Have you ever had a time in your life when you prayed, and you were so desperate for something that it consumed you? You cry out to God, and your cry is so intense that it feels as if there is no one else in the world but you and God. This is a desperate prayer and God hears and answers prayers of desperation. As a Christian, I can feel confident that God will hear and answer. Jesus makes it possible because he became our mediator, and we can now approach God on our own. We don’t need a priest or a prophet to present our pleas to God. Jesus suffered every possible temptation and trial that we could ever experience, therefore, he knows how we feel. Because of Him, we can come boldly to the throne of God. He will listen, answer, and hold us as a Father holds His children. He is able to do this for each of us, as an individual, as if we were the only ones in the world.
Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Sometimes our prayers of desperation have been fueled by opposition from the outside. In I Samuel chapter 1, we see Hannah in desperation. She wanted a child more than anything. In the culture in which she lived, a wife who could not bear children was looked upon as less than a woman. Some thought there must be hidden sin, therefore God would not bless her with a child. This was not the case with Hannah. However, her lack of children left her vulnerable to the insults and rage of Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah. Hannah was the most loved by Elkanah, but Peninnah had been blessed with children. Peninnah was her opposition from the outside, but she handled it with grace and sought the one who could change her situation.
I Samuel 1:7 “And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore, she wept, and did not eat.”
She was desperate for God to hear her and desperate for an answer. Hannah was alone in her pain. Not even her husband understood her desperation. He asks in I Samuel 1:8, why are you weeping and not eating, am I not better to you than 10 sons would be? He clearly didn’t understand her pain. No matter what our area of desperation is, only God truly knows how we feel.
I Samuel 1:8 “Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?”
Hannah was so consumed with her prayer that the priest thought she was drunk. She was so in tune with God she was unaware of anyone else. She explained to Eli, the priest, that she was a woman of sorrowful spirit and had consumed no strong drink.
I Samuel 1:13-15 “Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore, Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. 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.”
Hannah was so desperate that she was willing to give her son back to God to serve in the temple as soon as he was weaned. God heard and answered her prayer. She was blessed with Samuel, a boy who grew to be a man of God. She kept her vow and this child was given to full-time service to the Lord.
I Samuel 1:11 “And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.”
Hannah was a remarkable woman. Her love for God was obvious in the way she handled her distress before her prayer was answered and after her prayer was answered. When she finished her prayer, she left it with God. She didn’t bare her heart to God and then pick up her problem and take it with her. Her confidence was in her God, and verse 18 tells us when she went away, she was no longer sad. Her faith was strong, and her love for God was strong.
I Samuel 1:18 “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.”
After Samuel was born, she didn’t change her mind and decide to keep Samuel at home and raise him herself. She kept her vow to God. I Samuel 1:24 – 28 gives us an example and a beautiful story of a woman who loved and obeyed God. First, she knew who could help her; her source was not a counselor or a doctor. It was God! Second, her opposition didn’t change her commitment to God and her desire to please Him. Third, she believed God could, and would, answer her prayer. Fourth, she surrendered everything to God. Fifth, she shows us what peaceful satisfaction is when she trusts God enough to leave him at the temple. God had answered her prayer of desperation. He had shown her his love and care for her, and now He would take care of her son.
I Samuel 1:24-28 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young. And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore, also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.”
When was the last time your prayers were desperate? I think we have become so self-sufficient that we think that we don’t need God. We act as if we can handle things all on our own. We want to do it our way. Maybe that’s why things don’t change in our lives, or why we aren’t effective in our witness for the Lord. Maybe that’s why our country is in such a mess: we don’t have enough Christians praying desperate prayers.
