Just a few more days of 31 Days of Fasting Together in January! If you have missed any posts, they have all gathered together in one place…here!
Maybe you remember Hannah from the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel. Hannah was married to a wonderful man named Elkanah, who loved her very, very much. But Hannah was not his only wife, as was customary in those days, although never God’s plan. He had another wife, Peninnah, who was not particularly hospitable. Peninnah had children by Elkanah, but Hannah’s womb was barren, and Peninnah loved to boast to (and even torment), poor Hannah about the fact that she was childless!
Matthew Henry’s commentary on Elkanah’s wives: “The original cause of this division (in Elkanah’s house) was Elkanah’s marrying two wives, which was a transgression of the original institution of marriage, to which our Saviour reduces it. Matt. 19:5, 8, From the beginning it was not so. It made mischief in Abraham’s family, and Jacob’s, and here in Elkanah’s. How much better does the law of God provide for our comfort and ease in this world than we should, if we were left to ourselves! It is probable that Elkanah married Hannah first, and, because he had not children by her so soon as he hoped, he married Peninnah, who bore him children indeed, but was in other things a vexation to him. Thus are men often beaten with rods of their own making.”
To not be able to have children in that time period was considered almost a disgrace, and the women took it personally, as if God had cursed them. Remember Sarah who tried to take things in her own hands and insisted Abraham take one of her handmaidens in order to have a child?
Sarah couldn’t wait and let God bring about the miracle He had promised!
Every year, Elkanah took his family out of the city to sacrifice and worship the Lord in Shiloh. This time was no different. As usual, on the way, Peninnah was being her contrary and annoying self, tormenting poor Hannah to tears.
Hannah would not eat, she was so upset. “So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?'” Hannah fasted and when she arrived at the temple she prayed to the Lord, “O Lord of hosts, if thou… wilt 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.” 1 Samuel 1:11 KJV.
Eli, the priest, accused her of being drunk because in her deep anguish, her lips moved but no sound came out. She replied, “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.” 1 Samuel 1:15 KJV.
With that, Eli told her to go her way, her prayer had been answered. And true to His Word, God gave Hannah the desire of her heart. True to Hannah’s word, she gave her son, Samuel, back to the Lord and he went on to be one of the greatest prophets ever born.
Desperate times require desperate measures!
Yes, Hannah was so desperate she couldn’t do anything but fast! Have you ever been so desperate that you had to fast? You had to go to prayer? Your need was so critical that just saying you were praying about it wasn’t enough. You had to get serious.
As we mentioned in an earlier post, we don’t have to work for our answered prayers! (Read that post here.)
But fasting changes our hearts, our minds so that we can hear the voice of God.
God can speak to us because we have cleaned things out of our minds. We have taken time to be with Him and pushed some things aside, things that we liked, maybe even loved, that were important to us. We laid them down in order to be with Him.
Praying that we will all become like Hannah, Daniel and many others throughout the centuries who were desperate for God to move in their lives. Fasting WITH prayer not only changes situations but it changes ME!
How desperate are you?
A big THANK YOU to everyone who has purchased, shared, tweeted, or told someone about The Daniel Fast Devotional! It is a great tool for ANY FAST with devotions for every day, examples of people in the Bible who fasted, why they did it and what we can learn from it today. It also has DF approved recipes in every chapter. Get yours in Kindle or paperback on Amazon today!
