The 1st Book of Samuel opens with a story about a man named Elkanah and his two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children but Hannah didn't.

Every year the family went to worship the Lord at the tabernacle in Shiloh. Elkanah gave his wives something to offer to the Lord. He gave Hannah a double amount to offer because he specially loved her and wanted her to be blessed.

One year during their worship at the tabernacle, Hannah was very sad because she didn’t have any children. She cried and begged the Lord for a son as she prayed. She promised the Lord that if He gave her a son, she would give her son back to serve the Lord all his life.

Eli, the high priest, saw her mouth move as she prayed but didn’t hear any words. So, he thought that she was drunk. She explained that she wasn’t drunk but very sad and was praying to the Lord. Then Eli understood and sent her on her way with his blessing.

The Lord heard Hannah’s prayer and soon she had a son. She named her son Samuel, which means “God heard.”

Each year the family went to worship the Lord, but Hannah stayed home taking care of Samuel. Then, when Samuel was weaned and could live away from her, she took Samuel back to Shiloh, so he could spend his life there, learning from Eli, and serving the Lord. 

Sometimes, we are like Hannah. We may be sad because of something we don’t have or can’t do. We may feel that we will never be happy without this. When we ask the Lord to help us, he can show us the way to be truly happy now and forever.

The name “Hannah” means favor or grace. Hannah is like any of us, as we ask for the Lord’s grace to give us true happiness.

Hannah’s grief-filled prayer took place at the tabernacle in Shiloh. “Shiloh” means peace. In fact, Shiloh represents the kind of peace that only the Lord Himself can give. (See Arcana Coelestia 6373.) And what is the thing that is missing in someone’s life? Often, that missing thing is the truth. The more truth we have and the more we understand the Lord, and ourselves, and the path that our life should take, the more of that true happiness we can find. (See Apocalypse Explained 375:2, 3.)

303. When the Lord was in the world his human nature was divine truth. When he was in the world, the Lord made his human nature divine truth from the divine goodness that was in him: 2803, 3194, 3195, 3210, 6716, 6864, 7014, 7499, 8127, 8724, 9199. The Lord then arranged everything within himself into the form of heaven in accord with divine truth: 1928, 3633. As a result, heaven was then in the Lord and the Lord was like heaven: 911, 1900, 1928, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884, 4041, 4279, 4523, 4524, 4525, 6013, 6057, 6690, 9279, 9632, 9931, 10303. The Lord spoke from the divine truth itself: 8127. So in the Word, the Lord used correspondences when he spoke: 3131, 3472-3485, 8615, 10687. As a result, the Lord is the Word and is called the Word, which is divine truth: 2533, 2813, 2859, 2894, 3393, 3712. In the Word, "the Son of Humanity" means divine truth and "the Father" means divine goodness: 2803, 3704, 7499, 8724, 9194. Since the Lord was divine truth, he was also divine wisdom: 2500, 3382. Only the Lord's perception and thinking came entirely from himself, and they transcended all angelic perception and thinking: 1904, 1914, 1919. His divine truth was susceptible to spiritual assault; his divine goodness was not: 2824.