Prayer for increase

… Please, to the first book of Samuel, chapter 1. We'll read from verse 10. And Hannah was in bitterness of soul, 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 will 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. It came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought that she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. 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. Therefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth good, tarry until they have weaned him, only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck, until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed. And the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord. For there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they have stumbled, are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread. And they that were hungry ceased, so that the barn hath borne seven. She that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. I was going to read the account in 1 Chronicles 4 where Jabez prayed and the Lord answered his prayer, but I think we better confine ourselves to what we have read for the moment. The story of Hannah is a very interesting one. The actual story is full of encouragement. Then it has a prophetical bearing, looking on to the time when Christ will be supreme, and it also has an application for us as Christians. So we can view the incident and the prayer in three ways. First of all, as I have said, an actual occurrence, so full of interest to see the way the Lord brought with his servant. And then prophetical, as I have said, it looks on to that wonderful day when God's anointed, God's king, Christ, the Son of God, will have supremacy in this world and all the enemies of God overthrown. And then its application for us today, and this is what we're particularly concerned about, that we might get some encouragement in this matter of prayer. I think individually and collectively, we are all concerned about spiritual progress. We continually hear of decline in one way or another. Praise God, there are spots where the Lord seems to be blessing, but in the general run of things, it seems to be the other way. And we desire to see a change. And how are we going to do it? We were saying this on Saturday evening, and we believe that prayer is one of the best things that we can be occupied with. In order to make things better, there are three things that we can do. First of all, I believe the most important is to pray. Secondly, we can talk about the truth and encourage each other in it. Maybe we have to adjust our thinking. But if we talk about the truth in humility and in love towards each other, then I'm sure the Lord helps us. Thirdly, when we know the truth, we can be an example of it. And this is always a means of making things better. Now, we want to view this in the context that we find it, a woman beset with adversaries, a woman sorrowing, bitter in her soul, because she hadn't received what she desired. We know from the book of Daniel that the Jewish women desired to give birth to a son. And that son, they hoped, would prove to be the Messiah, the long promised one to Israel. And every Jewish mother longed for this, that she might be the one that God would use to bring into being the Messiah. So for a Jewish woman to be barren was a great reproach to her. Here we find that it was God who closed up her womb, I believe, to test her faith and to cause her to pray in the way she did, in order that she might be an example for us of prayer and perseverance and answer and response to God. Oh, what a wonderful story it is. So Hannah, she was persecuted, she was ridiculed, and oh, how she felt it deeply. She might have gone to her husband and complained about the treatment, but in verse 10 that we began with, she prayed unto the Lord and she wept sore. I have to ask myself, as I ask you, when did you last shed tears in relation to the testimony? When did you feel your own spiritual condition so low, or the condition of the Christian testimony so low, that it produced in you tears, real tears and sorrow? We think of a man like Paul, who spoke about reminding the saints night and day for three years with tears. We read about this constantly in the life of this devoted man. And we have to ask ourselves, do we ever feel like this? How callous and how cold our hearts can be. And I believe the Lord would stir us up to be concerned that our hearts might be malleable, if you like, softened, if you like, to be concerned deeply over the prosperity of his interests. Here it was a very personal matter with Hannah, and she prayed and she wept. As the Lord looked down upon this dear woman, no doubt on bended knee in his presence and privacy and crying out her heart how he would appreciate such a condition. It wasn't just a red prayer, something that was repeated verbally again and again and again, a reiteration of the same phrases. I don't think it would be that kind of prayer. It would be a prayer from her heart, real, genuine, concerned, a crying to the Lord to reverse the situation she was in, for her own blessing, as we shall see, for the interests of the Lord. And so she prayed and she wept. But then she did a remarkable thing. She made a specific request. It wasn't a general prayer. It was a specific request. She says, Lord, I want a man child. And she says, if I get him, I'll give him back to you. He'll be yours forever. She was prepared to receive what her heart longed for and then to give it back to the Lord. What a remarkable woman, what earnestness of desire, what insight to see what would please the Lord. And she made this definite decision, which means, I believe, as far as we are concerned, that our prayers are not self-centered. We are praying for the Lord's interests. What a man Samuel was. He was the product of prayer. He was the product of care on the part of his mother and no doubt by his father. And what a man he became, a man of God, the prophet in Israel, the last of the judges, instrumental in presenting God's king to Israel, David, the son of Jesse. My, that dear woman never knew what she was praying for in the fullest sense when she prayed for a man child and God gave her