Hello, I'm Rod Butler. Welcome to Let God Speak. In our last program, we discussed the theology of prayer and reflected on its spiritual significance.
In our program today, we contemplate the actual experience of prayer as practiced in the life of three very diverse biblical characters. Stay with us as we examine how their prayers to God were heard and answered. On our panel today, we have Gayle Fong and Corinne Knopper.
Welcome. Hello, thank you. Before we start our discussion, let's bow for prayer.
Gracious Father, we thank you for the incredible accounts of these Bible characters we're going to discuss today. We pray, Lord, as we have this discussion, your Holy Spirit will lead and guide. We pray, Lord, that the viewers who watch and listen, they too will learn about these amazing characters and the importance of practical prayer.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Well, we're going to discuss the prayers of three people from the Old Testament, those three being Elijah, Hannah and Daniel. In regards to Elijah, in the 9th century BC, Elijah was God's special messenger at a time of national apostasy under King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Elijah told Ahab there would be no rain on Israel as judgment for apostasy to Baal.
He then went into hiding to save his life. After three and a half years of no rain and the country in devastation from drought, God calls Elijah to confront Ahab. Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal before the people on Mount Carmel.
Let's pick up events from 1 Kings 18 and verses 19-21. And it says, So my first question to you, Gayle, where had Elijah been in hiding for these three and a half years? Well, Elijah had been staying by the Brook Cherith and in Gilead, where he'd been fed by the ravens miraculously, for over a year. And then God told him to go to Zarephath, which is north of Israel.
And in hiding there, he was going to be looked after, which he was, by a widow for over two years. And in that time period, her food never, it never finished. So the oil and the wine, the oil, I'm sorry, and the flour continued for that two year period.
So it was spectacular evidence of God's protection. And then when God called him to confront Ahab, he walked south and he met Obadiah, who was obviously looking for him, probably close to Mount Carmel. And there, he must have walked about 80 kilometres, which is quite a long walk, before confronting this paranoid King Ahab.
Yes. So he got there after a long journey. Now, at the showdown on Mount Carmel, we have the prayer of Elijah.
And I'd like to just pick that up if I may. I'm going to read 1 Kings 18, verses 36 and 39. And it says, and this is after the prophets of Baal, they had been asking Baal to send fire down.
But here's Elijah comes now, and he then has his prayer. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I've done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou has turned their heart back again.
Now, there was a spectacular answer instantly to the prayer. And we'd think that that spectacular answer would give Elijah unshakeable faith. But how did events unfold, Corinne? Oh, it was a horrible time because Elijah and the people put to death 850 false prophets.
And then he prayed seven times for the rain. And then the torrential rain came. And then he had to run in front of Ahab's chariot, in the dark, heavy rain, about 35 kilometers.
That's a long way. And that was a journey from Mount Carmel to Jezreel. And we're told that bit of the story there in First Kings.
And still in chapter 18 and verse 45 and 46, and it says, Now it happened in the meantime, the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
So there's no account that he's had a meal, so he could be quite... No, he could be hungry. What happened when he arrived at Jezreel, Gayle? Well, just reading on in First Kings, chapter 19, verses 1 through to 3, the Bible says, And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a message to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as a life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.
So in the story here, this is so unexpected. I'm sure Elijah would feel like surely his work is finished and everybody will turn to God. But in this instance, fear takes over and he flees for his life, and he flees from Jezebel, this woman.
It's hard to understand how he could lose his faith and forget the miracles that had just happened less than 24 hours past. So you would think that that'd be so fresh in his mind, seeing the fire come down from heaven and the rain from after three and a half years of drought. So Corinne, how would you explain this complete reversal of faith from Elijah? Oh, I think if I had walked all the way from Zarephath, that's about 80 kilometers, and then the drama on the mountain and killing all those prophets that have been terrible, and finally running in the dark and the heavy, heavy rain in front of that chariot for 35 kilometers, I'd be worn out.
And it doesn't say, like you said, he must have been hungry because did he get fed? He'd have been physically exhausted. And that weakened physical condition, I believe, let his mind just let go of the faith he had in God, sadly. And it can happen to us.
Yeah, there's a lesson there, isn't there? Yes. We'll get to that in a second. But just with the story, Gayle, he's now fleeing.
What happens when he stops fleeing? And where does he flee to? Well, as Corinne was saying, he was fleeing and it was a long distance. And it was about 150 kilometers from Jezreel to Beersheba. That's a massive... From north to south, isn't it? It's a massive amount, yes.
And he runs. He then runs for another day. So perhaps he's running on adrenaline.
But can you imagine him fleeing for that distance? And he has had no food. And it's been such a big showdown the day before. So I believe he is just so physically exhausted here.
And in his exhausted state, the Bible tells us, he says these words in 1 Kings 19, 4. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die and said, it is enough now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my father's. So it's little wonder that he again prays to God.
