IN HIS GRIP: WHEN PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

It has been a long-term prayer. For years she had been taunted for being barren, leaving her so depressed that she would be reduced to tears and wouldn’t even eat. In her deep anguish, she bitterly cried out in prayer to the LORD – for God to look upon her sorrow and give her a son (and that she will dedicate him to God as a Nazirite)... The Lord of Heaven’s Armies answered her prayer – Hannah had a son and she named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”

A long-term prayer. Her heart’s utmost desire. An answered prayer! Finally, she was cradling her own baby in her arms. I bet she loved Samuel so much! And then she said (1 Samuel 1:22), “Wait until the boy is weaned. Then I will take him to the Tabernacle and LEAVE HIM there with the Lord PERMANENTLY.” She would only get to see her beloved son once a year and yet when she went back to Eli to give Samuel to the Lord, there was no bitterness, no regrets. Instead she worshipped: "My heart rejoices in the Lord!...No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides You, there is no Rock like our God..."

Let’s rewind to Abraham whom God had promised to make into a great nation and yet for so many years, until he and Sarah were gray and old, he remained childless. Then one day, the Lord said, “..about this time next year, your wife will have a son!” Sarah laughed silently and said to herself,” How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master – my husband – is also so old?”

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

The next year, Isaac was born to Abraham – a promise fulfilled. A prayer had been answered! I bet Abraham loved his son so much! A few years later the Lord called out to Abraham: “Take your son, YOUR ONLY SON – yes Isaac, whom you love so much…” (Yes, God even emphasized on that) “…Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains…”

If I were Abraham, I would have been dumbfounded. What about God’s promise of him becoming a great nation through Isaac? How would I be able to give up my son whom, as God pointed out, I love so much? But there we read that Abraham got up early the next morning and off he went with Isaac to the place God has told him about. I’m sure Abraham’s heart was grieving but he knew the God whom he served and had chosen to obey. And we know his obedience and faith were rewarded!

Hebrews 11:17-19 said that “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.’ Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”

A test of faith. A test of devotion. A test of the heart.

When our long-term prayers, the very desires of our hearts, have been answered, would GOD remain in the throne of our hearts, or would He be replaced by the answers to those prayers?

A.W. Tozer said, “Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.” When God answers our prayers, may we always remain faithful and obedient as Hannah and Abraham were and commit all the blessings back to Him for safekeeping and to keep our hearts from committing idolatry – knowing that even in all the good things we receive – NOTHING ELSE COULD SATISFY LIKE THE LORD.

by katrina silvestre