Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8/11/2021
The Prayer that Changed Israel’s Future
The Prayer that changed Israel’s future
After the dark period described in the old testament book of Judges, Israel’s desperate situation began to come around with a prayer of a woman named Hannah.
Hannah was one of two wives married to a man named Elkanah The rival wife, Peninnah, had children but Hannah was baron. The rival wife mocked and make fun of her, provoking her in order to irritate her because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb. 1 Samuel 1:6 Day after day, year after year Hannah was teased and taunted, mocked, and ridiculed.
Each year the family went to the tabernacle of the Lord at Shiloh. As a family, they would offer a sacrifice to the Lord. But that’s also when Peninnah’s taunting of Hannah increased to the point where Hannah wept so hard she could no longer eat (Vs 3–8).
Each year this pattern repeated. Her husband loved Hannah and gave her extra portions for her sacrifice. He said, “why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than 10 sons?”
But this year, something snapped inside of Hannah and she suddenly refused to endure the taunts and accept her childless status. “once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up!” (Vs9) she left the table and went to pray near the doorpost of the tabernacle. It was a moment with historic ramifications. (Vs 10) “in her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly”.
Amid the backsliders and even the corrupt religious establishment of the day, we see a desperate, simple woman, stirred to pray a prayer that will usher in a new day in Israel’s history. In her prayer, she promised God that if he gave her a son, she would dedicate him to the Lord for as long as he lived. When she finished praying, she got something to eat and her face was no longer downcast (Vs 18).
It was like she knew something was about to change. That is often the case when we intercede for someone. We get to this place of release. This peace settles in and you know that your prayers have been answered.
The next morning Elkanah’s family arose to worship God and headed back home to Ramah. Once there, he made love to Hannah as he had so often done before, but this time (Vs 19) “the Lord remembered her”. Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son.
Now, what was it that stirred Hannah to pray a prayer that changed the future of Israel?. She could’ve chosen to live in denial. When Peninnah mocked her, she could’ve said, who cares I’m not into kids. Or I don’t want to change diapers anyway. But she didn’t. She faced the truth as painful as it was, saying,
I want a baby, I want a son… I want to be fruitful.
Can we make a couple of assumptions? Hannah could’ve forgotten and buried her heartache and learned to rejoice in the fact that she was a child of Abraham and a part of the covenant people. Or she could’ve looked at her situation and said, I don’t have a child, so it must be God‘s sovereign will that I don’t.
But she didn’t do either. Hannah’s story shows that she did not deny her barrenness, but neither did she accept it. Her unique impassioned prayer became the channel that God both prompted… and then used to turn the tide in Israel and bring much-needed blessings upon them. The lesson is clear for us today.
We must not silently accept our lack of fruitfulness and somehow justify it as God’s will for us. Hannah honestly faced her circumstances and then desperately prayed for God to change them. What was in her mighty prayer that God could not ignore?
None of us totally understand the power of prayer, but we know that her prayer was powerful and effective. James describes in his epistle(James 5:16). If I had to guess, I would say it was about the heightened element of desperation coupled with deep faith in God. Hannah had no other place to turn.
It was as if, in her great anguish and grief, she cried, make me fruitful or I don’t want to go on. She was at her end… give me a child or I will die.
God heard Hannah‘s weeping and her prayer became the pathway to divine intervention. Furthermore, God wanted her story told in detail in the Bible, so future generations would recognize that Israel’s turnaround started with a lonely, heartbroken woman who just wanted to bear fruit. One prayer turned the heart of God to bless a nation. I understand a little of that desperation to bear fruit, maybe you do too.
Pastor Craig Altman gave an impassioned plea to all of us in his Sunday sermon to be fruitful. To do something to be of service to the body of Christ and more importantly to Christ himself. I pray today that you will hear Hannah’s plea and make it your own. Lord make me fruitful or take me home.
Would you pray for an hour this week with us and your family for God’s divine intervention in your life? To literally spark a fire of intentionality in your life to serve him and love him and speak about him? You decide.
Lauren Daigle Look Up Child
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Z359U77XY
Excerpts are taken from Jim Cymbala’s Book. Strong through the Storm
