“The greatest difference you may ever make in the world may not be something you do but something you pray.”
Praying and Believing
One of my favorite things in the world is to hear my kids pray. Like a lot of you, whenever we sit down to eat a meal our family prays together.
At our house, we take turns praying. Most of the time the person who prays is the person who is sitting by mom. We do that because our kids fight over who gets to sit next to mom. No one really wants to sit by dad! So the kids take turns sitting by mom which means they take turns saying the family prayer before we eat. And I love to hear them pray.
Kids will pray about anything and they have this incredible faith that God can do anything.
They’ll pray for the neighbors who are sick or for the friend at school who has a sick pet. They’ll pray for God to make sure everyone in the world has food to eat and in the same breath, that their finger will feel better. They’ll pray for friends they want to invite to church and they’ll pray for our sports team to win every game. Those prayers don’t always get answered the way we want! But that doesn’t stop them from praying.
Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be
But something gets lost when we get older. Something changes about our prayers when we grow up. Maybe we stop believing. Or maybe we have a hard time believing God will answer the prayer we prayed when it felt like it didn’t get answered the last time we prayed.
The problem is, things are not the way they are supposed to be.
And when things are not the way they are supposed to be and when there is nothing we can do to fix them, we turn to prayer. We have to. Where else can we turn? Who else can we turn to?
When the people we love are sick and the doctors don’t give us much hope, we pray.
When the next natural disaster is imminent and there’s nothing we can do except take cover, we pray.
When the news breaks of another senseless shooting and innocent lives are lost, we pray.
When injustice continues to run rampant in our city, our country, and in our world, we pray.
Surely we must do more than pray. But I pray that we never underestimate the incredible power found in prayer for those who believe.
Hannah’s Prayer
Hannah, like so many of us, knew what it was to hurt, to long for something, to pray for something that seemed completely impossible and was impossible apart from God.
This was Hannah’s problem, she wanted children but for whatever reason, she was unable to have children. Some of you know exactly what Hannah felt like in this moment. You know what it’s like to want a child but for whatever reason, at this moment in time, that desire has not become a reality for you.
All of us know what it is to want for something and for whatever reason that desire has not been met. Maybe you’ve been in desperate need of a job, or in desperate need of healing. Maybe you’re in desperate need for help with your marriage, or in desperate need for help with your kids.
There comes a point in every person’s life when what we need goes beyond our ability to fill that need or fix that need. And when that happens, we hurt. We experience pain.
Here’s Hannah’s story.
Once after a sacrificial meal at Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray. Eli the priest was sitting at his customary place beside the entrance of the Tabernacle. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.” – 1 Samuel 1.9-11
In the middle of an impossible situation, Hannah turned to God. She’s praying with tears running down her face. She’s crying out to God believing that He can hear the cry of her heart. She doesn’t make a sound but her lips are moving as she prays in desperation to the God of the Universe. The priest takes one look at her and he thinks that she’s drunk (1 Samuel 1.12-14). She’s not drunk, she’s lost in prayer.
But Hannah doesn’t just pray. She makes a promise. And I want to be careful here because I don’t want you to think that this is a formula to get what you want from God. But I do want you to notice the degree of unselfishness in this prayer.
Hannah prays…
If you give him to me, I will give him back to you.
If you will bless me, I will return that blessing to you.
I’m asking for me, but not just for me.
I’m praying for my benefit, but not just for my benefit.
I’m casting all my cares upon you because I know you care for me. And if you hear this prayer and respond to this request, I will remember my promise and return this blessing to you.
This is not a formula for prayer but there is a principle that I think is so important for us to learn: One way to honor God when you pray is to pray not just for your benefit but for his glory.
A sincere prayer from a humble heart that voices your need to God and your desire to honor God is powerful.
And notice what happened after Hannah prayed… “Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.” – 1 Samuel 1.18
Hannah had turned the entire situation over to God, placed it in his hands, completely unaware of what would happen next. But she had prayed, and she had made a promise, and now she would wait.
Cast Your Cares
What happens when you cast all your cares on the One who cares for you?
The truth is… You never know what hangs in the balance of your decision to pray to the God of the Universe.
The greatest difference you may ever make in the world may not be something you do but something you pray.
Here’s what happened after Hannah prayed…
“The entire family got up early the next morning and went to worship the Lord once more. Then they returned home to Ramah. When Elkanah slept with Hannah, the Lord remembered her plea, and in due time she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.” – 1 Samuel 1.19-20
Here’s what I believe was true for Hannah and is also true for you…
God is always at work, often in invisible ways, for your good and for His glory.
What would you pray about if you believed the God of the Bible was listening?
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