Gospel Reading Plan: Luke 7-8
The prayers of the hurting
Read: 1 Samuel 1
Often prayer is learned in the dark times, in the times of trouble,
when our hearts yearn for something which urges us to fall on our knees in
prayer. So it was with Hannah, who was burdened
with barrenness, which caused her intense grief. Every year Hannah and her husband went to
worship the Lord at Shiloh. Hannah wept
much and prayed to the Lord, nothing seemed to ease her pain. Then, one day she made a vow to the Lord; she
promised that if God would grant her request by giving her a son she would give
him back to God all the days of his life.
Then Hannah continued to pray, her lips moved but no voice was heard,
her heart may have been filled with so much grief that she could not speak, in
fact, Eli thought she was drunk. Hannah
was persistent in pouring out her heart to the Lord. In explaining this to Eli, he blessed her by
wishing that God would grant her request.
It is then we see a change in her disposition, she went and ate and her
face was no longer downcast. Hannah
received a Word of the Lord from Eli and it changed something inside her. Her grieving was over. In the course of time, Hannah conceived and
gave birth to a son, she named him Samuel, who came into the world and was
given an existence as a direct result of prayer! It was no wonder that he
became a great man of prayer for it was modelled to him by his mother! More on this tomorrow!
PRAYER AND MEDITATION
- What would be some examples of dark times or times of trouble in your life when you had a choice to walk closer with God or not? What did you choose, how did that work out for you?
- What can we learn from Hannah’s persistent prayer life?
- Ask the Lord to grow endurance in prayer in His children, that people would see the benefit of keeping on in prayer.