Only this time, he believes that he is a complete failure in asking to die. Again, it's hard to get your mind around from the highs of the mountains to the lows of the valleys here. How does God deal with his faithful, trusty servant who wants to die? How do you deal with that, Corinne? Oh, God is so tender.
And he showed that tenderness and that care. And he does answer Elijah's prayer by giving him food and water, which he desperately needed. And we can read a little bit more of that in 1 Kings 19.
We're still there. And in verses 7 and 8. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you. So he arose and ate and drank, and he went in the strength of that food 40 days and 40 nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
40 days and 40 nights on that bit of food. And that angel had come to him twice, which is the evidence of God's special presence for him. And it's surprising that to go to Mount Horeb, which is in the northern western Saudi Arabia, that was 280 kilometers away on that food the angel gave him.
And that would have been many days to walk. It's incredible the physical endurance this man is going through. Yes.
Elijah goes into a cave at Mount Horeb. What happens then, Gayle? Amazingly, in the cave there, God speaks to Elijah and Elijah complains to God. The Bible says, reading on in the passage, 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 9 and 10 says, And there he went into a cave and spent the night in that place.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? So he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life. So after all the miracles, he's complaining to God in his exhaustion.
He cannot see by faith right now. He's just feeling, I guess, feeling everything is going wrong. Yes.
This is where we see God's grace, his tender, his mercy coming through for his faithful servant, who's literally exhausted and he speaks to him. Now, to rebuild Elijah's faith, God first strengthens him physically. He then reveals himself to Elijah in a still small voice, not in all the earthquake and the fire and the wind, but in that still small voice.
He's not revealing himself in the power, but in the actual relationship in that voice. And when he's done that, he then gives an assignment to Elijah. So here's Elijah wants to die.
He thinks he's all washed up and here's God giving him a major assignment. He wants him to go north and to anoint Hazel to be king over Syria and also Jehu, king over Israel. This is another powerful example of how God, we might think we're all washed up and we have no value, but God's got work for us all to do as he had there.
Now, God also in his mercy does something else. I'd like to read 1 Kings 19 and verse 18. And it says, Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which has not kissed him.
So here's God also in his mercy saying, you're not alone. There's another 7,000 you didn't even know about who are faithful to me and I've got work for you to do. So Gail, what can we learn from Elijah's prayers here? What can we learn? Well, we learn here that we're learning a lot about God because we see here that God is merciful, loving and gracious.
He's not giving up on his servant Elijah. Sometimes God answers us very directly and powerfully in miraculous ways. And that strengthens our faith and we feel close to God.
And we love to share those answers to prayer. Other times we waver and we give in to temptation thinking that maybe I don't know if God's hearing me. Maybe our faith is challenged and perhaps we think it's too hard to follow God sometimes.
Prayer is just not working. So we look for God's answers in ways that we expect him to respond, not realizing that his thoughts are definitely more than our thoughts. His ways are definitely higher than our ways.
And he truly does have our best interest at heart. And our physical health also plays a part, which it did for Elijah here, we see, because it has a bearing on how we feel. And when he was exhausted, he felt depressed, depleted, discouraged, despondent.
And so it can affect our thinking. It can affect us yielding to temptation. And we need to look after our physical health, our mental health.
It's very, very important. Yeah, we certainly can see how that aspect can apply to us. We have a bad day, we can lose, we can be tempted.
It's an important lesson. Look, let's move on now to Hannah's prayers. Yes.
Also very interesting, her prayer. Who was Hannah, by the way? Oh, she lived about 250 years before Elijah came along. And she was one of two wives for Elkanah.
She was barren, which was a terrible thing back then, because the first wife, she had many sons and daughters. And so poor lady, she was feeling so greatly shamed because she did not have any children. And she was weighed down by this.
She was so sad. She was ridiculed by the other wife. And Elkanah used to take his wives and children down to Shiloh to worship where they're the Ark of the Covenant was kept.
And so she would cry out. Okay, well, thank you for that background. I've got a question for you, Gayle.
I'm going to read the prayer now. It's in 1 Samuel chapter 1, verses 10 and 11. And this is Hannah's prayer.
And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a manchild, then I'll give him to the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head. So what's Hannah's state of mind here? And what is she actually praying for? She's barren.
She's weeping. She's in anguish, as Karina said there. And to make matters worse, as we read on here, I'll just read this scripture here, verse 12 to 15 of 1 Samuel.
It says, And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk.
So Eli said to her, How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered and said, No, my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. She is just pouring out her heart to God because of her lot in life.
And to be barren and to be married. It was just the worst situation for a woman and to have a rival as well that was bearing children in the same marriage. She says, I have drunk neither wine, nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.
And so he was despising her prayer, but she was not praying without faith. She was praying, pouring her heart out to a God whom she believed was her only source of help. So after she's had that prayer, what's that done for Karina? Well, I'm going to read what happens for her in verses 17 and 18.
Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition, which you've asked of him. And she said, Let your maid servant find favour in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad.