a desire. And it might be the same with us. If we are really concerned about the Lord's interest to pray for them in the spirit of self-sacrifice, in the spirit of desire to do something for the Lord that will stand, that will stand the test of time and promote his interest in a deeper and fuller way. If we analyzed our prayers and if it were possible for them to be played back to us on the recorder, I think we'd be astounded to see how we ourselves are the center of our prayers, our interests, our desires, and so small a portion of them centered on the interests of our God and father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I think I'm saying the truth. At least I'll speak for myself. Oh, how we need to get orientated into the desires of God, the interests of God and pray earnestly in relation to them. Now, having made this tremendous vow, not only would she have a man child and return him to the one who gave him to her, but she would bring him up in such a way that he would be thoroughly and absolutely devoted to the Lord. She would bring him up as a Nazarite. I wonder how many parents have received children from the Lord and perhaps made a reservation that they would bring them up in the fear of the Lord. And then in the course of time, that desire perhaps faded away and perhaps the teaching wasn't given as it should have been given. But Hannah was true to her vow and she brought up a child in a proper way so that the child that was presented to the Lord had been brought up properly and was a fit instrument in the hand of the Lord. He was a true Nazarite indeed. I've never had children. I don't know the problems involved in bringing up children, so I cannot speak with experience. I can only state what the scripture state. It seems to me here was a woman who was thoroughly devoted to the interest of the Lord and the thing that was nearest to her heart, this man child that she longed for so much, would willingly be given back to the Lord and not in a haphazard way but a fit present to give to the Lord, brought up as a Nazarite and brought up to serve the Lord. Isn't it one of the saddest things in the history of the testimony as we know it? What God has given to us to defend the truth of the assembly, the free action of the headship of Christ and the Holy Spirit and all the truths connected with this. Isn't it one of the saddest things how few of the children of the saints continue in this pathway and theoretically it should be the reservoir that should be drawn upon to fill up the ranks. I cannot make any accusation against any of the parents why this should be so. One can only observe the fact and see that it is so, know what a sad thing it is and I can only grieve with the parents over this kind of thing. And so it is dear woman, after having made this vow it says she continued praying before the Lord, she continued praying. Not like a prayer that can be put in the files and can be drawn up at some convenient moment, a continuance in prayer. The desire of the heart so active in this way, prayer, prayer, prayer. I don't know how long she prayed but she continued in prayer and having made the desire, having expressed her vow, having expressed her determination to do this, she continued in it until the time came when she got peace and assurance. The bitterness passed away. The prophet, or rather the priest, he said to her, go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. How easy it is to be mistaken. Eli was a priest of the Lord and he thought she was drunk because her lips were moving, he didn't hear any sound, she was acting in a way that indicated she was intoxicated but he was wrong, absolutely wrong. She was praying earnestly to the Lord and she expressed this to him and then he saw that here was a woman with real desires and he gave her the blessing of the Lord, go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition. Look at the change. So the woman went her way and indeed and her countenance was no more sad. I believe that there are times when we pray about matters, I think I can say humbly that I have known this in my experience, that there are times when we pray and we know that our prayer has been heard and it's going to be answered. All that we have to do is to wait in patience until the Lord's time comes. I often say there are three answers to our prayers, yes, no and wait and it's the waiting that's the testing time. But she continued, continued on in her praying and then she receives this confirmation from the servant of the Lord, yes, your prayer will be answered, her countenance was changed, no more sad and she ate, it would seem that she had been fasting and she went on her way rejoicing. And now look at the result, verse 19, they rose up in the morning early and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to their house to Ramah and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her. The first thing is husband and wife worship together, oh that's a happy thing when the home life is of such a character where husband and wife are devoted to the Lord's interests and they can worship together, pray together, consider the Lord's interest together, what a happy, happy home that kind of home is. The Lord's blessing is there, there is a response to the Lord, the Lord's interests are cared for there and that's the kind of home that the Lord is welcome in. You remember at Bethany in the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, he was welcome and they made him a supper and I'm sure they knew something about worship and prayer as he was in the midst and so it was with Elkanah and his wife Hannah, they worshiped the Lord and the Lord remembered Hannah. This is the great thing, think of a God who hears our prayers, takes account of the motives, the desires. In the epistle of James he says, ye ask and receive not. How often are we to say that's true of our prayers? We ask and receive not. Why says James? Because ye ask amiss that ye might consume it in your lusts. Now I don't suppose any of us are praying for any great things in this world but the motive may be wrong in our prayers. Somewhere in the prayer there's that little worm of self. I don't think the Lord countenances these prayers