1Sa 1:19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
The aspect of human responsibility is hard to lock down when dealing with God’s sovereignty. This verse beautifully displays both at work. The moment Hannah received a word from Eli, she had wisdom to understand that God can do anything without humans, but she also believed God works among and through men to accomplish His purposes. This is where human responsibility kicks in without infringing on the sovereignty of God.
Think of this if you will, if you are praying for a job, you don’t pray then sit and do nothing. You go out there to look for one while trusting God’s guidance. Similar to healing, marriage, service etc. Hannah was told to expect an answer but we see her and husband engage in sexual relations as a means God would use to get her pregnant. She could have said like Peter, “Master we have toiled all night and caught nothing”. Hannah and her husband had tried to get pregnant by the natural means many times. Upon receiving the word, she could have said, ”but we have tried this already”, no, she woke up, washed, worshipped, went back home with renewed faith and assurance, engaged in her human responsibility and God remembered her. God could have given her a baby immediately from heaven. Have you noticed that every child miracle in the Bible went through the natural conception (except Jesus) and then waited including Jesus the total months cycle a child develops in the womb? This serves as a reminder that some miracles will start small and then blossom. God will many times use something in the natural like a boy’s lunch, a rod in the hands, clay etc to accomplish His purposes. Point no. 5, be ready to be used.