Praying Better Half by Robin Densmore Fuson

 

It’s amazing when spouses pray for each other. Praying strengthens the bond between them. The one being prayed for is encouraged and feels thought of and loved. The praying partner is also drawn closer as he or she empathizes and acknowledges the need for supreme guidance and healing.

Today I want us to look at two better halves who prayed for their wives.

Isaac and Rebekah had been married for twenty years and there were no children born to them. Remember, Isaac’s mom, Sarah, also had this difficulty.

In Gen 25:21we see Isaac pleading with the Lord on behalf of his wife.

His prayer, heard, then answered with a miracle. Rebekah conceived. Great joy!

A few months into a rough pregnancy, she inquired of the Lord.  “Why is this happening to me?”

The Lord told her the two sons in her womb would become two rivalry nations. One stronger than the other.

Sure enough, when they were born, they didn’t resemble twins at all. Jacob, the second born, was stronger than the first born, and clasped Esau’s heel on the way out.

Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

Although they focused on the Lord for the pregnancy they didn’t keep their focus there. After the children were born, there wasn’t a better half in the relationship. They picked favorite children. Isaac spoiled Esau and Rebekah gravitated to Jacob bringing lying, deceit, separation, and heartache. Family dynamics split the family, creating the chasm the two men born into the family would keep their whole lives. Gen. 25-33 tells the whole saga.

A promising relationship turned sour. Why? Focus. They focused on self and favorite child instead of the Lord and family unity. How sad. Tragic. In the chain of events, Jacob ran away and Rebekah never saw her beloved son again.

The other Husband we will focus on is Elkanah, in 1Samuel 1 who has two wives. That will cause problems at the start. Hannah is most likely wife number one but being barren, Elkanah married another woman to bear him children. Wife number two isn’t kind to Hannah. She mocks her for not giving Elkanah children. Year after year the family went to the Tabernacle in Shiloh to worship and sacrifice on the feast days.

Taunted by wife number two, Hannah wouldn’t eat and cried all the while. Elkanah asked her why she doesn’t eat and why she cries then said, “Why aren’t you eating? Why be down hearted, just because you have no children? You have me—isn’t that better than having ten sons (1 Samuel 1:8 nlt)?”

No, it wasn’t. Why? The stigma of the day, for women who didn’t bare children, was unbearable. Back in that day, it was the woman’s calling to have and raise children. Hannah didn’t measure up. Even though her husband didn’t blame her, she blamed herself. What to do?

Head over to the tabernacle and pray.

She went into the women’s court and prayed. Cried. Prayed some more. Her lips moved but her voice silent in her grief. She petitioned the Lord for a son. She gave a promise and oath to give the son back to the lord.

Eli the priest saw Hannah and heard no sound but her lips moved. He thought she was drunk. He told her to put away her wine while she was in the temple. She assured him it was grief speaking. She prayed out her anguish to the Lord.

Eli said, “Go in peace. May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of Him.”

“Thank you, sir!” Elated, she went back to the group belonging to her husband and ate, no longer sad.

The Lord granted her request and she became pregnant. Samuel the great prophet priest was born to her. After Samuel was born, the family made plans for the yearly trip to Shiloh. Hannah told her husband, she would stay home until Samuel was weaned then go up and leave Samuel with Eli the priest to be brought up in the tabernacle serving the Lord all his life.

Elkanah told her that was fine and he prayed for her, “May the Lord help you to keep your vow.”

This is key. When Hannah made her promise or vow to the Lord, her husband had the day he hears about the vow to make it legit or nullify said promise. Numbers 30:6-15. Elkanah let her promise stand to give up his son to the Lord. Samuel was his son. Not just Hannah’s. He prayed for her to have a strong will to let go of Samuel, when the time came.

A baren woman who finally has a son to turn around and give him up is incredible love.

In desperation she made a pledge to the Lord. Give me a son and I will give him back. Her husband let her keep the vow. Then he prayed she had the backbone to follow through.

Have you ever wanted something so badly you made a rash promise? This promise wasn’t rash. She knew what she was doing. Her husband understood the severity of the promise. A promise to God Almighty.

Jewish rabbinical tradition says weaning should occur from 18 months to five years. If I were Hannah, I’d want to keep him as long as possible. So, Samuel was probably somewhere around four or perhaps five when Hannah took him to live at the tabernacle. He needed to be old enough to eat meat and know how to bathe and dress. She may have given him his first reading and writing lessons.

At any rate, she took him and left him, I would think with a bundle of clothes and a few toys. She prays a prophetic prayer recorded in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Every year she came back and brought him a coat she made for him. Maybe her gift or perhaps her warm hug and words reminded Samuel. ‘Remember me. I pray for you. I love you and think of you every day.’

Hannah and her family are not mentioned again in scripture, but her son Samuel anointed David as king.

Prayer changes things. We may not get what we want but we get to commune with the Lord. Our perspective shifts toward the Lord when we bring Him into the equation of the situation. Trust the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do and he will show you the path to take (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Always keep your promises to the Lord. You will be blessed even if you don’t get what you wanted.

Today we saw two better halves who prayed for their wives. Husbands and wives should pray for each other. Be the praying better half. Think about what could happen. In a perfect world—each spouse would be the better half who prays—making a blessed, better whole.

 

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