Hannah?Faithful in Prayer

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INTRODUCTION

Many people become adept at crisis praying. You know the style: "God help me!" or, "God, if You get me out of this, I will . . ." followed by future promises with no previous lifestyle pattern to hint the promise will be kept. God in His mercy frequently stops in and assists. It is good to seek for God's help in times of trouble. There can be no greater source of aid than our heavenly Father. However, God desires an ongoing relationship with communication on a daily basis.

It's so easy to try to follow the prayer pattern of an individual whom we respect. Or, there may be some people who attempt to impose a form of legalistic prayer on us, such as praying for one hour a day. There is no biblical requirement for this time period. Yes, Jesus did say to His disciples, "Could you not keep watch for one hour?" But that was in a specific situation. And Paul directed the Thessalonians to "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NIV).

Prayer is crucial to the sustaining of a vital life in Christ for both individual believers and the corporate church. All of us need to work on the practice of prayer without being time-conscious. The issue needs to always be fulfilling our relationship. No reasonable person will say to his or her mate, "Well, we have to talk together 10 minutes," or "Our 10 minutes are up, so let's stop." Genuine communication doesn't come from clock watching. It develops when the necessary time is spent in prayer and meditation. The consistency of our praying makes the difference.

Sometimes it seems we need to pray in order to be in a position to pray. This may be because of disobedience separating us from fellowship with God and making communication strained. It could, however, stem from our not praying on a regular basis and thus being uncomfortable with our heavenly Father.

For most of us, faithful praying doesn't automatically come with the salvation package. It comes as a result of spiritual discipline. Sometimes it takes effort to fulfill this marvelous opportunity.

Today's lesson concerns Hannah's desperate prayer for a child. More than likely, the account for our study was not the first time Hannah prayed concerning her problem. The distinctive of her prayer is how that when it was answered, she faithfully fulfilled her vow.

I. ACKNOWLEDGE THE PROBLEM (1 Samuel 1:1-8)

A. A Polygamous Marriage (vv. 1-4)

1. Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite

2. And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.