Prayer

1 Samuel 1: 9-18.

Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah in Ephraim. Her rival was Penninah. Penninah had children. Hannah did not. 

Hannahs prayer was a pretty basic one.  She wanted a child. She was  broken hearted, deeply hurt. She wept, she was downcast, angry and depressed. She was anguished and filled with anger and resentment. She was mocked and riled at by her rival. She endured scorn and ridicule. 

That is a lot of a baggage in one woman. One can only imagine the repercussions for those staying with her. Flaming explosions and manipulative melodrama, with demonstrative displays of not eating, tears and more drama. Pleading and cajoling. Wow. That house may have been  a daily theatrical event! I don’t think I would want to be Elkanah. He must have worn a turban. He may not have had any hair left on his head at the end of it all.

She prays a conditional prayer, a bargain buster. "If" she says to God, "you will notice me, remember me and not forget me, I will…"

We often draw close to God in this way. We bring all our baggage, our misconceptions of His majesty, our assumptions of His disinterest in us and try to cajole a bargain out of Him in exchange for our devotion. What a wrong pedestal of worship to occupy!  Yet He answers us in his mercy.

Can we rest in what He has already told us – “I have carved you on the palm of my hand”. “Before a word is on my tongue you know it, you hem me before and behind..” “Every hair in your head is numbered. You are more precious to me than many sparrows…”

If we believed all the above, can we rest in it? Will the plaintive minor notes in our pleas change? Will the heartbreak, anger and resentment be extinguished? Will tenor of our prayer change without altering the theme?

He knows our needs before we ask of Him. He in His abundant mercy will supply all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. That is sufficient. More than enough. 

Thank you.