and so James says you've got to ask in faith. A double-minded man doesn't receive anything from the Lord, it's this purpose, this motive that is behind the prayer, the desire for the Lord's glory and for the Lord's interests and this is why I believe we find this statement in connection with Hannah, the Lord remembered Hannah and now the wheels began to move so that Hannah's prayer should be answered. Well we find that the child is born, Samuel, he's given a name that would be a continual reminder that Hannah's prayer had been answered. She asked him of the Lord and the Lord gave him to her. There was the continual reminder that Hannah had prevailed in prayer and the Lord had remembered her and had blessed her. Well that's a very very wonderful thing and I'm sure many many Christians have experienced this blessing. They've received what they have prayed for in relation to the Lord's interests. I believe that the Christian testimony is borne up in power by the prayers of many. Many who are praying in their homes, elderly people, never reaching the public eye but a volume of prayer ascending to God and God listening to them. We remember revivals in the islands in the north of Scotland, where the revival that was a result of prayer. Some few saints gathering together and crying to the Lord to bring revival. When I was in America last year I went to a meeting in New York and a very large meeting mainly colored people and I was told that at one point there was one brother and 15 sisters. So when it was prayer meeting night they had one prayer. Well said the sisters to the brother, you go home and we'll have the prayer meeting which meant 15 prayers. There's over 150 in fellowship in that meeting today. Wonderful what the Lord can do when there's definite exercise. So this is the kind of thing that we find here in this chapter. The Lord remembered Hannah. The prayer was real, it was a proper motive, the Lord honored it and there was a visible witness that her prayer had been answered. Samuel asked of the Lord, well Elkanah goes up to worship but Hannah remains at home. She says I'm going to wean the child. It would have been very easy for her to give the child immediately. No she says I'll wean the child and mothers know that process, the long process that's involved before the child is weaned and the child gets entwined in the affections. The child becomes part of the mother, well the child is part of the mother but more and more in the affections as the mother cares for the child before this time of weaning I believe this indicates the extent of the sacrifice that Hannah made. She handed the child over to the Lord, thoroughly weaned, know how she loved him and how she cared for him as we see in the succeeding chapters preparing a garment for him year by year as he grew and given to the Lord and given to the Lord's servant and what a man he became. Now in verse 24 when she had weaned him she took him up with her with three bullocks and one ephor of flour and a bottle of wine and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh and the child was young. I think this indicates to us that there was a very definite response to God. God had done his part. Now says Hannah we'll do our part and I believe the bullocks would be burnt offerings, the flour indicates the meal offering and the wine indicates the drink offering and the drink offering is always associated with joy. The Lord has his part, the offerer has his part, a mutual matter of joy and having received this blessing from the Lord Hannah and her husband respond unto the Lord with worship and thanksgiving. Then she gives testimony to Eli for this child I prayed and the Lord had given me my petition which I asked of him therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord and note what it says and he that is Eli worshipped there. Here is worship, fellowship in worship, Hannah and her husband they worshipped, Eli as he saw the result of the prayer he worshipped. What a wonderful thing prayer is, what wonderful things it produces, a response to God, response in worship and praise all involved in it. Those who received the blessing, the priest of the Lord so happy in his soul that he saw this answer to prayer and he worships too. And now we come to this prayer of Hannah and Hannah prayed. I want to divide it up very simply, verses one to three refer specifically to the greatness of God. Verse four to verse eight indicates the God who can change things and then from verse nine and ten we find a prophetic reference to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But first of all these opening verses one to three. My heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. It was indeed salvation, a very practical result of prayer, very definite evidence that God would save this woman from bitterness and from the reproach of her enemy and change things in such a remarkable way that she prayed and praised as I believe we could rightly connect with this prayer. And it's all about the Lord, her strength is in the Lord, her exaltation is in the Lord, he is the one who has brought about the salvation. There's no mention of what she had done in prayer, it's rather what God has done as a result of her prayer, she gives God the glory. Isn't this true in the prayer that the Lord taught the disciples to pray? God first, that's always right in prayer, God first, his interests and then the interests of others and then our own personal interests. And so here Hannah intuitively knowing what is right she glorifies the God who had done so much for her. We find this in the Old Testament, we find it in the New Testament, praise God we find it in our own experience. I think it's one of the ways to warm our hearts when we bend our knees in prayer, not immediately to embark on our request for help or support or guidance but just for a few moments to be engaged with the greatness of God himself, just to let something enter into our souls of the greatness of the one to whom we are speaking, whether it's the Lord personally or whether it's God our Father and doing these things in the power of the Spirit. We're exhorted to pray in the Spirit and I believe this is the way we pray in the Spirit, by addressing