Desperation… Do You Want More Than Anything?

What is your desperation based on? If I were to ask you, What do you want more than anything? What would be your answer? What is the thing that keeps you up at night and you can’t get out of you head all day long? Is there anything you feel you desperately need God to do for you?

You are not alone! We have all been there at some point in life. We often think of desperation as a bad thing, but I see stories in Scripture that show me desperation sets us up for the answer to our prayers and deepest longings.

I see that in Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel 1. What Hannah wanted more than anything was a baby. Her desire consumed her and her inability to conceive depressed and discouraged her almost to the point of despair.  When I look at Hannah’s story, blessed and desperate describe her best in this season of life that God’s Word allows us to glimpse.

Hannah’s Desperation Story Is A Lot Like Ours.

In many ways Hannah was a very blessed woman and had plenty to be thankful for. 1 Samuel 1:4-5 tells us that her husband loved her deeply and gave her double of what he gave to everyone else in his house. But he could not give her a baby because “the Lord had closed her womb.”

Sometimes, when we want something more than anything else, to the point of desperation, our desire overshadows our blessings and even in that we feel guilty and ashamed. I know that has been true in my own life.  Yes, I am very blessed. But I have been through seasons where I desperately called out to God to do something on my behalf for me or someone I love and felt that God folded His holy arms across His mighty chest and said, “No, I’m not doing it!” BUT!

Desperation Keeps Us Coming Back.

As women, at some point, your answer to “What do you want more than anything” probably has had the word children in it.

Like Hannah the desire for children keep us awake at night pleading with God to give us a baby. Then once children arrive, we desperately pray that God helps them sleep through the night. Then when they sleep through the night, we desperately pray, God please let them still be breathing! As mothers , desperate prayers continue throughout their lifetime because nothing causes us more fear than for our children. All based on the fact that God wired in our DNA the desire for children and the desire for our children. However…

Maybe What You Want More Than Anything Isn’t Related To Your Children

How you identify your deepest desire right now, I want you to bring it to the forefront of your mind.  Imagine a table in your mind and lay your deep desire on the table before you and God. Because, even if our desire is different than Hannah’s we can still see a premise set in Hannah’s story for us when pursuing God for our deepest desires.

Lessons For Us From Hannah’s Story When We Are Desperate:

1. Blessed and desperate sometimes go hand in hand.

   You see, even though Hannah was blessed in many ways, she still had an unmet need and desire in her life that brought her to a point of desperation. There is no shame in that.

2. Keep God at the center  and don’t give up praying until you get your answer.

   Even in Hannah’s broken, desperate state, she kept God as the center of her life. If you read Hannah’s story, she prayed and prayed until she received what she asked for. If we truly want something, we have to want it to the point that we pray until we get it.

3. Honor God at every stage.

   Hannah honored God no matter what. Her commitment to pray and seek God for the answer to her prayers held firm in her commitment to God. She set her heart and hope on God, so much so, that she made a vow to God. She pledged her commitment to honor God when He answered her prayers with the child she asked for before his conception. Hannah did not waver from that commitment once she held a baby boy in her arms.

Respond To The Encouragement Of God’s Word

I want to encourage you to take your deepest desire that I asked you to lay on the table in your mind before you and the Lord walk through the lessons we just went through.

First, identify if you feel shame because you are both blessed and desperate. If shame is there, it did not come from God, but your spiritual enemy. So thank God for how He has blessed you and that He totally understands your need and desperation.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses,

but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

Second, evaluate your life and determine if God is at the center. If you feel you shifted and lost God as your center in someway, He patiently waits and lovingly steps to the center as you willingly choose that. Ask for forgiveness and ask for His help to keep Him at the center of your life and ask for the strength to pursue Him until you get your answer. And just in case you are discouraged and need an extra dose of encouragement, read my blog post, Do Not Give Up! God’s Word Will Come Through!

Third, honor God with your commitment to honor him before, during, and after you receive the answer to your prayers.

Here is the reality. We can be blessed and still desperate for something. Like Hannah, we pray and pray until we receive the answer to our prayers. And we follow her example of commitment to God in our desperation, during and after our receiving what we want more than anything.

---