She prays and believes that God has heard and will grant her wish and she's no longer sad. So that prayer, she realizes God's answered or God's heard. That's been enough for her.
She's now going away confidently. Okay, well, let's keep reading here. I'm going to read verses 26 to 27.
It says, this is 1 Samuel chapter 1, verse 26 and 27. And she said, O Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I'm the woman that stood by thee, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him.
Therefore also have I lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. Now, this is her coming back sometime later.
And this is after the child has been weaned. So we're talking probably three to five years later. She's come back and she's saying to the Lord, I'm giving you that child as I promised, as I vowed to do.
What can we learn from Hannah's prayers? Oh, Hannah's prayer was the outpouring of joy here in response to God's graciousness and that wonderful answer. And she's no longer miserable and alone. She's now worshiping at the house of the Lord with her husband and her child, whom she's now presenting to Eli the priest.
Okay. So she's presenting to Eli the priest. What do you think, Gail? What can we learn here from... Well, we can learn that we can take all our concerns to God in prayer.
Nothing's too big or too small for him to notice. And regardless of how insurmountable our problems may seem or how we may be feeling, the Bible says in Philippians chapter four and verse six, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So we thank and praise God for his unanswered prayers.
But in so doing, like Hannah, once we have prayed, we can trust that God has heard our prayer and he will answer our prayer in God's way. Well, just on that point, sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers. So what should we do when it appears God isn't answering our prayers? What should be our approach there? Well, I'm going to start looking at myself.
What are my motives for that prayer? Because God will answer those prayers according to his will, because he knows the knows everything. And it's not my will, what I want. And 1 John gives us a little clue into this.
So 1 John chapter five. And if we go to verses 14 and 15, he says there, now this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him.
And so we can pray for things that are not according to God's will. And yet he still does hear us and whether he wants to answer directly to that or not. But then we can go and read, James tells us even a little bit more.
So back a few pages and we go back to James and it's chapter four, verse three. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. Well, I don't want to do that.
I want to do what God says. And if we go even further back in the Bible, we can go back to King David and the psalmist wrote so many times about things like this. And he says, I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart.
And that is in Psalm 40, verse eight. And it's a beautiful verse there. So have you got a text you could share with us on that, Gayle? Yes, I'm thinking of Romans 12 and verse two there, where the Bible says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So it's always praying according to God's will and not my own. And I'm only going to know that by spending time in prayer and study with God. That's right.
We're very quickly going to close now with a quick look at Daniel. And in Daniel chapter nine and verse four to verse 19, we have this prayer of Daniel and Daniel is praying for God to act. And we're going to look at this prayer and we're going to divide into four parts, praise, confession, requests and thanksgiving.
And we're going to focus firstly on the praise section. What can we learn from that? Well, in Daniel nine, verse four, just reading that verse there, and it says, And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and made confession and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments. So we see he praises God for his awesome power and his faithfulness to those that keep his covenant.
And we can praise God for many things too. We can praise him for who he is. He is our creator.
He's our refuge. He's our rock and he's our comforter. He's our healer and good shepherd.
So it's important we start our prayers with praise. Now, I just want to look at one other aspect of the prayer. We're going to look at the confession part.
There's a very important factor here that we see of Daniel. And what's that, Karine? Well, Daniel was a human being like I am. And he says in here, if we look, if we were to read all of this and go through from verses five to sixteen, in verse five, We have sinned.
He's a human being. Everybody. Neither have we hearkened.
And then again, a bit later in verse nine, We have sinned and we have rebelled. Neither have we obeyed. We have sinned for our iniquities.
We obeyed not. We have sinned. We've done wickedly.
It's our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers. And Daniel identifies himself as a human being who can fail. He's sinful.
And he's got no self-righteousness in him at all. So we can confess our sins to God so that those sins don't block away from our prayers. And I can go.
There are so many verses in the Bible we can go to. Yeah. So it's really important that there was no self-righteousness for Daniel.
When we go to God, we've got to recognize that we are poor sinners and God is our great God. So just in closing, Gail, what can we learn from Daniel's prayer? Well, Daniel's request is for God to fulfill his word, his prophecy. And we see here that in Daniel nine, verse 17 to 19, that God, he said, Oh, Lord, verse 19 here.
Oh, Lord, forgive. Oh, Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake, my God, for your city and your people are called by your name.
So he knew he had a right to ask God because he's supplicating before God from a heart that is open, teachable and loves the Lord. Praise God for that. Well, thank you, ladies.
Well, the word of God has accounts of individuals such as Elijah, Hannah and Daniel, who are real people with real struggles in life. And we identify with them and others mentioned in the Bible because we, too, face similar trials. Romans 10, 17 says, So faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Faith comes also from seeing our prayers answered. So set time aside for prayer and Bible study. We're glad you joined us today on Let God Speak.
Remember all past programs can be found on our website and we ask you to look at those. So thank you for joining us and be with us again next time and God bless.
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