HANNAH PRAYED!

God's Holy Word is such a wonderful treasure -- a lamp for my feet -- a light for my path -- filled with many precious promises for those who will trust and obey!  My heart is thrilled and blessed when I think upon the Biblical heroes of faith, and one of my favorites in the Old Testament is Hanna, the mother of Samuel.  In the 1st chapter of I Samuel, you will find Hannah in great bitterness of soul, weeping and praying because she has no child!  

In her desperation, she vowed a vow, and prayed -- "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, and there shall no razor come upon his head."  Hannah was in such desperation of soul that she could not utter words.  God's Word says that she spoke in her heart -- her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.  She was in great sorrow of spirit as she poured her soul unto the Lord!

Hannah's intense, sincere, and earnest prayer reached the throne of God, and His Word tells us that the Lord remembered Hannah, and she conceived and bare the son we know as Samuel.  Hannah did not forget the vow she had made to the Lord!  I believe she spent every spare moment praying with, and for, her son Samuel.  She did her best to instruct and guide him, and as soon as she had weaned him, she took him to the house of the Lord.  She spoke to Eli, the priest, and said:

"Oh, my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.  For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord: as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." 

Hannah has been called the "patron saint" of praying mothers.  In half of all the verses about her in I Samuel, she is praying, and it was most assuredly her prayers that produced one of the great heroes of the Old Testament -- her son, Samuel, who was, himself, a direct answer to her prayers!

In these difficult and perilous times, I believe that God is searching for some Hannah's -- some mothers, whose earnest prayers and intercession before God can help to mold and shape their sons to become praying leaders -- so desperately needed in our nation and churches today!

May we, as mothers, humbly say with the Psalmist -- "I give myself unto prayer."