POURING OUT OUR SOUL

The first time I ran across this phrase in scripture it stopped me in my tracks. This was many years ago and I still remember that my thought was: What does it mean to ”pour out your soul?” The text was 1 Samuel 1:15 when Hannah was praying for a baby and eventually conceived Samuel. “And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!”
But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.”  

This is not the first or the last time that when one ‘prays in the spirit’ or speaks in tongues that others (and especially the religious crowd: Eli) do not understand or desire it. How deeply this kind of prayer might be is anyone’s guess. For example: The Psalmist wrote: “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” This is written just after the famous… “As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God…” (Psalms 42:1-4)

I just know that “pouring out our soul” is a very deep, personal and gut-wrenching and soul squeezing time of prayer. May no one be around when this occurs, especially religious people who may tell you that you are drunk.

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Jesus