6. The Lord answers Hannahs Prayer

The Lord answers Hannah’s Prayer

"And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife: and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.

" (1 Samuel 1:12-20) So this dear woman after having made this vow, continued praying before the Lord. She continued praying; not like a prayer that can be put in the files and can be drawn out at some convenient moment, a continuance in prayer, the desire of the heart so active in this way. Prayer, prayer, prayer. I do not know how long she prayed, but she continued in prayer, and having made the desire, having expressed her vow, having expressed her determination to do this, she continued in it until the time came when she got peace and assurance. The bitterness passed away. The priest said to her, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel will grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him".

How easy it is to be mistaken. Eli was a priest of the Lord, and he thought she was drunk because her lips were moving but he did not hear any sound! She was acting in a way that indicated she was intoxicated, but he was wrong, absolutely wrong. She was praying earnestly to the Lord, and she expressed this to him, and then he saw that here was a woman with real desires and he gave her the blessing of the Lord "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition".

Look at the change - "So the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad". I believe there are times when we pray about matters, I think I can humbly say that I have known this in my experience, that there are times when we pray and we knowthat our prayer has been heard and it is going to be answered. All that we have to do is to wait in patience until the Lord’s time comes. I often say there are three answers to our prayers - yes, no and wait. It is the waiting that is the testing time. But she continued on in her praying and then she received this confirmation from the servant of the Lord, ’Yes, your prayer will be answered’, and her countenance was changed, no more sad, and she ate (it would seem that she had been fasting) and she went on her way rejoicing.

Look at the result, "They rose up in the morning early and worshipped before the Lord and returned to their house in Ramah and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her". The first thing is husband and wife worship together. That is a happy thing when the home life is of such a character, where husband and wife are devoted to the Lord’s interests and they can worship together, pray together, consider the Lord’s interests together. What a happy home that kind of home is! The Lord’s blessing is there, there is a response to the Lord, the Lord’s interests are cared for there, and that is the kind of home that the Lord is welcome in. At Bethany, in the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, the Lord was welcome and they made Him a supper, and I am sure they knew something about worship and prayer as He was in their midst. So it was with Elkanah and his wife Hannah, they "worshipped the Lord and the Lord remembered Hannah". This is the great thing. Think of a God who hears our prayers, takes account of the motives, and the desires. In the epistle of James he says, "Ye ask, and receive not" (4:3). How often we have to say that is true of our prayers - we ask and receive not, why says James, "because ye ask amiss that ye might consume it in your lusts".

I do not suppose that any of us are praying for any great things in this world, but the motive might be wrong in our prayers, somewhere in the prayer there is that little worm of self. I do not think the Lord countenances these prayers. So James says you have to ask in faith. A double minded man does not receive anything from the Lord. It is this purpose, this motive that is behind the prayer, the desire for the Lord’s glory and for the Lord’s interests. This is why we find this statement in connection with Hannah "the Lord remembered Hannah", and now the wheels began to move so that Hannah’s prayer could be answered.

We find that the child is born and he is given a name, Samuel. That would be a continual reminder that Hannah’s prayer had been answered, she asked him of the Lord and the Lord gave him to her. There was the continual reminder that Hannah had prevailed in prayer and the Lord had remembered her and had blessed her. This is a very wonderful thing and I am sure very many Christians have experienced this blessing. They have received what they have prayed for in relation to the Lord’s interests. I believe that the Christian testimony is borne up in power by the prayers of many, many who are praying in their homes, elderly people, they are never reaching the public eye, but volumes of prayer ascending to God and God listening to them.

We remember revivals in the islands in the north of Scotland that were the result of prayer, some few saints gathering together and crying to the Lord to bring revival. When I was in America last year I went to a very large meeting in New York consisting mainly of black people, and I was told that at one point there was one brother and fifteen sisters, so when it was prayer meeting night they had one prayer. Well, then the sisters got together to have a prayer meeting, which meant fifteen prayers. There are over 150 in fellowship in that meeting today. It is wonderful what the Lord can do when there is definite exercise. So this is the kind of thing that we find here in this chapter, the Lord remembered Hannah. The prayer was real, it was a proper motive, the Lord honoured it and there was a visible witness that her prayer had been answered. Her son Samuel, meaning "asked of the Lord".