Each meeting covers one lesson. The passage, questions and notes are all on the lesson page, and group members can print their own copy.
Leaders need only this guide: first the flow that is the same every time, then the focus points and tips for each lesson.
A lesson takes about an hour. Meet weekly or every other week — whatever fits your group.
Each Meetingabout 55 min
Snacks and catching up
10 min
Read together
10 min
Discussion
25 min
This week
5 min
Close (prayer optional)
5 min
Opening: Start with last time’s ‘This week’: ‘Did you do it? How did it go?’ For the first lesson, ask everyone to say in one sentence why they want to read about this person. The leader goes first.
Read together: Take turns reading the passage, a few verses each. The leader reads the short notes between sections.
Discussion: You don’t need to discuss every question in ‘Think It Through.’ Pick one or two from each group, add this lesson’s focus points, and that is plenty.
This week: Read it together, and ask each person to decide on the one small thing they will do this week.
Close: You can pray using a verse from the lesson. If some aren’t used to praying aloud, a minute of silence together is fine too.
Focus 1 (vv. 6–8): Provoked year after year, weeping year after year, and her husband asks, “Am I not better to you than ten sons?” Ask the group: reading this, what do you understand most about Hannah?
Focus 2 (vv. 13–16): Eli thought she was drunk, and she answered, “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit … I poured out my soul before the LORD.” Ask the group: when you are misunderstood, what makes it hard to answer plainly?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person brings one thing that weighs on them to God. Next time, anyone who wants to can say what it was like to pray that way.
Leader tip: There may be people in the group going through infertility or miscarriage, or who have lost a child. Don’t turn this lesson into ‘Pray like Hannah and you will have a child’ — the lesson stops at verse 18, and the passage has not yet said that God answered her. Read “the LORD had shut up her womb” (v. 5) as written; don’t explain it as a punishment or a test — the passage gives no reason. With Peninnah and Elkanah, look only at what the passage says they said and did; don’t analyze their characters, and don’t discuss polygamy. Don’t turn Hannah’s vow into a bargain with God. “Her facial expression wasn’t sad any more” (v. 18) comes before she conceived; just point out that order, and don’t turn it into ‘Hand it over and you won’t be sad any more.’ Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 19–20): Hannah asked God to “remember me, and not forget your servant” (v. 11), and the passage says, “the LORD remembered her” (v. 19). Ask the group: reading these two lines together, what comes to mind?
Focus 2 (vv. 26–28): “I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD.” Ask the group: Hannah is back in the same place. How is what she says this time different from last time?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person writes down one thing they asked for and later received. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: In this lesson God answers Hannah, and there may be people in the group who are still waiting, or who did not receive what they asked for. Don’t turn it into ‘Just pray more and you will have it’ — the passage records that God answered Hannah; it is not a promise to everyone. Someone may answer question 9 with ‘No’; don’t press. Explain Samuel’s name only by Hannah’s own words in verse 20, with no word study. Don’t turn the giving of Samuel into ‘Every mother should give her child to God,’ and don’t fill in Hannah’s feelings at the parting — the passage does not record them. Read “He worshiped the LORD there” (v. 28) as written; there is no need to discuss who ‘He’ is. In verse 23, “may the LORD establish his word” — the passage does not say which word; no need to explain it. Don’t turn the vow into ‘Make a vow first, and God will answer.’
Focus 1 (vv. 1–2): “My heart exults in the LORD!” Point out to the group that the whole prayer never mentions Samuel by name; all of it is about the LORD. What comes to mind as you notice this?
Focus 2 (v. 8): “He raises up the poor out of the dust.” Ask the group: when have you known God to be this kind of God?
Focus 3 (This week): Each person writes one line of prayer beginning with “My heart exults in the LORD!”; next time, anyone who wants to can read theirs aloud.
Leader tip: Don’t make this a lesson on prophecy. “exalt the horn of his anointed” (v. 10) is only set side by side with other passages in Pointing to Christ; don’t say Hannah saw the Messiah. “Yes, the barren has borne seven” (v. 5) is Hannah saying how the LORD works; don’t match it against the children she later bore (v. 21). Read “The LORD visited Hannah” (v. 21) as written; don’t turn it into ‘Give, and you will get more.’ There may be people in the group still waiting, or who did not receive what they asked for; don’t press on questions 9 and 10 — only those who want to share need to. Verses 12–17, about Eli’s two sons, are not read in this lesson; no need to go into them.
Principles
The leader is not a teacher, but someone walking alongside everyone else.
Give everyone a chance to speak. If some talk a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s hear from those who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If there is silence, wait a few more seconds.
If you can’t answer a question, it’s fine to say, ‘I don’t know — let’s look into it together,’ and come back to it next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the start, the leader can share their own answer first. Keep it simple and honest.
In the lessons, words in double quotes with a reference are scripture. What the passage does not say, we can only guess; guessing is fine, as long as we say we are guessing.
Don’t press on painful things. If someone becomes upset, stay with them after the meeting; if needed, involve a pastor from their church or a professional counselor.