The thing is that God is communicating to us all the time but are we paying attention? Prayer isn't us giving God information but rather God (divine Mind) fathering and mothering us, guiding us, rescuing us, relieving us, perking us up, lifting us onward, enlightening us.
I love that we have a woman at the beginning of this book. Dear Hannah. I had an aunty Hannah to whom I once gave a subscription to The Christian Science Monitor because she seemed to me to be such a "with it", gracious lady who was interested in what was going on in the world. Well, the Hannah in this book was one of the wives of Elkanah, the one without children. Oh how our heart yearns for her in her childlessness. But she did not give up hope and in her yearning entered the sanctuary of earnest longing. This beautiful communion must have been when she really tuned in to what God was telling her and involved self-sacrifice and sacred vows: "I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head." Eugene Petersen in The Message has: "I'll give him completely, unreservedly to you. I'll set him apart for a life of holy discipline" (I Sam 1: 10, 11). We might hear echoes of Ecclesiastes 5:4 "When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it."
After the birth of baby Samuel, we witness a different kind of prayer, a prayer of joy and exaltation, of gratitude and praise. See I Sam 2: 1, 2.
Everyone loves the prayer of the young Samuel. God's voice was so clear to him! Does the childlike thought tune in so easily because it is free of the sense of responsibility that often burdens the adult? Samuel's "Here am I" reminds me of Isaiah 6:8, which many will recognize as the theme for the beautiful and tender song: "Here I am Lord" which we had as our church solo last week sung by Daniel O'Donnell. (You might be able to find in on YouTube, even though it's a fairly old recording.) Isaiah says: "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? then said I, Here am I; send me." What a powerful prayer!
Don't you love chapter 3 verse 19 "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground." This young man was ready to show spiritual leadership. For a contemporary example of spiritual leadership, you may like to read the account of Janet Horton, a Christian Science Chaplain, and her involvement in a military exercise which took place in Germany during the Spring of 2000. See pp. 273-279 of the fascinating and inspiring book Christian Science Military Ministry 1917-2004 by Kim M. Schuette. Horton headed up a group of 60-65 chaplains from many religious backgrounds. The chaplains were "invited to make a commitment to pray every day specifically for the safety of soldiers." Horton told them that they could really believe that they could get through the military exercise - called "Warfighter" - without one soldier being harmed. Horton chose the theme "Coming to a Position of Attention Spiritually" and the results were wonderful.
Julie Swannell
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