The Hannah Spirit, Part 6: The Altar of Misunderstanding

There are few things more tender than bringing your brokenness to the altar.

And there are few things more painful than being misunderstood there.

Hannah finally brought her sorrow to the Lord. She didn't pour it out on Peninnah. She didn't fight flesh with flesh. She didn't turn her wound into a weapon at the table.

She came to the right place.

She poured out her soul before the Lord.

And then Eli saw her. But.....he didn't understand her.

The Bible says, “Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.” (1 Samuel 1:13)

Eli saw movement, but he misread meaning. He saw her lips, but he didn't discern her burden.  And that alone could've wounded her even deeper.

Because she wasn't drunk, she was desperate.

She wasn't being disorderly, she was grieving.

She had finally found the courage to empty her soul before God....and the priest thought she was intoxicated.

That's the altar of misunderstanding.

And this is an altar I know well.

For much of my life, I felt misunderstood and unheard. Not just disagreed with, but misread. There is a difference. I know what it feels like to have people hear words I never said, assign motives I never had, and shape me into someone I never was.

That kind of misunderstanding does something to a person. It makes you want to explain everything. It makes you feel like you have to carry proof of your own heart everywhere you go. It makes you tired from trying to be heard by people who have already decided what they think they know.

So.....when I read Hannah’s story and see her standing there, sorrowful and poured out, only to be misread by Eli, something in me understands that ache.

The altar of misunderstanding is the place where your heart is right before God, but someone else reads you wrong. It's the place where you're trying to be faithful, but someone assumes the worst. The place where you're pouring out pain, but someone mistakes it for something ugly. The place where you're already tender, and then another voice adds accusation to the ache.

Eli said unto her, “How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee.”
1 Samuel 1:14

I don't know what your feelings are on this, but that was not just a small misunderstanding. It was an accusation.

Hannah could have responded from the hurt.

She could have said, “You're supposed to be the priest. How do you not know the difference between drunkenness and travail!?”

She could've left offended. She could've shut down.

She could've decided that if the spiritual authority in the room couldn't understand her, then maybe there was no safe place for her sorrow after all.

But.....she didn't do that. 

She answered with clarity and humility.

“And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.”
1 Samuel 1:15

She didn't accept the false label. But she also didn't lose herself answering it.
“No, my lord.” You can see both correction and restraint in her response.

She didn't say, “You are right.” or let the accusation pull her into dishonor.

She simply told the truth. “I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.” There is something about being able to correct a lie without becoming consumed by it.

Hannah knew what she wasn't.....but she also knew what she was. She wasn't drunk, wicked, or out of control.  She was sorrowful, wounded, and poured out. And sometimes that is all we can do when we are misunderstood. We tell the truth without handing our peace to the misunderstanding. We refuse the false label without letting bitterness write our answer.

We say, “No, that is not who I am.” Then we bring our soul back under the covering of God.

Hannah continued, “I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.” (1 Samuel 1:15)

There it is again......POURED OUT..

Hannah knew exactly what she was doing, even if Eli didn't. Misunderstanding can make you question your own posture if you are not rooted!

When people misread you, mischaracterize you, or assign motives you never had, it can shake something inside you. You can start replaying everything. Did I say it wrong? Did I do something wrong? Should I have hidden it better? Should I have stayed silent? Should I have never brought it up? Is there something wrong with me?

Hannah didn't let Eli’s misunderstanding redefine her altar. She knew she'd been pouring her soul before the Lord. And God knew too! 

I think it's important to remember that.  Being misunderstood doesn't mean we were wrong to bring our pain to God. Being misread doesn't mean our prayer was impure.
Being falsely labeled doesn't mean the label is true.

Sometimes......people simply don't have the discernment, desire, context, tenderness, or spiritual sight to rightly understand what they're seeing.

That doesn't make your altar invalid.

It just means man can misread what heaven receives.

Hannah then said, “Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.” (1 Samuel 1:16)

She was honest. She had complaint, she had an abundance of grief. Not a tiny ache and not just a mild inconvenience. An abundance!  And yet she brought that abundance to God.

THAT is the Hannah spirit.

A woman who knows the truth of what she's poured before God, even when others misunderstand the pouring.

Please hear me.... there may be times when people misread your tears. They may misread your silence, your passion, your restraint, your grief. They may even misread your obedience. They may see one small outward piece and build an entire wrong story around it. 

But this altar teaches us that we don't have to become frantic trying to prove the truth to everyone who misreads you. Sometimes we simply need to answer with clarity, refuse the false label, and keep our soul before the Lord.

Hannah didn't give Eli a full history of what Peninnah had done to her. She didn't explain every year of grief or build a case file. She didn't drag the whole household into the temple and demand that everyone advocate for her. 

She said what was true. 

“I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.” 

“I have poured out my soul before the LORD.”

“Out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken.”

That was enough.

Eli answered and said, “Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.” (1 Samuel 1:17)

The same man who first misread her ended up blessing her. That is something, isn't it?

It reminds me that God can still work through imperfect people........yes, even people who don't get it right at first.

Eli misunderstood Hannah, but God didn't.
Eli misread the moment, but God still honored the prayer.
Eli corrected himself, and Hannah received the blessing without staying trapped in the offense.

That's another kind of restraint, isn't it? Sometimes we want people to pay for misunderstanding us.  But Hannah didn't linger there. She received the word of peace and kept moving.

The altar of misunderstanding teaches us that we can be wrongly read and still rightly held by God. 

We can be accused and still remain anchored. We can be mischaracterized and still tell the truth with a clean spirit. We can refuse a false label WITHOUT letting the false label rule us.

Because God knows the difference between drunkenness and travail. Amen?  
He knows the difference between rebellion and grief! 
He knows the difference between attention-seeking and soul-pouring!
He knows the difference between flesh and faith with tears on it!

And when He knows, we don't have to fall apart because someone else doesn't know. 
The Hannah spirit is steady in misunderstanding. Not because it does not hurt....because it DOES hurt....but because her altar isn't built on being understood by people.

Her altar is built before the Lord!

And what is poured out before Him is NEVER wasted......even when it is misread by man.