Hannah Prayed

Hannah Prayed

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Mother’s Day – May 12, 2002

Introduction

Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope that this will be a blessed day for all of you, particularly those of you who have weathered the challenge of child-rearing.

We’ve added a few new faces since our last Mother’s Day visit, so I want to ask you the same question I asked last year.

How many here have either been a mother, or have had a mother?

Some of you will catch that on the way home.

The story is told of a young minister, who when he was still single, preached a sermon entitled, “Rules for Raising Children.” After he got married and had children of his own, he changed the title of the sermon to, “Suggestions for Raising Children.” When his children got to be teenagers, he stopped preaching on that subject altogether.

I admire mothers, and I especially admire my wife, because she has to raise my children.

Before we get into the message, I want to share something I found recently. This is kind of lengthy, but I think you’ll enjoy it. These are “Mother’s Ten Commandments of Eating.”

1. Of all the beasts of the field, and of the fish of the sea shalt thou eat. But of the leaves of the tree, thou shalt not eat thereof. For in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely get a stomachache.

2. Thou shalt drink of all the good liquids I have given unto thee. Only let not thy liquids be spilled onto thy clothing nor onto they neighbor’s clothing.

3. When thou sittest in thy chair, thou shalt not place thy feet on the table nor over thine head. For that is an abomination to me.

4. Thou shalt not pour Kool-Aid over thy mashed potatoes, nor use it as a dip for thy celery, nor spill it over the floor of the place of eating.

5. When thou hast drunk of thy cup, it shall not be held to thy face as a mask, nor used to strike thy brother or thy sister upon their head.

The real danger of reading these is that it might just give some kids some bad ideas, amen? Don’t do it, kids.

6. Thou shalt not eat thy macaroni with thine hands. Neither shalt thou distribute it widely over the place where thou livest.

7. Thy brussel sprouts shalt not be made into any graven image in the place where thou eatest. That is an abomination to me.

8. When thou sittest in thine chair, thou shalt not slideth down therein.

9. Remember thy mealtime to arrive when I calleth thee. Three meals thou hast been given to cause thy borders to increase.

10. If thou keepest all these commandments I have given unto thee, thou shalt be perfect in my sight, and perfect in my neighbor’s sight.

(Sermon Central)

It’s kind of a tradition that on Mother’s Day we bless mothers, but on Father’s Day we beat up on the dads. This year I’ve decided to switch that around, so get ready, ladies!

Not really. One of the things I have learned in my few short years of preaching is that there are some things I have no business preaching on, and one of those is how to be a good mother.

I have no experience in that area, and don’t care to.

Yet the preacher is obligated to talk about something on Mother’s Day, so I think I’ll just talk about baseball, okay?

Just kidding.

I was doing some searching to find what I could say to mothers that didn’t sound trite and patronizing, and as I was looking, I came across a sermon outline based on the prayer of Hannah, in 1 Samuel.

I did not borrow the outline, but it got me thinking.

Hannah was a mother who didn’t just get married and start having kids. The Lord had closed her womb, and she had a rival in another wife of her husband.

A number of women know the heartache of not being able to conceive. Hannah knew that heartache.

Yet she prayed that God would open her womb, and the Lord did.

But what I want to focus on here is not that God opened her womb. Unfortunately, God does not always grant that request.

I want to focus on the nature of her prayer, because all of us can learn from her prayer, whether you are a mother or not.

If you are looking to spruce up your prayer life, then I invite you to pay attention for the next few minutes as we explore how we can implement the principles of Hannah’s prayer.

But to do that, we need to look at the story. Please turn with me to the book of 1 Samuel.