A prayer, a pledge and a belief
Before I share the text for today, I want to share something lighthearted with you.....
A little boy wanted a bicycle but he did not know best how to pray for one. So as he was watching a church television program, a very traditional service, he saw how the minister prayed. At the end of the day, the lad got on his knees and said: "Lord, if it is in Your Sovereign will and in Your Eternal plan that I can get myself a bicycle - in your time and according to your will - would you please get me a bicycle In Jesus name I pray. Amen."
Two days later, there was still no bicycle; so he began to think he needed a different prayer. He turned on the television again to watch another type of ministry in operation. And at the end of the day, he got on his knees and said: "Lord, I declare my need for a bicycle! And I declare that it will be a nice blue-colored bicycle and delivered to my home within 24 hours. I lay claim to it, Amen!"
After several days and still not having received a bicycle. As he was passing through the hall he saw a statue of the Virgin Mary there on one of the shelves. He took the statue off of the shelf and disappeared somewhere. His mother was observing him all the time. Later that night as he got ready for bed, the little boy got down on his knees and said, "Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again..."
Two days later, there was still no bicycle; so he began to think he needed a different prayer. He turned on the television again to watch another type of ministry in operation. And at the end of the day, he got on his knees and said: "Lord, I declare my need for a bicycle! And I declare that it will be a nice blue-colored bicycle and delivered to my home within 24 hours. I lay claim to it, Amen!"
After several days and still not having received a bicycle. As he was passing through the hall he saw a statue of the Virgin Mary there on one of the shelves. He took the statue off of the shelf and disappeared somewhere. His mother was observing him all the time. Later that night as he got ready for bed, the little boy got down on his knees and said, "Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again..."
It was Dr. Ravi Zacharias who asked this very profound question of his audience at one of his meetings « If a non-believer were to base their understanding of God and Christ and the Christian faith on what they witness of our life in general and our devotional life in particular, what conclusion would they come to?
The text that I want to share is from 1 Samuel 1- verses 1 onwards which the story of Hannah is. As we read the story we observe 3 things happening in Hannah’s life. A Prayer, a pledge and a belief
The Prayer
Very briefly the story goes like this
There lived a man called Elkanah who had two wives; Peninnah who had children, and Hannah who didn’t have any. Over the years, Hannah had become an object of ridicule due to the fact that the Lord had shut her womb and Peninnah never missed an opportunity to mock her regarding this.
Year after year after year Elkanah and family went up to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, the place which was considered to be the religious hub of the nation. We don’t know how long Hannah had gone through this annual routine; whether she went out of a sense of duty, compulsion or simply because it was a tradition.
For, though Hannah was physically present at Shiloh, she was mentally far away, her mind weighed down by the misery and shame she was experiencing.
You see sometimes we do things for God, with the wrong attitude. It is very easy to get bogged down by our circumstances and settle down into a kind of monotonous routine. As a result, our worship becomes routine, our prayer life becomes routine and spending time with the word becomes routine.
But one year, Hannah decided to get out of the monotony, she came into God's presence with a specific powerful prayer. Verse 9 and verse 10, tells us that Hannah went to the Tabernacle to pray and weep bitterly before the Lord.
The Pledge
In verse 11, Hannah made this vow to God: "O Lord Almighty, if you will look down upon my sorrows and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you ".
What an incredible pledge! She had by faith, just promised to give God something that she had desired to have the most in her life, something of infinitely more value than gold, silver or money, the very child that she had waited so long for.
And as Hannah was faithful and gave up her child to God, God blessed her with 5 more children, three sons and two daughters.
There is a very important principle here. When we sow out of our areas of lack by faith, God is faithful to bless us in that area.
The Belief
The facts were against her. After all the Lord had shut her womb. What chance did she have to bear a child? Yet she chose to place her trust in the Lord and believed what Eli, the priest, had told her. In fact the word says, she was at peace. She was no longer troubled.
Today we have Jesus as our High Priest sitting on the right hand of the Father. When he says “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,” no matter what the odds are, no matter what the facts tell us, we need to choose to believe what Jesus says to us. We need to believe it is done.
