Hannah Prays – River and Tree

The priest, Eli, noticed Hannah praying. For some reason Eli thought she was drunk.  If you read the first few chapters of I Samuel, you realize that Eli, the priest, was not serving the Lord very well, and his heart was no so much on God. In fact, his sons were doing things against the temple. This indicates to me that Eli was probably too close to the world and was used to seeing people drunk and that is why he thought this lady was drunk. We don’t want to be like Eli; we want to be like Hannah, a person who prays before the Lord.

We see in verse 15 that Hannah went on to say, “…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.” Eli answered her in verse 1, “… Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him.” Eli eventually recognized that she was praying to the Lord and he joined in with her prayer. That is a very important point. Our passage says that the Lord remembered Hannah and gave her a son. That little phrase in verse 19, “The Lord remembered her” really means something. God remembers prayer. Sometimes we pray and we think, “I don’t know if God will remember this or if God will do anything.”  God remembers every prayer.  God answers every prayer. It may not be answered in the time we expect or in the way we expect.  Sometimes the thing we specifically pray for may not be God’s will so God kind of turns that prayer around and uses it in the proper way.  Never forget that the Lord remembers prayer and He answers prayer.

Bible Prayer – Beach Flowers

Lets look at the  background on the life of Samuel. There was a woman named Hannah. She had no children and she was quite depressed and despondent about the situation. She cried out to the Lord and prayed:  “Lord, I have no children and people are looking down on me.”  She desperately wanted a child. She went to the temple one day in great distress and she prayed.  She said, “Lord, I ask You for a child, and if You give me a child I will give him to You for all the days of his life.” Samuel was produced out of the prayer of his mother. If you are a mother, never despise the prayers that you make for your children. God answers prayer and God remembers prayer.

Let’s read from I Samuel 1:10, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. 11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life…”  Here we see that Hannah prayed out of her distress, out of her distressing situation. You could even say that her situation seemed impossible.  It looked like it was impossible for her to have a child. I don’t know what her situation was medically, but the point is that she prayed and God answered her prayer.