"And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad." - I Samuel 1:18
Let me give you a little background to this verse. The book of I Samuel opens up with Hannah and Peninnah arguing. Peninnah has children; Hannah does not. And she is mocked for it. The Bible tells us that she "provoked her [Hannah] sore." Peninnah was Hannah's thorn in the flesh. She constantly riled her for not having any children. Hannah was greatly grieved. And no one understood, not even her own husband. He thought he was enough, but Hannah desired a child. She wanted a son of her own.
So she turned to the only One who could help.
Hannah visited the temple and she prayed. She prayed with everything she had. She was so intense, so wrapped up in her prayer. That the priest, Eli, accused her of being drunk. He couldn't hear her voice; he only saw her lips moving. Perhaps, she didn't even remember what she was saying. She was just crying out to God for her greatest desire.
After explaining herself to Eli, he said these words: "Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him." And the very next verse is verse 18. She returned to normal. She went along with whatever tasks she needed to accomplish. She ate. She was happy. She knew that the Lord had heard her; she knew he answered her.
How many times do we bring our worries before God, but we don't leave them there? We walk into the temple, talk to God, and then take our problem back out with us. We don't realize the quiet confidence that we can have in prayer. It's not a magical feeling, it's not even that we know 100% everything will go the way we planned it. But we know that God hears, and He is in control.
The same chapter, Hannah's desire was granted. God heard her. We may not get immediate results; we may not get the results we want. But because God is good, we can have Hannah's same quiet confidence in prayer.
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