Evening, January 20
<< Evening, January 20 >>
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.”
Insight
Be careful what you promise in prayer because God may take you up on it. Hannah so desperately wanted a child that she was willing to strike a bargain with God. God took her up on her promise, and to Hannah's credit, she did her part, even though it was painful. Although we are not in a position to barter with God, he may still choose to answer a prayer that has an attached promise.
Challenge
When you pray, ask yourself: “Will I follow through on any promises I make to God if he grants my request?” It is dishonest and dangerous to ignore a promise, especially to God. God keeps his promises, and he expects you to keep yours.
Psalm 119:37  Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

There are divers kinds of vanity. The cap and bells of the fool, the mirth of the world, the dance, the lyre, and the cup of the dissolute, all these men know to be vanities; they wear upon their forefront their proper name and title. Far more treacherous are those equally vain things, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. A man may follow vanity as truly in the counting-house as in the theatre. If he be spending his life in amassing wealth, he passes his days in a vain show. Unless we follow Christ, and make our God the great object of life, we only differ in appearance from the most frivolous. It is clear that there is much need of the first prayer of our text. "Quicken thou me in thy way." The Psalmist confesses that he is dull, heavy, lumpy, all but dead. Perhaps, dear reader, you feel the same. We are so sluggish that the best motives cannot quicken us, apart from the Lord himself. What! will not hell quicken me? Shall I think of sinners perishing, and yet not be awakened? Will not heaven quicken me? Can I think of the reward that awaiteth the righteous, and yet be cold? Will not death quicken me? Can I think of dying, and standing before my God, and yet be slothful in my Master's service? Will not Christ's love constrain me? Can I think of his dear wounds, can I sit at the foot of his cross, and not be stirred with fervency and zeal? It seems so! No mere consideration can quicken us to zeal, but God himself must do it, hence the cry, "Quicken thou me." The Psalmist breathes out his whole soul in vehement pleadings: his body and his soul unite in prayer. "Turn away mine eyes," says the body: "Quicken thou me," cries the soul. This is a fit prayer for every day. O Lord, hear it in my case this night.


Deuteronomy 32:9  "For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.

1 Corinthians 3:23  and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

Songs 7:10  "I am my beloved's, And his desire is for me.

Songs 2:16  "My beloved is mine, and I am his; He pastures his flock among the lilies.

Galatians 2:20  "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

1 Corinthians 6:19,20  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? • For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Deuteronomy 4:20  "But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.

1 Corinthians 3:9  For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Hebrews 3:6  but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house-- whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

1 Peter 2:5  you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Malachi 3:17  "They will be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."

John 17:10  and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

Ephesians 1:18  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

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