1 Samuel 1:8-11 Prayed to the Lord!

 ”Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why is your heart so grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” So after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. And she made a vow, pleading, “O Lord of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭BSB‬‬

a. Hannah, why do you weep?.... Am I not better to you than ten sons? In Elkanah’s response to Hannah’s sorrow, we see that he did love her; yet like many men he was insensitive. He did not recognize that she had needs he could not fulfill (such as the desire to be a mother).

b. Prayed to the LORD: Hannah was in bitterness of soul and great anguish, yet she did the right thing. Hannah took those bitter and anguished feelings to God honestly in prayer.

c. O LORD of hosts: Hannah began her prayer by calling on the LORD of hosts.This title is used some 260 times in the Old Testament and has the idea “LORD of Mighty Armies.” Hannah felt attacked by her rival, so she called on the LORD of Mighty Armies to be her protector.

d. She made a vow: Hannah promised her son to the work of the LORD, vowing he would be a Nazirite from birth.

e. I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life: The child was already dedicated as a Levite because God regarded the tribe of Levi as His own special possession. But the time of a Levite’s special dedication to the LORD only lasted from the age of 30 to 50 (Numbers 4:2-3). Hannah took something that already belonged to the LORD and gave it again to Him in a greater way – for his whole life, and in the dedication of a Nazirite, which was a greater consecration than a Levite.

i. Even so, we may be dedicated to the LORD – but it is possible to give God a greater dedication. It would be easy for Hannah to say, “I don’t need to dedicate my child to the LORD because he is already dedicated.” But there was a deeper dedication for the LORD to draw out of Hannah.

Made a vow!

Who hasn’t made a vow and tried to bargain with the Lord? 

”And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.“ James‬ ‭4‬:‭3‬ ‭BSB‬‬

Let Hanna be a lesson for us, “prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears”. 

Her prayer was from a grieving heart! 

Pray from your heart at the foot of the cross and if your prayer is in His will, with correct motives, He may grant it and if He doesn’t keep on asking. 

Will God answer my prayer? Blessings 

https://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-answer-prayers.html