He Knows the Father’s Will

Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 1:10, And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish.

There will be times in our walk with God when our circumstances will drive us to our knees before Him, our hearts in great anguish, but not knowing what to say or how to pray. In this case, the anguish Hannah felt was great because of her barrenness. To make matters worse, Peninnah, added to her anguish with her continual taunts. Hannah, now in the Lord’s house, goes before the Lord in prayer. This is the proper response to the difficulties she was experiencing. It is far too easy for us to take matters into our own hand and “clean someone’s clock” when they are taunting us about something that weighs heavy on us. The last thing we want is to deal with someone mocking us or boasting about themselves, and what they have, just to make themselves feel better. The best counterpunch we can throw is to go to pray. Hannah, in verse 11, calls God “the Lord of hosts”, or LORD of the mighty armies. She went before the Lord in prayer, knowing and trusting that He was her Protector. Regardless of what we see happening around us, we must always trust that God is watching and is protecting us. He will always allow situations or circumstances to play out according to His will and plan, even if it means that we suffer for a short while. Malachi compares God to a refiner in Malachi 3:3, “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.” The refiner closely watches how hot the fire gets, and allows it to get to the right temperature that will purify the precious metal. He knows that if the fire goes beyond a certain temperature, the metal will spoil, so he pulls it before that happens. He then goes through the process of polishing the metal until he sees his own reflection. That is what God does in the life of each of us. He may allow the temperature to get to the point where our impurities come to the surface, and then He finalizes the process by polishing us until He sees His own reflection in us. While we are going through this process, the best thing to do is pray. This is where it gets challenging. Our bitterness, our stress, the level of anguish we may be in, can cloud what it is we want to say. We may come before the Lord with a loss of words and just not know how to pray. Fear not. Romans 8:26-29 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Sometimes, the best approach we can take in prayer is to sit quietly before the Lord. I will tell you right now that this can be very difficult for some of us, because we always feel that we should be saying something. However, there are moments that call for us to simply say, “Lord, I just don’t know what to say. Holy Spirit, I pray that you will speak the words that only You know how to speak. You know my circumstances and what I am going through, and I just don’t have the words to express it right now.” The Word of God in Romans tells us that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and knows exactly what to pray on our behalf because He knows our hearts and know what the will of the Father is for each of us. Sometimes we pray one way, and things go in a different direction. We desire the results we think are best, in moments of desperation, but something else occurs. This is because God always knows what is best and He is responding in accordance to how the Spirit has prayed for us. It is for this reason that Romans 8:28 is always fulfilled in our lives. God answers in accordance to the Spirit and God’s will is accomplished. Therefore, all situations and circumstances always work out for our good. We must be careful that we not frustrate that process by trying to push our will on God. Even Jesus, while praying in the Garden prayed for the Father’s will to be done (Luke 22:42). Today, we are the beneficiaries of such a great prayer.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).