Thomas Carlyle has written: "Prayer is and remains the native and deepest impulse of the soul." Our major time of deputation for International Ministries in 2001 was following September 11th. In fact we were on the only Alaska Air flight to leave Burbank airport on the Friday after 9/11 as flights resumed (we flew to Seattle). It was during this time that I stayed on one trip back east with a fellow pastor and he was relating his images of the days following the tragic events. He shared that his son-in-law had little use for the church and Christianity. However, as he was watching the news coverage in the days that followed he noted, as he watched the news they showed people gathering in the various churches around ground zero for prayer and reflection, there was his son-in-law. As he later talked with him, his son-in-law responded, "Dad, I knew of no where else to go."
Abraham Lincoln has said, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no were else to go; my own wisdom and that of those around me seemed insufficient for the day."
We all have those moments of "desperate prayers". Those moments when we have no where else to turn. Today I want to look at two desperate prayers: The prayer of Hannah and the prayers of the Church for Peter in prison.
Hannah is one of two wives. She is the one who is loved the most (vs 5) but she is also the one that has no children (in a society where worth is often measured in the number of children you produce). Because she is the one who is loved the most she is also at the end of the taunting of the other wife and her children. There is jealousy and division in the household and the annual trip to make sacrifices are not times of joy and celebration for Hannah. She would rather be allowed to stay home alone with her shame than to face the world barren again. Her husband is no help, he does not understand "don't you know I love you more" and in that love he gives her a double portion.
Desperate, she enters into a period of intense prayer. She has determined that if she is allowed to have a child she will dedicate him to the Lord. She will designate him as a Nazarite. Tony Campolo tells how his mother had committed him to the ministry before he was born and how she told him that almost daily. He comments, "What else could I do but enter the ministry!" Then he wonders why more mothers today don't commit their children to ministry. Hannah was one of those mothers.
Hannah's prayer is so intense that Eli thinks she is drunk. As intense as Hannah is, Eli is dense! He sees her praying, her lips moving with no words coming out and assumes she is drunk. Now I am not sure how many drunks Eli had been around but those that I have been around are usually not quiet! It is not that I have been around that many but after years on the fire department/rescue squad, whenever we encountered a drunk they were not silent unless they had passed out! Eli, though, assumes Hannah has had a little too much wine—her lips move with no sound coming from her.
How do you see Hannah praying? I remember a prayer meeting when one of the older members of the congregation began praying about her illness and her anger with God. She recalled how Mrs. So and So had been healed and wanted to know why God had not healed her. It was not long into her prayer that we realized she had forgotten where she was and as her voice got louder and louder and her anger more intense we wondered what to do. She challenged God that she had better be healed "or else!" We were never sure what the "or else" was. Even when the Pastor tried to pray and perhaps hint to her that she should stop she only raised her voice and continued. Even slight taps on the shoulder would not deter her from her prayer. She was not healed of her illness, but it was one of the most intense prayers that I have ever heard.
Now lets move ahead to Peter and his time in prison. Herod has had James, the brother of John, killed and this has pleased the foes of the church. As he watches his percentage points rise in the polls, he arrests Peter and sees them go up another notch or two.
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Peter is in prison chained to two guards and with four squads of soldiers guarding the doors (vs. 4). While this is happening the church is involved in desperate prayers for Peter and the church. They knew what had happened to James and are probably sure this is what Herod has in mind for Peter, and then who knows who else. God has a different outcome, and while Peter is in prison an angel comes, puts the guards to sleep, loosens the chains, opens the doors and leads Peter out to the street. Thinking he is dreaming (one of those really vivid dreams) he realizes this not a dream and he is free. He goes to the place where he knows the church has gathered and is praying. He knocks and Rhoda comes, sees it is Peter, forgets to open the door and runs back to those gathered, announcing that Peter is at the door. They say she is wrong, it is an angel or something…but whatever it is is still knocking on the door. They go and let Peter in, hear his story and then he goes to another location. God has heard their desperate prayers.
I want to look a little more at these two stories and note the differences. The first is that Hannah is praying alone, for Hannah. This is a very personal, private prayer. She is at the end of her rope emotionally – a hard place to be – and she has no where else to go. Her husband doesn't understand. The other woman is the one who is causing much of her grief, and even the priest is too dumb to know what is going on. She goes to the only place she knows and does the only thing that seems likely to help: she prays. If no one else is listening maybe God will. As Eli tries to dismiss her you can almost hear her shout, LISTEN TO ME. SOMEONE LISTEN TO ME. It is at this moment that Eli assures her that God has heard her and her petition has come before God. She goes back to her tent and her whole countenance has changed, "her countenance was no longer sad." Someone had listened to her. There is only a promise, but someone has heard her… God.
As we look at Peter we discover the whole church is praying (but are they expecting God to answer?). This is a community effort. There may be several prayer meetings around the city for Peter and God's intervention. They are hoping for a pardon or maybe just a few lashes and stern lecture. They are not expecting Peter to be released from prison. They are surprised when God intervenes. Did they pray for James? Why was he not spared? But this can't be Peter; he is in jail, chained to guards; there is no way he could escape. Still they pray, just in case, desperate prayers.
Does God hear all desperate prayers? Yes, but sometimes the answer is no. They had probably prayed for James. Maybe not as intently as they had for Peter, but they prayed. Jesus, as he prays in the garden, asks if there is any way possible the cup pass from him. He prays this desperate prayer three times and the answer is always the same: there is no other way. This is not an easy prayer to pray. It means that we place our hands in the hands of God and even though our prayers are desperate we know sometimes there is no other way. No other way, as hard and tragic as that is.
How intently do we pray? We are going to become more intentional in our prayers. Beginning next Sunday we will meet from 10:35 to 10:50 a.m. in room 101 to have a time of prayer for the church and our Sunday service. Then when we begin our Wednesday programs in the fall we will gather for prayer from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. following our Bible study (again in room 101). This will be an opportunity for those who want to gather and pray for the church and who don't have other responsibilities (choir) to spend time in prayer. We want to become a church and people at prayer.
Maltbie D. Babcock has written: "Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God." Let us become a people of prayer. Not only desperate prayer.
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