Editor’s Reading Note: As you read, consider the kind of relationship that the Lord develops with us through our prayers to Him. How does Hannah’s will combine with that of her Heavenly Father in bringing about blessings for which she asks? What are the conditions of those blessings, and what kind of ‘work’ is required of Hannah to receive them? What specific aspects of praying does the author point to as ways to enhance the power of our prayers? Can you think of any to add?
Hannah prays for a son. Thus begins the summary to chapter 1 of the first book of Samuel in the LDS edition of the Old Testament. It’s a very simple sentence, but the sum of all the experiences it describes likely spanned several years and both plumbed and expanded the depths of Hannah’s soul.
It seems evident that it was God’s will that Samuel be born. Samuel spoke with the Lord at an early age, became a mighty prophet in Israel and a counselor to Saul, and anointed David to be Israel’s king. Samuel was known of God and served as his instrument throughout his life. It is also clear that Hannah desired a son, and yet 1 Samuel 1:5 says “the Lord had shut up her womb.” Why? The Bible Dictionary defines prayer as “the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other.” Did Hannah’s prayers change God’s will? The Bible Dictionary further reads, “The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work.”
The Biblical account relates that “year by year” (v. 7) when the family went to Shiloh to offer sacrifices, Peninnah, the other wife of Hannah’s husband, “provoked [Hannah] sore, for to make her fret” (v. 6) because of her barrenness. Hannah’s work in prayer likely occurred over these several years, and her feelings were severe. “She wept and did not eat” (v. 7). “She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore” (v. 10). Hannah went to the temple and “vowed a vow” (v. 11) in which she promised that if the Lord would give her a son, she would give him to the Lord.
In that prayer, the will of the Father and the will of his child Hannah were brought into correspondence with each other. Through the process of prayer we learn God’s will, but it is not like receiving a news report. We learn God’s will more thoroughly than that because it becomes our own. And through the process of prayer we find that we have become more like him.
One of my favorite lines in all hymns is the opening line, “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed.” In God’s mercy I have found even unexpressed desires becoming answered and fulfilled. Women’s native desires, love, and compassion have the potential to correspond with their prayers and to cultivate special blessings and influence. With each passing year that I live on my own, I become more and more aware of the guiding and protective influence of my mother’s prayers for me. I know she is watching over me even as we are hundreds of miles apart through her calls to God to watch over me. Her desires for my happiness and safety combine with the strength of her faith and faithfulness to be especially efficacious. As James wrote, “the prayer of a righteous servant availeth much” (James 5:16). As recounted in the Book of Mormon, Alma the Elder “prayed with much faith” for his rebellious son, and the miracle of the angel visiting Alma the Younger occurred at least in part “that the prayers of [the Lord’s] servants might be answered according to their faith” (Mosiah 27:14).
In like manner, in Hannah’s petitions to the Lord, she could plead to him, “look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmand” (1 Samuel 1:11). She could present herself as the Lord’s handmaid and elevate her prayers to the binding status of a vow because she knew through the Spirit that her heart was right before the Lord and that she was willing to give all. She knew that through her prayers “the will of the Father and the will of the child [had been] brought into correspondence with each other.” And although the details are very different, just as Hannah’s prayers set up a precedent for divine influence overseeing Samuel’s lifepath, I have felt both my mother and God coordinating watchcare over me, a shepherding team through the power of prayer.
I have felt the strength of righteous desires and love for others from my own heart express themselves in prayer, and in that process both my desires for others and my prayers expand. Some dear friends that I don’t stay in touch with regularly, but whose names I sometimes feel prompted to remember in my prayers in the temple still reach out to me from time to time with greater affection than I expect. Once, very concerned for a close friend who was far away, I knelt to pray for him and felt my appeal and specific requests for him flow freely. I thought of the experience of the Nephite disciples when the Savior visited them: “they did not multiply many words, for it was given unto them what they should pray, and they were filled with desire” (3 Nephi 19:24).
My experience is that prayer enhances our awareness of and ability to love God and others and that our love for God and others augments the reach of our prayers. If prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, then as our prayers improve, our souls and desires do as well. As Hannah did, we can “secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them.” And we can know, as did the rescued and watched over Alma the Younger, that God “granteth unto men according to their desire” (Alma 29:4). Like these two exemplars, as we grow in righteousness and desire, our fervent prayers will avail much. With such promises and potential, the last line of the hymn may become our sincere desire, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”
~~~
Sharon works as the manager of a choir and the editor of an academic journal. Her interests range from the more costly (travel, performing arts, sampling restaurants) to the wonderfully inexpensive (singing, running, libraries). Lately she has been singing, running, and visiting the library on at least a weekly basis. She lives in Chicago with a far-off view of the Sears Tower and closeup view of the freeway.
){kind=link}
This is beautiful. I, too, have found that prayers I pray for others are answered, in part, by my increased awareness of them and their needs. I have also felt my own faith increase as I consider the prayers that others offer in my behalf.