“Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. … So Hannah rose up and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. … So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.” (1 Samuel 1:1–20 (KJV))
Years after years, Hannah always wanted to have a child, so she kept coming to God. The biggest problem is that she is barren. To Hannah, children are her needs and wants. Years after years, God doesn’t answer her prayers because she brings her needs and wants. Notice, God doesn’t answer because God has an intention. In her prayers, the frequency of Hannah’s prayer is aligned with God’s. God continues to align the frequency of our prayers. God continues to align our needs and wants with His needs. God cannot be forced by our needs. God wants us to understand His needs.
When asked what does she really want, Hannah always answered, “I want children, I need children.” However, she finally realizes why God kept asking what she wanted. That is, God wants Hannah to understand God’s needs, as if to say “I know you have needs, I know you have wants, but do you understand that I also have needs, I also have wants?”
Hannah begins to understand and begins to find out what God needs are, what God wants are. God wants a prophet, a priest, and God’s needs become known to Hannah. God begins to reveal it in her prayer so that in the end when Hannah’s needs were full with God’s needs, Hannah’s needs begin to align. Hannah’s wants are no longer fulfilling her present needs, but her wish was only to meet God’s needs that want a prophet because Eli did not function properly so that at that time no words of God were spoken because all the spiritual leaders were not functioning; there are no words of God, no visions, no utterances from God so that God’s people live in defeat after defeat because God does not speak and His glory is not manifested.
If we want to meet God’s needs and wants, we need God because only He can give birth to what He wants and can fulfill what we need. However, God needs a mean, He needs a mediator that can be used to ‘give birth’. Giving birth to whom? Giving birth to a leader who can deliver God’s voice, a leader who can manifest His work.
So what should we do? We must pray to God and submit all the results of our prayers to God so that everything we receive, we receive it from God. Not only God that meets our needs, but we also meet God’s needs with our prayers. The result of our prayer, first and foremost, is to meet God’s needs. There is an exchange in prayer. Not only God that gives, but we can also give to God. If the results of our prayers come from God, then the results of our prayers can be enjoyed by others We no longer strive for our wants and needs. May God lead us to our Gethsemane, where God can reveal His needs to us.
Also read: The True Life of Christianity.
