1 Samuel 1:12–13 Now it came about, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli was watching her mouth. 13 As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk.
We are going to conclude our look at reasons for praying (and especially reasons for praying together at the prayer meeting) with a final consideration of what prayer does not have to be like for God to hear and answer it.
We have seen that it does not have to be long or eloquent to be heard, and how some are afraid to come to the prayer meeting because they cannot make long and eloquent prayers like others and they do not think there is any point in coming if they are not going to make an audible prayer. Others are so terrified to speak aloud in front of a group that they find it hard to pray aloud for others to listen. What shall we say in such cases? Are believers who suffer these problems better off staying at home and leaving the prayers of the fellowship to others? Not at all! In the case of long, eloquent prayers, we already saw that these do not impress God unless they come from a sincere and rightly-motivated heart. What about the timid soul who dare not pray aloud?
First, remember the reason we looked at a while ago about adding your "amen" at the end of a prayer you agree with. You cannot do that (audibly or otherwise) unless you are at the meeting to hear the prayer! You may find it easier to say "amen" out loud if you are one among many who do so at the end of a prayer. Remember, the Lord doesn't merely look at the words, but also at the hearts of those praying and answers according to what He sees in terms of motives and desires.
But second, take a look at our text. Hannah was so deeply moved and oppressed by the burden of her barrenness that as she prayed at the Tabernacle, she moved her lips in prayer but no sound came out. Did the Lord "hear" her prayer? Think of Abraham interceding before God for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah, while the fate of his nephew Lot was a major but unspoken concern on his heart. Did the Lord "hear" this silent prayer and rescue Lot, even though He had not undertaken to spare anyone if those cities contained less than 10 righteous people? Think of Nehemiah looking sad before the king but shooting a silent prayer to God for help just before making his request. Did God "hear" his silent request and help him?
In all these cases, God looked at the heart of the one praying and heard the unspoken prayer. Since this is true, even when we are unable to speak aloud for various reasons, we can certainly still pray acceptably in God's sight. This should be another great encouragement to us to pray! God has not set the bar for acceptance so high in prayer that only a select few of His children ever reach the mark. ALL His children can, must and indeed, will pray acceptably because of the work of Jesus applied to them by the Holy Spirit.
So in this coming week, do not listen to yourself as you begin to rationalize non-attendance at the prayer meeting on the basis of your inadequacies in prayer. It is God Who makes your prayers adequate! Come to the prayer meeting, seek Him for His blessings and His grace, whether aloud or in silent prayer!
Look back over the last 51 reasons to pray if you need more encouragement. There are certainly more we could have given, but having seen these, readers may be able to supply additional ones of their own! May God bless us all in this activity for His glory alone. Amen!
