Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

There will be times in our lives when unknowns are things we have diligently prayer for, but we have seen no answers, no fruit, and no end in sight. Those unknowns become painful. They can become distant and even try to plant a root of bitterness within our own hearts. This is when we have to lean in all the more to God’s Word and what He says-even when we feel like giving up.

First opens with a story abut a woman who prayed in the Temple with so much emotion that the priest , , thought she had been drinking: “ was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman” (1 Sam. 1:13). Have you ever prayed for something so diligently, so deeply, that the prayers flowing from your heart had your lips moving and you didn’t even realize it? That’s exactly what Hannah was doing. What was she praying about? Being a mother.

Hannah longed deeply for a child, so deeply that her prayers took over her emotions. Her description of her prayers: “I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:15). Humankind, since the beginning of time, has been in this position at one time or another: longing for something that they could only be faithful and wait for.

The difference between Hannah and a lot of us is that when she was done pouring her soul out, she “went her way and…her face was no longer sad” (1 Sam. 1:18). Hannah prayed, laid her petitions and requests before the Lord, did what she needed to so in that moment, then got up and left them there. Many times, we do the same thing, but the difference is, we pick up our petitions and requests, put them right back on our shoulders, and walk off carrying the same burden we were carrying when we walked in. Hannah didn’t necessarily have it all together, but she did know that the only place her unknown was going to change was in prayer and time spent with God. We are all guilty of hanging onto burdens, situations we can’t control, obstacles that seem too great. It can be easy to find yourself in a place where it feels there’s no answer. The question for you in that moment will be how you are going to get handle it. Are you going to lay down the unknowns about your thoughts, burdens, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears, health, jobs, children, and livelihood at the feet of Jesus? Or are you going to mention them to Him and then proceed to take them back and walk away just as burdened as you were before? It’s easy to do this, but please hear me when I caution you: Don’t live this way!

I hear time and time again, “We know God’s got this, but…” In this midst of a global pandemic, this statement may be even more prevalent. Friend, there is no “but.” Either God has got this or He doesn’t. Either He’s faithful or He’s not. Either He’s for you or He’s against you. Which is it? Fear can and will weave its way into your mind with these very thoughts. Fear is the master of the word but.

Hannah didn’t live in a place of bitterness from her unfulfilled unknown. She didn’t live in a place of “but.” She knew God held her dreams of being a mother in His hand. Her job was only to trust that His will was for her good, no matter the outcome. That’s our job too: to trust.

1. Have you ever diligently prayed for something? What was the answer or outcome? 2. Have you ever given up on praying for something because you thought it would never happen? What led you to that point? 3. Take a moment and ask the Lord to show you how to pray. Ask Him to forgive the moments that you’ve lived in the “but.” Ask Him to show you how to move forward, laying down your petitions and requests and leaving them at His feet. What did He say?

1 Samuel 1

The Birth of Samuel

1There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. 4Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. 6Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

9Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house. 10In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. 11And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

12As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

15“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

17Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

18She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

19Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. 20So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[b] saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

Hannah Dedicates Samuel

21When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, 22Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”

23“Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the LORD make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

24After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. 25When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 28So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

Devotion adapted from 'Facing Your Fears' by Bethany Barr Phillips