 25-28:, “After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. 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.
God gave Hannah a son, and she kept her promise by giving him back to God through service.
But God didn’t stop there.
In 1 Samuel 2:20-21 (NLT) we read: Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.” And the Lord blessed Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
💖 God went on to bless her with five more children, ushering her into her true calling. In a way only He could.
God honored her honesty and who He created Hannah to be, never once making her feel less than.
Instead, He raised her to new heights.
Friend, God doesn’t want you to be someone else.
Nor does He want you to be some polished version of yourself before approaching Him.
He loves you so much, He just wants you. Real, honest, and imperfect.
He’ll handle the rest!
