Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”  

While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her mouth. Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” 

“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.” 

(1 Samuel 1:10-16, CSB) 

Imagine the scene.  

Hannah, bitterly heartbroken and tormented by her husband’s other wife for not being able to conceive a child for him, heads to the Lord’s temple to pour out her anguish and pain before the Lord.  

To add insult to injury, the temple priest, Eli, accuses her of being drunk in the house of the Lord! All Hannah was doing was expressing her deep distress to the only person she knew could do something about it – her God.  

Have you ever been there? 

Plans for your life haven’t gone as you anticipated and the pain of your circumstances taunt you day in and day out. 

Whether you know this particular brand of pain or not, I believe we all know what it is, as followers of Jesus, to cry out to Him in pain.  

I am yet to meet an individual who has not seen the goodness of God in their darkest hour and most desperate prayer. They may not have seen the answer they were hoping for, but they did see God’s hand at work in their lives for the benefit of their lives and the good of the Kingdom.  

When considering why God answers some prayers with a resounding ‘yes!’ and others with a gentle ‘no’ or even ‘not yet’, I believe it is wise to remember who we are dealing with here.  

God is the Creator of the world, the universe, the heavens and everything in them. He is in ultimate control of eternity and the destiny of every single creature that moves along the earth.  

He has the capacity to zoom out and see events from a macro perspective, then in a moment He can zoom back into the micro details of our lives.  

He is wisdom personified and love in action.  

We do not need to fear His jurisdiction or hand of guidance.  

This is the reason why we can receive a prayer that has seemingly gone unanswered with a grateful heart, because He loves us and only gives good gifts to His children.  

With all that being said, I do not believe God leaves us hanging when it comes to our earthly requests. He may say ‘no’ or ‘not yet’ but I am of the opinion that we always get an answer to our prayers, one way or another.  

Hannah did receive an answer to her prayers; Samuel was the fruit of her fervent petitions and heartfelt desire.  

The Bible encourages to ask, seek and knock and that when we do, we will receive the answer, realisation and open door we desire. It may not be in the timing we envisioned, or happen the way we imagined it to, but sure enough the God of the Bible and the God of the universe can be trusted again and again to answer the prayers of His people.  

Only open the scriptures to a book of your choosing and you will find evidence of this truth littered across its pages.