My Mouth Is Enlarged Over My Enemies

1Sa 1:1 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:

1Sa 1:2 And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

1Sa 1:3 And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.

1Sa 1:4 And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:

1Sa 1:5 But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.

1Sa 1:6 And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.

She is a woman wanting a baby, because that is what every woman wanted. She is very specific. She wants a baby boy to give to her husband. Hanna vowed a vow and said: “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son...”

Look at what she is doing. She is totally putting herself in submission to God. She is recognizing that the thing that is on her heart is well beyond her power to rectify. She can’t remedy the situation. She can’t do a thing about it. Up to this point in the normal relations between her husband and herself, there has been on conception. There has been no baby.

he has now gone the way of some of his predecessors in Scripture and

taken unto himself a second wife who will raise up seed, but we find in chapter one he had a very special love for Hannah and yet she could not provide for him what he wanted and so he chose another wife and this woman had had babies and was now provoking Hannah

The second wife knew that her husband Elkanah loved the first wife Hannah better and so Hannah had the love, but the other lady had the babies. And so you had this bitter contest to the point where Hannah could take it no longer. And look at what she does. When she gets to the point of breaking and it is so serious, she makes a vow unto God.

She said, “I am afflicted. God, look upon me. I am your servant. And I want you to remember my affliction. And, God,” if I can read

between the lines here, “remember me. I feel like you have forgotten me.”

“Don’t forget me. But, God, in accordance with my specific prayer, give me a baby boy.” I love the fact that she is specific in her request.

Lord, as you give me the desire of this prayer, I am going to honor you by way of fulfilling my vow.” then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life.”

Now this is powerful, one of the things that will bring confidence

into your prayer life and enhance it in my own prayer life is when we know that our prayers are set for the glory of God. When it is clear in our

soul that we are not asking God to do something for us that will pull us away from him, that we are not asking the Lord to do something that will be spent selfishly upon ourselves as James said, “consumed upon our lusts.”

She is sensing that there is an unrighteousness at work in the home where this woman is provoking her. Hannah knows her own heart. What a powerful thing when you know your heart is right with the Lord and you are seeking to please him and yet the wicked and the ungodly around you are prospering while you are being denied and you are saying finally at this point, you are saying, “Lord, this isn't really about me. There is a

sense of unrighteousness here and I am thirsting and hungering for an upright situation.

God, if you will just make this right, I will release it back to you.”

She is in the tabernacle area. It is the time of the sacrifices and the Bible says that she continued praying before the Lord. Eli observed her mouth. Eli is the high priest. He is not the most outstanding minister. He

has got a lot of issues. He is watching her pray. The Bible says Hannah was speaking in her heart. And only her lips moved and yet her voice was not heard.