Hannah's Prayer

A friend once asked me whether in my quest of infertility i had prayed like Hannah? She said bluntly, "Have you screamed and shout like Hannah?".

Sometime people are soooo funny.

At that time i had already married for 4 years, of course i did. I shouted, i screamed, i prayed, i cried, i cried in my pray.

While i knew that she meant all well, she wasn't quite exactly right in determining the cause of Hannah's answered prayer. She thought it's the scream and the shout. In Samuel Chapter 1 said:

Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk.

Hannah prayed so intensely that Eli thought she was drunk. Even so, those intensity was not the reason why she got hers answered. Let's look at the next verses:

17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

Eli said "May the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of", in other words, "Hey i hope God answered you prayer". There's no exact confirmation. But Hannah went her way, end her fasting and her mood change to joy.

I don't think Hannah's prayer got answered because of her drunk-praying attitude. But because she believe that what she asked for in her prayer will come to past. She knew God had answered and the answer is a big bold YES. That's why she stopped grieving. Soon after that, Hannah conceived Samuel.

I would say Hannah used the key of answered prayer like Jesus thought us in Mathew 21:22:

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." (NIV)

Mark 11:24 put it more clearly:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Jesus said that WHATEVER,... well i believe when He said whatever means whatever. Then He said, if we believe that we HAVE RECEIVED it, then it'll be ours. The sole pre-requisite is to believe that the answer is YES, to have faith that God has give it to us and it'll be done by God.

I guess that's what Hannah did. She believed that she has received it by faith, then Samuel came.