Hannah kept her vow. Dr. Sheron C. Patterson writes in A Mile in Her Shoes, "Not only was (Hannah) faithful, but she also had an attitude of worship and praise in the midst of a difficult situation. Hannah's actions challenge us to be trustworthy of God's blessing. We must strive to be positive and have an attitude of worship when we give back to God, rather than becoming hostile and begrudging. Faithfulness requires consistency . . . When we are persistent in our faithfulness, great things happen. Hannah's steadfastness produced great fruit in her son Samuel . . . Like Hannah, we must strive to remain faithful during the good as well as the difficult times."
Then Patterson asks the question, "Can God trust you with a blessing?"
Honestly, all I could say was "I hope so."
God must know He can trust us before He can give us a big blessing. Maybe we haven't received what we're praying for because we aren't strong enough yet to do God's purposes with it. Maybe if He answered that prayer now we would use the blessing (whatever it is) for ourselves, for our own pleasure or glory.