1Sam1 notes

1Samuel 1:1-11

Sometimes God delays our answers to our prayers.  With Hannah there was a reason why God delayed His answer to her prayers and so God does the same with us, why?  And often times with Hannah the reason being is God is seeking to bring us around to His purposes.  The Bible says 2 Chronicles 16:9  "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

So God was waiting bringing Hannah around to where her heart was completely toward God and the things which God wanted.  God was needing a man to lead Israel during these desperate days of transitions.  He needed a man who He could speak to and in turn he would speak to the people for Him.  For during this period of their history they had not really heard from God, remember its says that the Word of the Lord was rare in those days (1Sam 3:1), this is because there were really no mens ears who were open to God.  And so Hannah finally out of the desperation of her soul said (v.11).  this is what God was desiring and looking for and so when God brought her around to this place (that commitment she made to God), then the Lord answered her prayer.  Now when God now gives many times he delays in giving in order to give more or in order that what is given is used for His purposes and glory.

No I feel that many times when we are praying, the Bible says that we don’t always no how to pray as we ought.  Many times when we are praying we are in actuality praying selfish prayers for ourselves (James 4:2-3).  Much of our prayer is like this a kind of personal request to God to fulfill all that I want instead of what God wants. 

The Bible says that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).  Much of what we ask is not really according to God’s will but according to my own desires because I am thinking of myself so I can use it for me.

And was no doubt thinking for a long time, “Lord give me a son so that other wife will shut her mouth.  Not also in verse 6 we see that the other wife was her “rival” which implies sort of a competition type of thing.  Lord I want a son that I can nurse & take care of, she was really thinking of herself. 

Now through the processes of God working in her life she is brought in harmony with the purposes and will of God in her life (1:11). 

(vv.12- )

v.18 – she believed the word of the lord, her whole countanance changed because she believed the word of God (without faith it is impossible to believe God ). 

       This is an earmark of faith: Acting as though you have it before you actually have it.  If God has promised to give it to me, then I do not need to go around sorrowful.  She believed the promise of God.  We need to believe in the promises of God, because God does not lie, He is faithful to His Word (Ps.138:2)