Praying and Not Knowing What You’re Asking
“After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, ”O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” …
“Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.“ Then Eli answered, ”Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.”
1 Samuel 1:9–11,16–18 Read More
Hannah’s Prayer
Hannah is praying as many of us have before: with all of her might out of great anxiety and vexation. Out of her desperate call she pleads with God and promises to never let the kid shave. What?! There was a special vow of dedication to the Lord that a person could make set forth in the book of Numbers. This vow meant that a person (women were invited to do it too) would shave their head and then fast from any kind of grapes, wine, etc. When the time of their vow was over, they would shave their hair again, make a bunch of sacrifices, and the hair they grew during that time would be part of the sacrifice. This is how Samson and John the Baptist lived their whole lives, and this sacrifice is what played a role in the Apostle Paul getting arrested at the end of his life.
Wine is a symbol of joy in Jewish life and all over the Old Testament. For a person to give up wine would be a bold commitment. Hannah’s promise here is the dedicate the boy to the joy of the Lord. He would live the temple and never know the joys of the world. That might sound cruel, but anyone that has tasted the glory of the Lord and life in Him would tell you, the world’s provision does not satisfy.
Eli’s Blessing
If God would give her a son, that son would be such a long awaited miracle that he would certainly be from God. He would take away the shame that she felt from her rival wife. He would give her a sense of success, and it would bless Elkanah her husband to have another son. Eli didn’t know any of this when he blessed her and told her “may God grant your petition.”
Sometimes we worry if we prayed for the right thing. We might feel like we can’t pray right or say it the right way or that God would be mad that we asked for the wrong thing. That is all hogwash. When we pray, we are interacting with the Lover of our Souls. God knows how unskilled you are at praying just like He knows how unskilled you are at living a righteous life. If God sent His son to die for our sins while we were still sinning, how much more so will He not critique and rate our prayers to Him?
When we recognize God is in His right spot and we are in ours, we are praying to Him correctly. The Holy Spirit even intercedes for us to change “I want a baby” into the true and deep request of “I want you to take away my shame and my feelings of inadequacy.” Eli didn’t have any idea of what she had prayed. He thought she was drunk for most of this time, so his first impression of her wasn’t the best! Still, he blessed her and on behalf of God, granted her request. He didn’t know the implications on Israel or even on his own life, but as mediator-priest for Israel at the time, he blessed her.
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