Power Beyond Us

In the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 1, there is a beautiful story about a young woman named Hannah. She enters the temple in a state of deep distress and begins pouring her heart out to God. In fact, she’s praying so fervently that Eli the priest, thinks she’s drunk. But Hannah is not drunk. She’s desperate.

When you read her story, the beautiful thing about her prayer is that it just shows there is no magic formula. She asks, and she promises. But she also weeps and murmurs and stands silent. She lays bare all the emotion and all the pain. It’s all there.

I’m reminded of that passage from Romans that promises that even when we don’t know how to pray, God’s Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words… It’s this recognition that there are times in our lives when words fail us. Times when we become so desperate or our hearts so heavy, that we come up empty. Our prayers become mere groans or murmurs.

When we think about our faith – at least in the Christian tradition, we often think about in very personal terms… our lives in relationship to God. Or, we talk about a relationship with Christ. If we think about it in that very personal, relational way, then prayer would be at the very heart and center of it. And often prayers that go much deeper than words.

Now clearly God does not always answer prayers exactly when or how we hope.

But this story reminds me that you and I stand within a faith community that for thousands of years has relied on this power beyond us. It reminds me that like Hannah, our lives are layered with grace and pain, and miracles and hope. And it reminds me that we worship a God who can and does make a way where there is no way.

Let us pray: Holy God, we ask you to meet us today at the deepest point of our need. We ask for healing, for guidance, for wisdom, and for grace upon grace. In all things, help us to trust you. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.