A WORD FOR PLUTA

1 Samuel 1:9-10 1 Samuel 1:17-18

9 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli
the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.
10And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.
17 Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace : and the God of Israel grant thee thy
petition that thou hast asked of him.
18 And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her
way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.

Prayers are bizarre really. We do not pray to inform God of something new – or God
would not be God. We do not pray to change God’s mind – or again, God would not be
God, the fountain of Wisdom.
We pray to change ourselves – to put ourselves in a different frame of mind and more
importantly, to open or make our own heart flexible.
People usually go to prayer – through suffering and terror, need and fear.You can’t take
away your own fear. God does that.
This is what Hannah did at Shiloh, and praying delivered her from her deep distress.
Her pain and desperation brought her down to her knees in prayer.
After her husband had made his annual sacrifice at the temple in Shiloh, and the family
was feasting, Hannah crept to the tabernacle and poured out her soul to the Lord,
unleashing her anger, frustration, and grief, and vowing to the Lord that if He would
remember her, and give her a male child, then she would present him to the for the
Lord’s service. Hannah would present him not just for a year or two, but for his whole
life.
Prayer has the power to transform us – from addiction to recovery, from shame to self-
esteem, from intolerance to acceptance, from fearful anxiety to inexplicable trust.
Hannah returned to the banquet, and the scriptures read, “her countenance was no
longer sad.”
Hannah’s experience in prayer left her feeling loved and remembered. Perhaps it was
her change of heart which enabled her body to conceive.
Do you pray? Hannah’s story reminds us that it’s a powerful, influencing and effectual
practice. How have your prayers changed you?
May prayer forever be a powerful force in our lives - as it was in Hannah’s – opening
our hearts to the one in whom we live and move and have our being- the living God.

Elder Paul Macharia Page 1|1