READ: 1 SAMUEL
1:9-13
There are
many prayer patterns. There are times when we have to shout to verbalise our
burdens in prayers. “To everything there is a season, a time for
every purpose under heaven: a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and the time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7). With the
permission of the Almighty God, one may say that there is a time to keep silent
and a time to shout. There is a time for silent prayers: the time when only
your lips move in prayer. We have a good example in our text. It is the story
of Hannah, when she poured out her heart to God. When Eli saw her, he thought
she was drunk. This tells us straight away that, in the olden days, when people
prayed in the temple, they prayed aloud. On this occasion, Hannah was doing the
exception: praying without making a sound. This made Eli think that she was drunk.
There is a time when all you need do is sigh and God will hear. God heard the
sigh of the children of Israel in Egypt (Exodus3:7). They have prayed for 400
years without anything happening and all that they could do was to sigh.
According to Psalm 46:10, the Bible says: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be
exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” There is a
time when you have to be still in the presence of the Lord. In Habakkuk 2:20,
the Bible says: “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before Him.” On some occasions when you feel the presence of God, the
best thing to do is to be silent. In Zechariah 2:13, the Bible says: “Be
silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!”
Occasionally, when we feel the Almighty God rising up in our midst, it is time
for silence. However, there is also the time to shout. As a matter of fact, the
Almighty God prefers that His children should shout. The shouting side is the
winning side. Wherever there is a shout there is life. In Psalm 100:1, it is
written: “Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands!”
MEMORIZE:
PSALM 46:11 –Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the
nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
