Fixing Our Messy Hearts with Prayer

This is an excerpt from When You Pray by Kelly Minter, Jackie Hill Perry, Jen Wilkin, Jennifer Rothschild, Jada Edwards, and Kristi McLelland.

Everybody has problems. Everybody. We live in a messy world surrounded by messy people while living with messy hearts. It’s all just a mess. Everyone moves about the world looking for ways to fix the mess. Some folks just work harder to deal with or distract from whatever problems they have. Others default to apathy, self-pity, and sloth-like behavior. Feeling inadequate to do anything, they resort to doing nothing. Hannah had a problem for sure. A problem she wanted to fix. The method she employed may feel counterintuitive, but in fact, she used the strongest weapon one has—prayer.

Hannah refused to eat and thus celebrate restored communion with God. She was sad. On this particular trip, Hannah wept, and then what did she do? She went to the temple to meet with God.

Barrenness was a “problem” Hannah was technically unable to fix on her own, seeing as the Lord is the One who closed her womb. However, Hannah could have responded in many ways other than prayer. There’s a barren woman who preceded Hannah in Old Testament history who attempted to get the child she wanted not by petitioning but by scheming.

Sarai took matters into her own hands to “obtain children” (Gen. 16:2). Her action (which she would quickly come to regret) stands in stark contrast to Hannah, who walked right by Eli the priest seated in his place of authority and into the temple of the Lord to meet with God. Surely if God caused her circumstances, He could change them too.

Let’s look at Hannah’s prayer and focus on three aspects of it—her emotions, her Lord, and her identity.

Hannah's Emotions

Read 1 Samuel 1:9-18, printed below, and note every word or description regarding Hannah’s emotions (for example: deeply distressed ).

On one occasion, Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple. Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, “LORD of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.” While she continued praying in the LORD’s presence, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the LORD. Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.” Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.” “May your servant find favor with you,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.

Emotions are God-given. They’re a part of what it means to be human. We’d be robotic without them. We sometimes feel all over the place because of them, but at the end of the day, we need them. Dan Allender calls emotions “the language of the soul.”1 Just a glance at the psalms, and it’s evident that emotions are highlighted as a vital part of prayer.

Our problems are too big and our feelings are too strong for us to enter God’s presence with pretense. The psalmists and Hannah model for us how to bring our entire selves to the feet of God.

Hannah's Lord

How we begin our prayers says a lot about us. We can either begin with a problem or with a Person. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He told them to begin, “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy” (Matt. 6:9). When Jesus spoke with God on the cross, His first words were “My God, My God” (Mark 15:34). Hannah’s petition opens with “LORD of Armies” (1 Sam. 1:11) Beginning with God’s personal name immediately affects our posture in prayer, humbling us, and our power in prayer, encouraging us.

The name of God we employ in prayer inspires reverence, and it functions as a reminder. If God is indeed the LORD of Armies, then He is sovereign. He is powerful. He is in control. And if that is the case, then there is no circumstance I can bring to His feet that He doesn’t have the ability to change.

Hannah's Identity

The term Hannah used 1 Samuel 1:11 that is translated as servant typically describes a female “slave” or “handmaid.” It refers to a subjugated position, one of submission to a higher authority.

To think that Hannah, a barren and grieving woman, would ask God for a son and then in the same breath vow to give this son back to God is shocking. Usually, when we want something badly, we make no promises to return it to sender. (Which is a part of the problem.) If the gift was received, then the gift has a source.

Everything we have is a gift from God, the LORD of Armies.

Whether it be children, money, marriage, friendships, health, the ability to speak and walk and dance and laugh or preach, sing, or whatever, EVERYTHING is a gift from the Father of lights. Here, Hannah recognized something we are quick to forget: Whenever God answers our prayers, giving us what we’ve asked for, figuratively and literally speaking, we must give it all right back to God, for our good and His glory. Nothing we have is ultimately ours anyway.

Whatever it is that you’ve been petitioning God for, are you willing to surrender it right back to God? Why or why not? Be honest with yourself as you think about this question.

When you pray today, set aside some time right now or later today to sit with God.

1. Be emotionally honest with God.

2. Look through the Scriptures and find an attribute or name of God that applies to your circumstances.

3. Ask God to change your heart, giving you the humility needed to be content with how God answers your prayer, as well as the humility needed to give Him back everything you’ve received.