God the Father, by addressing God the Son, by his power and service so that we say the right things and are consistent with their glory and greatness. I think this is the way that warms our hearts when first of all we acknowledge their greatness and glory and supremacy, so small and puny as we are and yet privileged to speak to them in freedom, in liberty, with some intelligence in our souls as to their greatness and yet who are we that can speak to them and yet this is the wonder of the salvation that God has secured for us, that we can speak just as if someone in our presence, some friend of ours speaking to them face to face and that's the wonder of the communion today. God is not a God who is far off, he's a God who is near, hears our petitions, glad to have us in his presence, glad to listen to what we have to say and I believe preeminently to hear us say how great he is, how wonderful he is, possessed of illimitable power and our desires are so small in one sense compared to the greatness of the operations that he has in hand and so very often the things that loom so great in our vision are so small when we bring them to God. You remember when David went into the presence of God, who am I he says, who am I that should be in the presence of this great God, what is my house that I should ask for it in the way I'm asking but he says thy condescending gentleness hath made me great, what a wonderful statement to make in the presence of God and I believe again I say it's this that really brings warmth into the heart as for a few moments we recognize the greatness of God before we begin to ask him for things that are near to our hearts so she goes on to say there is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee neither is there any rock like our God. If I have iniquity in my heart the scripture says God will not hear me. Read through the book of Proverbs and you'll find again and again statements to that effect that the prayers of the unrighteous are an abomination to God. I believe moral condition is a tremendous necessity in this matter of prayer. God is holy and he would have his servants holy. We're told to lift up clean hands in the sanctuary, we're told to come before God in purity, contrite heart. We cannot go into God's presence and pray for his interests with thoughts of revenge or with thoughts of anger against our fellow believers. All these things must be eliminated from our minds and consciences. God is holy and he would have us to be holy and when we approach him in prayer or in worship oh that subdues us when we go into the presence of God when we remember that he is holy. There cannot be any levity in his presence, there cannot be anything that speaks of man and his glory in his presence. He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord and so Hannah she recognizes the holiness of God and what was necessary for his company. Then she said neither is there any rock like our God. I commend for your interest the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy and see how often God is spoken of in that chapter as a rock and then think of the other rocks, the rocks of the heathens, their idols and their support and think of the tremendous contrast between God and them and this is what Hannah is saying oh she says there's no rock like our God. Our God she says that indicates some sense of relationship in her soul and thinks of the stability of God, the permanency of God. Nobody can overthrow God, nothing can overthrow God. He's able in his power to bring into effect what he desires and then talk no more so exceeding proudly let not arrogance come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. There are many portions in the word of God that tells us that God is a heart knowing God. We might be before him with very correct expressions, may not be true of our hearts. God knows the heart and by him actions are weighed. The parable that the Lord Jesus spoke or rather the story that he told of the two men who went up to the temple to pray. One says God I thank thee that I am not as other men and went on to say he was a very good man by our standards he was a very good man albeit a very proud and arrogant one but the other man he couldn't lift up his face to heaven but smote upon his breast and declared in reality what he was in the presence of God and God heard him and God answered his prayer because God is a heart knowing God. You remember the two men who were chosen one of them was to be chosen from the two to fill up the place of Judas. The disciples felt that they couldn't make the decision and so they prayed to the Lord and said Lord thou knowest the hearts of all men. Outwardly those two men were just the same they had been with the Lord they knew all that the Lord did from the baptism of John right up till the time he ascended into glory. They were conversant about the Lord and the things of the Lord. Now said the disciples thou art the heart knowing Lord tell us which of the two is to take the place of Judas and the lot fell on Matthias and he was chosen to fill up the place. The scripture doesn't tell us what was wrong with the other brother there was something wrong with his heart however intelligent he was as to the things of the Lord however faithful he was outwardly as to his service there was something wrong with his heart and the Lord put him aside and he chose the other one. Now here we find this in Hannah's prayer God is a God of actions God a God of knowledge by him actions are weighed you remember what it says of Belshazzar he was weighed in the balances and he was found wanting a God who weighs our actions who knows our motives who knows our desires who knows everything about us he can look right into our hearts and judge accurately why we say things and why we do things and why we pray about things. There was any question about Hannah her heart was as transparent as possible wasn't a single thought of self it was all about Christ rather all about God and all about God's interests and she was so real and genuine in it God answered her prayer the supremacy of God was very much in Hannah's heart. Now for a few moments from verses 4 to 8 God who reverses situations the adversary had been very