GOD HAS HEARD

The story of Hannah is always a reminder that after a perhaps long season of prayer and disappointment there is finally a break-through. Hannah wanted to have a child and she could not (1 Samuel 1:5). She ‘prayed and wept bitterly’ in petition to the Lord. The actual wording in verse 1:10 is ‘with bitterness of soul, and prayer, she wept bitterly.’ That’s a deep inner brokenness and crying out.

It is that deepness we may all experience when we want a child and cannot conceive, or a premature death, a divorce from a mate, loss of job, loss of a pet, unwise money decisions, a child that goes strangely in an ungodly direction, uncommon sickness and health issues… this kind of stuff causes deep inner brokenness and crying out…‘bitterness of soul.’

But the Lord heard Hannah’s prayer. She named him Samuel, saying, “His name is Samuel because I asked the Lord for him.” (1 Samuel 1:20) I read where the name Samuel sounds like the Hebrew word for “God heard.” It is commonly translated as ‘heard of God’ or ‘God has heard.’

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Jesus