Damaged Goods

“Damaged Goods”

1st Samuel 1:1-5, 10-11, & 19

Often times in the certain stores they will have a special section of items that are considered to be damaged goods. These items have either been dented, scratched, or something is wrong with them and they are said not to have the value they are suppose to have. Because these items are considered damaged they are either marked down to a very reasonable price or some stores will just throw them away and consider them as trash. To the store they hold no profitable ability to them, they are damaged goods.

We find in our text the history of a woman called Hannah. Hannah had a condition that is called barred, which simply means that she was unable to have children. Unlike many in today’s society, women that have children and do not want them, but women in the Old Testament days desired to have children. They looked upon the ability to have children as approval from God that they were without sin. However when a woman was not able to have children she was not socially accepted by those that could. She was publicly criticized, talked about, harassed, teased, provoked, made to feel less than a woman was, and was considered to be worthless and useless.

It was believed by society that she had committed a sin against God and this was His punishment for her sin, by not allowing her to have children. Often times when a woman was not able to have children, her husband would kill her, because her barrenness brought reproach upon him. This is one of the reasons Moses instituted divorce. Instead of killing her, he would send her back to her father and she would live the rest of her life has a widowed woman, because she was now considered damaged goods. She was worthless and useless to any man.

Hannah suffered from this barrenness, she was socially unaccepted, criticized, not only from those that knew her, but those in her family unit, for her husband had two wives. She was harassed, teased, disappointed, discouraged, had low self-esteem. She felt useless, worthless, incomplete, forsaken, she considered herself as damaged goods in the eyes of others and in her own mind.

Eventhough her husband loved her and tried to fill the cracks of her broke spirit with a worthy portion. Eventhough he treated her with respect it was only a temporary fix. She was still considered in her mind and by others as being damaged goods.

Often times we become disappointed, discouraged, emotionally emasculated, and spiritually messed-up, we get talked about, and criticized. We may even not be socially accepted, rejected by family, friends, and society has a whole. Some may be locked in a mental prison of low self esteem looking for a way out, only to find a temporary fix. We get caught up in drugs, alcohol, and elicit sexual activity only to find that the problem is still there. We are considered damaged goods. Society has cast you off as being some kind of social disaster, they may have even tried to categorize you into the class of msifitted, mislead, miseducated, and misdirected scum of the earth. You are damaged goods

Understand that from this that is considered to be damaged goods there is a miracle that is coming out of you. We just must become like Hannah, although she was considered to be damaged goods, socially unaccepted, worthless and useless in the eyes of all humanity she remained sincere, faithful, humble, steadfast and unmovable and asked God to remember her. She became like a radiator of a car.

A radiator of a car will sometimes develop a leak and you can put a patch on the leak to fix it, but that patch is just a temporary fix. But they have what is called stop leak and with stop leak you don’t put it on the radiator, but inside the radiator and it finds the leak from the inside and fills that crack never to leak again.

When Hannah asked God to remember her, she was sincere and steadfast; He placed something inside of her that she never felt before. He filled all the cracks of her so-called damaged life, He filled the cracks of her broken spirit and out of what was considered damaged goods God brought a miracle named Samuel.

The name Samuel means: “Asked of God or Name of God” After Samuel was of a proper age she gave Samuel back to the service of the Lord.

The Bible says and “Samuel grew”, the name of God grew. Out of what was considered to be damaged goods the name of God grew. You may be thinking that you are not of any good use. Society may have rejected you, your family may have turned your back upon you, may even be thinking that if it would all just be over that thing would be different, you may say that you are just damaged good, but that is just what God is able to use.