prominent prior to Hannah praying and poor Hannah had a very difficult time indeed but now we see in all the sentences that she makes the position is reversed instead of being persecuted she's in a place of peace and blessing instead of being barren she has a son whom she can give to the Lord instead of being the enemy why she's now in a place of nearness to God under his favor and kindness we could go over all these sentences and we would find that this is the God who changes things oh my I need to get that into my soul and I'm sure you need to there's no need to acquiesce in a situation personally or in our homes or in our meetings it isn't right to acquiesce and say well there's nothing we can do about it we must accept it we can we can pray to God who changes things and this has been done again and again and again in lives in homes in meetings in the Christian testimony there is a God who hears prayers good prayers genuine prayers coming from the heart and conscience and God can change things if you forget all else oh please remember this and myself too that we have a God who can change things he's so powerful he's so great that he can deal with any situation whatever it might be and can bring in blessing he can bring in blessing into seemingly impossible situations now if we haven't this faith in God it seems to me we'll never make very much progress Paul roars it triumphantly from Romans 8 if God be for us who can be against us there is a note of triumph and we can all take that home to our souls this evening a God who changes then in verse 9 he will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness for by strength shall no man prevail well we've all experienced this I'm sure that he keeps our feet keeps our feet in a straight path when it might be so easy to turn aside and wander I say this often to my own soul I say it sometimes in public too that as we look back over our lives we say well however did we get through how was it that we kept going we can remember times when it would have been so easy to slip away we can only say well God kept our feet kept our feet in the pathway for his pleasure and glory because he had something for us to do and he wanted some response from our hearts and praise God in the uncertain days that lie ahead days that we do not know days of darkness perhaps days of difficulty we can have this confidence he will keep the feet of his saints there is one verse that is often a joy to my spirit and it's in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 and Paul the servant of the Lord is in prison and he's facing great difficulty wasn't a pleasant experience for him but he utters the word so triumphantly to Timothy when he says the Lord shall preserve me rather the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and shall preserve me and to his heavenly kingdom there is a man with the faith in his soul that God will keep his feet and we need this dear brethren days of great opposition and difficulty we have a God who keeps us remember the Lord Jesus said to his father none of them is lost I've guarded them I've kept them oh how wonderful it is today that the Lord keeps us and as we just quietly give our lives into his keeping how able he is to do it and lead us along step by step for his pleasure and glory Hannah knew this Hannah had experienced it she knew the joy of victory through prayer and she was able to respond to the God who had done it all now lastly just for one minute in verses 10 and 11 then particularly the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces out of heaven shall he thunder upon them the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed that could only be said through divine inspiration at that time there was no king in Israel there was no suggestion of a king and yet here is Hannah speaking about a king speaking about the Lord's anointed again I say this could only be through divine inspiration and while partially it was fulfilled in David the son of Jesse finally and completely it will be fulfilled in Jesus the son of God God's king God's anointed when every adversary will be overthrown and destroyed and a permanent change for the better will be brought in for a thousand years when God's king reigns and all the adversaries are put down forever you see Hannah was a living picture of this she had overcome her adversaries had been defeated and she was in the joy of victory so it would be with the Lord's anointed he would overcome he would bring in different conditions and he would create praise and worship to God for that wonderful period when he shall be supreme and now lastly verse 11 and Elkanah went to Ramah to his house and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest we live in days when so often there is a great deal of segregation goes on the young Christians want to be with themselves they don't want to have the older saints with them here we find a young boy and he's with an old man and in the old man's company he's going to learn something as we find in a later chapter something that he couldn't discern himself he wasn't of sufficient age or maturity to discern the Lord's voice when he was speaking to him but he learned it through Eli the priest the young and the old they walk together I would say to the young brethren keep in the company of those who know more than yourself by that you'll learn this is the way we have all learned to be in the company of older brothers mature brothers and from them we learn by their knowledge by their experience and we make progress all through the scriptures this is the true principle the true pattern and would to God it was followed more today so that the young and the old moved together for the pleasure of God and what a delightful scene it is to see this young boy handed over to the Lord and in the presence of this aged servant learning what is pleasing to the Lord so Hannah's prayer it bore wonderful fruit and is an encouragement I'm sure for each one of us to continue earnestly in prayer and to make sure that those prayers are God-centered Christ-centered and of course our own problems and difficulties too the Lord delights to hear them and he delights to answer them may we be encouraged for his namesake …