Considerations

Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she made this vow: “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut.” 
(1 Samuel 1:10-11 NLT)

Was this the first time Hannah prayed for a son? When she came every year to the temple, did she not pray for this deep desire for a son? I can’t imagine that the moment mentioned in verses 10 and 11 above is the first time Hannah prayed to God about her desire to have a son. But perhaps it became the first time Hannah prayed for a son with a different motive in mind which suddenly opened her locked womb to be free to conceive. It’s a possibility that each of us can consider as we reflect on some of the unfulfilled desires in our own lives.

The driving motivations

As we read through 1 Samuel 1, we hear about how Hannah was teased by her husband’s other wife for her inability to conceive. In a culture where having children was seen as one of the highest priorities of a wife, this was devastating for Hannah. It was even worse for her as the other woman in the house ridiculed Hannah for not being able to get pregnant. So it would be understandable for Hannah to want a baby so badly to fit in with every other woman in her community and to stop the abuse from the other wife. Life would be so much better for her if she just had a son.

But what if she didn’t have that son because her motives were centered around this need to be like every other woman, especially the other wife in her house? Maybe we don’t have what we want because our motives are based on the need to be like everyone else and we end up asking for what we think will make us feel better. What if our motives are wrong and need to be reconstructed to form the right foundation for desires that God longs to fulfill? 

The right motivation

As mentioned before, I am not sure if this was the first time Hannah prayed for a son. But it does sound as if this was the first time she prayed for a son with the purposes of God in mind. And with this change of motive, with God’s purposes in mind and it being less about Hannah’s need to feel vindicated as a woman, God opens her womb to conceive. I’m reminded here of Psalm 37:4. As minds shift to delight in God and His ways, hearts find themselves aligning with God’s desires. What was once all about Hannah and her wants, became all about God and His will for any son that He would graciously give Hannah as she surrendered it all to honor Him first and foremost.

Maybe our own unfulfilled desires also come from a place where our motives are more about what we want instead of seeing how we can honor God with the very thing we are seeking from Him. Is honoring God the main motivation for this desire to be a reality? Or are there other competing motivations that keep us praying continuously for these prayers that remain unanswered? 

Motivations matter

Oh how greatly we would benefit from spending more time delighting in God so that our hearts would emanate God honoring desires that align us with God’s purposes for our lives. For any desires that are currently skewed by wrong motives have no chance of being birthed in such flawed and unsuitable conditions according to the verses below:

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives... 
(James 4:2b-3a NIV)

The question for us to consider:

Are our motives the reason for our unfulfilled desires?