Hannah Prayed

I might add that if she had read Friday’s newspaper, she might have prayed for a girl, since a researcher in Finland found that boys may actually shorten the life-span of mothers. True!

Anyway, she was not going to be persuaded, even in the face of the encouragement of a husband who loved her and saw her pain, and expressed his love for her.

And she persisted even in the face of persecution and ridicule. Her rival was merciless in her ridicule and torture.

Let me tell you right now, if there was no better argument for banning polygamy, this would be good enough, amen?

All through Scripture, when multiple wives were had, there was nothing but strife. And this lady was a role model for meanies.

She would not be persuaded by the high priest, who seeing her lips move as she prayed, thought she was drunk. And when he saw the heart of Hannah, he blessed her and expressed his hope that her request would be granted.

Her lesson to mothers, and to all of us, is to pray decisively.

If God has laid something on your heart, then go for it.

The Bible says that if we pray according to God’s will, He hears, and He grants that what we have asked.

God had a plan for Samuel before the beginning of time. Hannah was convinced that God was capable of opening her womb, and to use her son to His glory, which He did.

Samuel went on to become the last judge of Israel, and anointed both Saul and David as kings of Israel.

So, pray decisively.

Second,…

II. Pray Specifically.

Hannah prayed for a son. But not just a son, but one who would grow up to be a servant of God, promising to give him over to the service of the temple after he was weaned.

Let’s stop there for just a moment.

She prayed for this boy, and then gave him over when he was weaned, probably when he was two or three.

Now I look at my children, and especially Olivia, who is 3 years old. It would be hard enough for a father to give over one of my children, after I had grown to love them for 2 or 3 years, and maybe get to see them only occasionally.

I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Samuel’s mother to do that, after praying for him for so long, nursing and nurturing him, and rejoicing in the provision of God.

But she did it anyway. It was in accordance with what she had prayed beforehand. I think God gave her some supernatural grace to not only let him go, but to rejoice in seeing the fulfillment of God’s grace.

I’m sure she was sad, but it must have been mixed with gladness.

Back to our point. She could have said, “Give me a son, so I can be happy.” “Give me a son so my husband will be happy.” “Give me a son so I can shut up that other woman.” “Just give me a son.”

But she went beyond that. She knew what she wanted, and prayed specifically for it.

There is no reason for us to be nebulous in our prayers.

We spent a few weeks looking at the prayer of Jabez. One of the cautions I gave during those messages was that we don’t want to make it just a mindless mantra.

One of the ways to do that is to be specific when bringing each of those requests to God.