I Samuel 1:11 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.”

One of the classes I had to take in college was Elementary Music Methods. As a part of this class, we had to write lesson plans. A big part of this was really a kind of goal-setting exercise. But the goal had to be really specific, and measur- able. In other words, you had to be able to tell, easily, if the goal was achieved. This was not always, easy for me! Vagueness comes a little more naturally! Plus, a really specific goal, kind of puts me ‘on the spot’, easy to see success or failure!

Over the years, having spent so much time in church, I have heard many prayer requests. Many would fit the ‘goal-setting’ criteria, but many would not. I remember the well-meaning type of prayer that I was always a bit puzzled by. “Please pray for my neighbor. His son’s boss has a cousin who has cancer.” Perhaps an exaggeration, but not much!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not wrong to pray and talk to God about all sorts of things. He truly does care about us! However, when you pray, wouldn’t you like to know see a result? Wouldn’t we like to know that our prayer had been answered? We’re not just praying that the act of praying itself makes us feel better, are we?

In today’s verse, Hannah gets really specific. She was heart-sick because she had had no children. Her rival made her life miserable because she did have kids and constantly reminded Hannah of the fact. So Hannah went to God. But she did not ask God to ‘ease her pain.’ She did not ask that God would ‘make her feel better.’ Nor did she ask, “Help me deal with this.” She was specific: “Please give me a child.” But more than that, she asked for a boy! She also added that if God answered her prayer, she would give him right back to God for His service. That’s a prayer that’s easy to tell if it’s been answered!

But doesn’t that kind of put God ‘on the spot’? Yes! And when God answered that prayer, it was God that was glorified! Hannah was overjoyed; she was blessed, but God’s name was praised, and He was honored, because only God could have done what He did!

Our deal is important, but mostly to us. What if we looked at every problem we faced, every heartache we have, as an opportunity for God? God will be praised for answered prayer! But if our prayer request is vague or unclear, we won’t even know if it got answered. Maybe it’s time to put God ‘on the spot!’

Blessings,

Pastor Russ