Saturday, March 24 Hannah . . . began to pray to Jehovah.—1 Sam. 1:10. When we deal with health problems or other challenges beyond our control, we should throw our anxiety on Jehovah, trusting that he cares for us. (1 Pet. 5:6, 7) Also, we should do what is within our power to benefit from Christian meetings and other spiritual provisions. (Heb. 10:24, 25) What about faithful parents whose children have gone astray? Elderly Samuel could not force his adult sons to remain loyal to the righteous standards he taught them. (1 Sam. 8:1-3) He had to leave the matter in Jehovah’s hands. Even so, Samuel could maintain his own integrity and please his heavenly Father, Jehovah. (Prov. 27:11) Today, a number of Christian parents find themselves in a similar situation. They trust that Jehovah is ever on the lookout to welcome back sinners who repent. (Luke 15:20) At the same time, such parents work hard to remain loyal to Jehovah, hoping that their example will move their children to return to the fold. w17.011:15, 16
What a strange and out-of-context usage of this Biblical account of Hannah, misappropriating Hannah's sorrow over her "closed womb" (1 Samuel 1:6) to apply what was surely a challenge to her faith and feelings of self-worth as a woman and wife... to dissimilar situations where parents struggle with why their children do not follow in the steps of the walk by faith the parents themselves have demonstrated. Worse, the Watchtower uses Hannah's struggle to make their argument that parents sometimes need to maintain their own integrity while their children engage in sinful behavior— being assured, like Hannah (?!), that one day their children will return to the fold by their parents' faithful example. Huh?! What?! If anything, Hannah's example best illustrates the deep and profound recognition that it is our heavenly Father who blesses the womb (Cf Genesis 29:31; See also Genesis 16:2 and Genesis 20:18), and that children are an inheritance from Jehovah (Psalm 127:3). Children are every parent's personal ministerial work, raising them in the Way and ever-intending them to "give [them] to Jehovah" (1 Samuel 1:11). There is no indication that Hannah's struggle has anything to do with long-term health issues or disobedient children, or how a parent must hope that the sinful child will one day return (home), even if I search for a principle in the context of the passage. Submitted for your perusal and consideration, Timothy