The Cries of a Mother - Youth Lesson - 1 Samuel 1:8-19

A well renowned public speaker was speaking at a large conference for church leaders.

Here, Pastors, deacons, Sunday School teachers, church elders, committee chair people, youth leaders and more were present.

During the lesson taught by the speaker he asked the question. How many of you pray for 10 minutes a day?

And while there were a few that raised their hand among the thousands most did not.

The speaker, who was a little concerned by this asked again, how many of you pray for five minutes a day?

Once again only a handful more than the original group raised their hand.

When all was said and done the speaker learned that nearly 8 out of 10 people held within that large auditorium prayed for less than 3 minutes a day?

Perhaps the reason we feel so alone is easy to determine when we acknowledge that many who are faithful church leaders have failed to even spend time with the father.

So, I ask you, what does your prayer life look like?”

Today i want to talk about a Biblical mother.

One who at the time of our encounter was not even a mother yet, but instead was simply a prayer warrior.

With that being said you may have guessed that the scripture ahead is about Hannah.

A woman who wanted a son so much that these scriptures show her faithful pleas to the father.

1 Samuel 1:8–19 NKJV

Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!” But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.” Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.” And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

So I want to ask you, maybe you feel comfortable answering or maybe you do not, How is your prayer life?

For me, I feel my prayer life is OK and improving daily but this scripture convicted me this week.

You see the way that Hannah prays is something special.

There are a couple of things that i found really interesting through her prayer.

1st off she committed the life of her son to God before he was even born.

Could you imagine how hard this would have been.

The question now becomes, why do you think that Hannah still wanted to have a child even if she only got to see him around once a year?

You see in Hannah’s time it woudld have been shameful to not be able to have children.

So this was a big deal for a few reasons in that Hannah’s heart desired children but also in that it was the cultural norm.

Now I want to dissect Hannah's prayer a bit.

One of the first aspects of Hannah’s prayer that intrigued me is that she didn’t speak.

1 Samuel 1:13 NKJV

Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.

There is a lot of significance in this for me because we always say we can’t hide from God as almost seeming like a bad thing.

Yes, there is some intimidation in the fact that we can’t hide our shortcomings from God

But there should be some encouragement that we can’t hide the desires of our heart from him either.

Beyond this aspect of Hannah’s prayer we know she prayed with a sorrowful heart

1 Samuel 1:15 NKJV

But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.

So Hannah was sorrowful

Do you think we have to be sorrowful in prayer for God to hear us?

No we do not have to be sorrowful

in fact there isn’t any emotion we necessarily have to be.

There are emotions that make it more difficult such as angry but our emotions do not mean God will or won’t listen.

So my question is what is the significance of Hannah’s sorrow?

Though emotions do not determine anything necessarily, emotions can shape our heart and therefor the direction of our prayers.

So Hannah was sorrowful, this affected her prayer because she had finally came to a place of sorrow in which she was going to do nothing but pray to the father.

We aren’t told how long Hannah prayed for a son but we are told that the other wife had multiple children so we can expect that she prayed trhis prayer for several years fairly constantly.

So there is really only a couple of reasons that Hannah was finally heard.

1st it was finally in God’s timing

2nd God heard her heart

3rd Her sorrow led her to a place of constant prayer and conversation with God.

The truth is that we often talk about God hearing the desires of our heart, and he does.

Yet, he cannot hear our heart if we are unwilling to pray.

Hannah’s prayer was always in silence yet God heard her and granted her her prayer.

Yes the first child was Samuel who would be devoted to the work of the Lord and she would have to seperate with once he weaned (2-5 years old)

But 1 Samuel 2:21 says this

1 Samuel 2:21 NKJV

And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile the child Samuel grew before the Lord.

SO God heard her cries and the esires of her heart.

I want to ask you again, how is your prayer life?

Because we cannto expect God to listen and dwell with us if we are not going to boldly and faithfully call upon his name.

He is ready to listen, but we must be ready to speak.

I would encourage all of you to set apart a time in your day to pray.

You can do something called tiny habits that will help you.

For example “Before I start my Homework I will pray for 10 minutes”

or “Before I go to bed I will pray for 15 minutes”

Prayer needs to be an important part of your life and it needs to mean something to you.

God will listen when we are willign to get to know him.