1 Samuel 1:10, “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD.” NIV
1 Samuel 1:10, “She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.” ESV
What causes you to be discouraged and distressed? Is it something you wished you had and don’t have? Or it could be someone you find yourself in competition with that you had not anticipated, and things are going in a different direction then you would have chosen. I am thankful that God’s Word supplies and teaches us how people felt the same emotions we all go through. Look at Hannah. Hannah had good reason to feel discouraged and resentful and was in misery. We read of her story in 1 Samuel 1. She was unable to have children and had a rival, who was a woman, as we read in verses six and seven, “And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. “Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.” Wow! I don’t know that I saw that before. “Her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.”1 Samuel 1:6. Do you have someone that is doing that to you or have had that done in the past? Hannah struggled with a delay in her outward circumstances. How I love how God’s Word speaks to me by His Holy Spirit, that gives me hope in reading this this week.
Hannah’s husband tried to console her, which he needed to do as a good husband should. He tried to get her to stop crying by saying, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” 1 Samuel 1:8b. Elkanah, loved her but could not solve her problem, and Hannah was so discouraged that she didn’t even want to eat. But Hannah bravely did not give up hope; she prayed earnestly, was distraught, and brought her problem to God. After doing that, we read that Hannah – “her face was no longer downcast.” 1 Samuel 1:18. That is the way to pray. Give it all to God, every detail, every desire, every frustration, and then go in peace. Don’t listen to the taunts of the lies Satan is feeding you with. Those fears and doubts do not come from the Lord.
God answered Hannah’s prayer request, and Samuel was born (1 Samuel 1:18-20). Hannah felt ineffective, but her prayer opened her heart to God and opened how God would work. Hannah’s heart’s desire and request had a postponement in God’s sovereign plan that she could not yet see. Perhaps you are going through this same situation in receiving a delay in your prayer request to the Lord. Hannah did not give up on trusting God, and God blessed her with the birth of Samuel. “So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.” Yes, she earlier felt ineffective and without worth, but God honored and answered her prayer and her promise to Him to “give him to the LORD all the days of his life.” 1 Samuel 1:11.
Dear one, you have worth. God’s plan is for you to be of benefit and be effective where He has placed you despite any competitor, outward circumstances, and immediate restrictions in that affliction. “Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil – it has no point.” Billy Graham. May Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 be yours:
- “My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.” 1 Samuel 2:1.
“Sometimes our prayers are so lofty that they hide our true emotions. To such prayers, I believe the Lord would say, “Tell Me what you’re really feeling. I can handle it. After all, I already know about it.” (Hebrews 4:13) Jon Courson’s Application Commentary, page 826. So, when you are feeling ineffective, give all of your frustrations, inadequacies, and perhaps words of taunting, over to the Lord. Then give glory to God because He has heard your prayers and will supply at just the right time, what is needed. He will bring things about as He has promised in Romans 8:28, for your good. To God be the glory!
Listen to Anne Wilson, Chris Tomlin – The Cross (Official Lyric Video).