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In times of turmoil, or when we have our minds set on something that seems outside our reach, we have a tendency to become very committed to prayer.

In  I Samuel chapters 1  and 2 the pages tell the story of Hannah.  A woman who was married, and very much loved by her husband, but what she wanted more than anything was to bear a child, but it seemed God had closed her womb.

In biblical times a woman was looked down on if she could not have children, she was considered less than a woman.  Hannah so wanted to feel complete

She prayed and prayed.  She became so committed to prayer that one she was praying and her lips were moving but there was no voice coming out of her mouth.  And Eli the priest thought she was drunk.

You know when we really want something or are really in a tough situation the pain can become so deep that we take our prayers to another level.

That is what had happened to Hannah.  She told Eli,  no I am not drunk, I am just pouring out my heart to the Lord.

Just like we are known to do, Hannah in her prayers began to make promises to God.  She promised God that if he would bless her with a child, a male child, she would commit his life to Him and that no razor would ever touch his head.

The promise she made that her child’s hair would never be cut meant she would raise him to not succumb to the norms of the people, the trends of the land, that he would be different, look different, act different as he would be committed to godliness.  

Now don’t get caught up for one moment thinking the actual act of not cutting her son’s hair defined the holiness she referenced.  Her vow was essentially saying “I will raise him to be so committed to God that every aspect of him will be set apart from the rest.

It's funny how we are committed to following the trends, doing this, wearing that, driving this all because it is popular, all because we want to be measured by folk by how well we fit in.  We don’t want to be rejected or considered less than by people.

Few can commit to being uniquely different, but to truly be a servant of God that is what it takes, sanctification, which means set apart, unable to blend in.

Many of us have made God some promises in those midnight hour prayers, I know I have.   I am one who keeps a prayer journal and sometimes I will thumb back through the pages and recall some tough times that God brought me through and read some of the promises and declarations I made in those prayers as I petitioned God for his help.

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