Pray Like a Drunk Woman

In 1 Samuel chapter 1, we see the power of prayer.

Hannah is barren and in deep turmoil.

Scripture says she was weeping, not eating, and carrying bitterness of soul (1 Samuel 1:7–10).

She wasn’t trying to cope with her burden by filling herself with the things of this world like a temporary bandage with no real cure.

Even the love of her husband and the double portion he gave her could not satisfy the longing in her soul for breakthrough, for miracle, for the desire of her heart (1 Samuel 1:5).

There is no substitute for what only God can give through prayer.

It’s like the famous saying often attributed to Blaise Pascal: “There is a God-shaped hole in every heart that only God can fill.”

Even Hannah’s husband says to her, “Am I not more to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:8). But sometimes even the closest people beside you cannot satisfy the God-shaped longing connected to the promise or desire God has placed in your heart.

We cannot look to the left or to the right—horizontally—for what only God can give vertically.

Hannah couldn’t cure her barrenness.

Her husband couldn’t cure her barrenness.

The double portion of favor and love couldn’t cure the ache in her heart.

This is the power of prayer.

Jesus says:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”—Matthew 7:7

God puts desires and promises in our hearts not to continually burden us or disappoint us, but often to draw us closer to Himself.

Sometimes the ache becomes the invitation to come before Him.

So Hannah goes into the temple to pray, and she casts her burden on the Lord (1 Samuel 1:10–11).

She cries out with such deep weeping, bitterness, and desperation that Eli the priest mistakes her for a drunk woman (1 Samuel 1:12–14).

This is the mode of prayer that moves heaven and releases miracle.

Pray like a drunk woman.

Pray like Hannah.

Don’t satisfy or nurse the longings of your soul with the fleeting pleasures of this world.

Don’t become distracted.

Be persistent like Hannah.

Go to the one source who can truly give you the desires of your heart.

Hannah poured herself out before the Lord, and afterward Scripture says:

“Her face was no longer sad.”—1 Samuel 1:18

Isn’t it amazing that when we truly leave our burdens before the Lord, our countenance changes?

Joy begins to replace sorrow even before the answer fully arrives.

Not only does Hannah receive Samuel, the promised son, but she also lets him go.

After weaning him, she dedicates him to the Lord and brings him back to the temple so he can live continually in God’s presence (1 Samuel 1:24–28).

This is the beautiful thing we must understand about prayer: the promises and desires God grants us are not for us to grasp tightly for ourselves. They are meant to be surrendered back to Him in worship.

We were never made to live with clenched fists.

Just like Abraham received Isaac, the promised son, yet willingly offered him back to God when asked (Genesis 22:1–14). And in surrender, he received him back.

Just like the Father gave up Jesus into the hands of brutalality at the cross, the depths of death, only to receive Him back in resurrection glory forever.

When you pray like a drunk woman—when you pray with desperation, honesty, and surrender—and God entrusts you with His promises, place them back into His hands. It is there that they find their fullest purpose.

Samuel became a mighty prophet in the land.

And Hannah, once barren, received even more sons and daughters afterward because ...

God multiplies surrendered things (1 Samuel 2:21).