A Hopeful Prayer
A hopeful prayer is a submitted prayer.
A hopeful prayer often feels naïve and audacious—even a bit greedy. After all, how long should you keep praying for something, even a good thing, if your prayers remain unanswered? Should you take the non-answer as a sign? When does prayer stray from confidence in God’s miraculous, redeeming power to self-serving wishful thinking?
Hannah experienced this same dilemma. In 1 Samuel 1, we find Hannah amid a multi-year struggle against doubt and depression. Her husband’s second wife, Peninnah, relentlessly taunted the childless Hannah, driving her to despair. Perhaps Peninnah even accused Hannah of some sin that prevented her from conceiving. These attacks cruelly increased as the time to worship in Shiloh drew near.
Even Hannah’s husband, Elkanah, seemed to miss the point. “Why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved?” he asked. “Am not I better to thee than ten sons?” Yet many commentators note that Elkanah likely married Peninnah after Hannah remained childless. Although Elkanah loved Hannah, she still longed for a child.
At this point, many in Hannah’s shoes would have cut theirlosses. She had experienced this cycle of dashed hopes for years, and time was not on her side. In the long waiting and countless disappointments, Hannah could easily have inferred that she would always remain barren.
Yet Hannah remained hopeful. She arrived at the temple and “was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.” This prayer may not seem particularly hopeful, butconsider Hannah’s audacity to pray for something she has been continually denied. Despite all existing evidence, Hannah believed God could give her a son.
We read the following events in quick succession: Eli’s rebuke turns to blessing after he recognizes Hannah’s piety and prayer. She then conceives and gives birth to Samuel, the last and greatest of Israel’s judges.
However, the Bible never specifies how much time passed between Eli’s blessing and Hannah’s conception. She may have waited for months, if not years. She could have doubted that God would answer her prayer. After all, Eli’s blessing was not a promise. Even after conception, she still had nine nerve-wracking months of waiting and trusting that she would deliver.
Other believers experienced different outcomes to their hopeful, desperate prayers. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul begged God three times to remove an unspecified thorn in the flesh. God denied Paul’s prayer and reframed the situation as an opportunity to glorify God through weakness.
Still worse than a denied prayer may be an unanswered prayer. Job experienced calamities so bad that his wife encouraged him to curse God and die. “Oh that one would hear me!” Job cried. “Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book” (Job 31:35). God responded with questions that show his sovereignty but not the reason for Job’s suffering. The reader may peek inside the celestial battle surrounding Job, but he never did.
How should we pray for our heart’s deepest longings? Can we pray for a restoration, a healing, or a child that seems impossible? Do we dare dream that God will redeem ourbrokenness into something far more beautiful than we could have imagined?
Christ exemplified the correct posture of prayer. Like Hannah, his soul was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus begged God for a different outcome. “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me:” he pleaded. “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36). As the Son submitted his hopes and prayers to the Father, so must we.
The Christian who submits his prayers to God experiences a radical perspective shift. He can pray in confidence, trusting that his prayers in the spiritual realm can change outcomes in the physical. He can cling to the good promises of God, knowing that the Father gives good gifts. He can plead for what seems impossible, resting in God’s grace if it never comes to pass. Like Hannah, he can worship the Lord between the prayer and the answer.