1 Samuel 1:9-10 (NKJV)

“So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh… And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.”

Hannah was not a hermit; neither did she have bouts of depression. She was not an anti-social religionist. She joined others to eat and drink in the presence of the Lord, but she knew that she needed more from the presence of the Lord. She knew there was much that needed to come out of Shiloh, and she wasn’t willing to be satisfied with the external rejoicing at Shiloh. So after the eating and drinking were over, and people had retired to rest, she went to the Tabernacle and pressed into God’s presence in prayer, in weeping and with deep anguish.

This is amazing. We need not be easily satisfied. We need to cultivate the discipline of quiet anguish. We need to learn to withdraw from the crowd and to press into God. There is a divine purpose that will never manifest if we don’t press in. If we join others in the public festivities and don’t move on to seek more from God, we will never produce our Samuel’s. Withdrawing into the quiet place of deep anguishing prayers is a necessity for fulfilling destiny.

“Lord, I pray never to be satisfied with the external pleasures of communal festivities. Draw my heart away to meet with You in the secret place, that You may therein remove my barrenness and prepare me to produce what will change my generation. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”