10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[b] saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”
I love that line in v. 15, "I was pouring out my soul to the Lord". In my head, I see the image of a water pitcher being poured out til the last drop until there's nothing left. Does your prayer life look like that? Mine doesn't, but I certainly wish it did.
Early on in the chapter we read than Hannah was one of two wives to a man named Elkanah. Polygamy aside, we read that his other wife had many children, and she would pester and shove that fact in Hannah's face all the time. Yet despite her barren womb, scripture says Elkanah loved Hannah. He even gave her a double portion of meat for the sacrifices at Shiloh. Hannah was without child and was desperatly and fervently praying that God would answer her request. She committed her unborn son to the Lord and was weeping bitterly and was absolutely miserable. In those times, to not have any children was often seen by the community that the family was in an unfavorable condition with God.
When many of us pray today, we do so with soft voices and weak hearts, at times not expecting our prayer to be answered or even heard. In Hannah's case, one could say she was changed after her prayer.
Let me ask you, who is prayer for? Most of us would say that it's for God, for Him to hear our requests. But we're told that God knows our needs before we even think them, so are they really for Him? There's so much more to prayer than simply asking for things (supplication), but I want to focus just on that area of prayer for now. When it comes to prayer, it's more for our benefit than it is for God's. Prayer changes our hearts more than it does His. I believe that's why prayer exists, to change our hearts.
When we pray for comfort during a crisis, God grants us peace. When we abandon all formality and prostrate ourselves before Him in worship, we arise with a new understanding, "God is God, and I am not". When we ask for things we think we need, we often get up and realize that maybe the things we think we need are only things that we want.
The German theologian, Martin Luther, wrote: "It is important when we have a need to go to God in prayer. I know, whenever I have prayed earnestly, that I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes."
For some reason, when I hear that I think of the wizard Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In the first book of the series, The Fellowship of the Ring, when arrives in the Shire, the young Hobbit Frodo Baggins sees him coming and says, "You're late." Gandalf replies, "A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." Their moment of psuedo-seriousness quickly dissolves into fits of laughter, glad to see each other.
Could the same be said of how God answers our prayers? God is never early, nor is He ever late, despite what our own perception might be. Gandalf, while appearing to be an old man holds an incredible amount of power. Frodo is only a young Hobbit who has never left the Shire. If you consider us as little Hobbits, we certainly expect alot from our dear old Gandalf, don't we? Why would ever expect God to appear on time according to our schedule? I know that Frodo was only having a bit of fun with his old friend, but Gandalf's line about being "on time" is priceless. :)
Think about the story of Jesus coming to visit Lazarus in John 11, especially v. 21, 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” When terrible things happen to us, it's not as though God was running late and forgot to swoop in and rescue us. Even when death had already come to his dear friend Lazarus, it was not enough to keep our Savior at bay. Martha is stricken with grief in the story, but she perseveres in her faith. Earlier in the story, we read that Jesus purposefully arrived late so that God's glory might be shown (v. 4). The best stories are often those where the hero saves the day and reverses the tragedy that has come, rather than preventing it all together. Without tragedy, there's no growth of character, no weight to the dangers that lie ahead or ones that have transpired. But when all seemes lost, with darkness and night covering everything, only then does the light from the rescue of a Savior overpower the dark forces of this world.
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