The mystery of Prayer

I Samuel 1:15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.

I will honestly admit that I am all to often baffled by some elements of prayer. I know that God calls us to do it, but I find myself mulling over the question of why? Now, I am not one to try to question every commandment the Lord lays out...some of the whys are quite obvious therefore, no need to ask. Others, while maybe not so obvious just don't make me curious enough to know the why behind it... God said, so I need to do it. But my curious nature loves to try to wrap itself around the mystery of communicating supplications to the God of the Universe. I find myself wondering why we need to? Doesn't God already know what I'm thinking and believing about a situation? He lives inside of me and I know He knows me better than I know myself. Isn't God going to do what He knows is best for His kingdom? Does my intercession really change any of that?

Truthfully, I don't have concrete answers to all of my questions, however, my study in I Samuel this week has opened my heart to a new thought on the subject. Prayer isn't for God's benefit of hearing my heart... it's for my benefit to draw me closer to Him. Looking at Hannah's struggle with wanting to produce a child and her subsequent prayer and pouring out of her soul spoke to me. Dr. Charles Ryrie states in his comments on I Sam. 1:15 ~ "A pouring out of her soul equates to fervent prayer." How many of us have really wanted something so bad that we were willing to pour out our soul to the Lord on the subject? I love the result of her vulnerability in verse 18 ~ And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So, the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. Now Hannah didn't know the outcome of her prayer, whether God would bless her with a child. What's important here is that she knew she was listened to by the Creator. He knew her soul. Don't we all long to be known that intimately? Even her husband's love wasn't enough (verse 8) to make her sorrow go away. No, it was the soul knitting with the One who knew her best that lifted her mood.

Have you experienced such a time with the Lord lately? Just through this quiet time in I Samuel, I've experienced what Hannah did ~ joy. While I don't know the outcome of my soul baring prayer to Jesus... I do know that He holds the requester in His hands.

Hugs~