I Dare You To Dream Again!

I Dare You to Dream Again…

1 Samuel 1:4-11

6And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. 7And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. 8Then said El-kay-nuh her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons? 9So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD. 10And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

I greet you with a challenge today and that is simply, “I Dare You To Dream Again”

Many times for us as Christians we are faced with issues, situations and circumstances that make us doubt whether all the promises made to us in the bible can actually come to pass. Sometimes we hear a good message and our faith is stirred up within us...faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We begin to believe God for greater things. But after a while we begin to lose faith and doubt whether those promises are actually true or if they are only meant for a particular set of people. In fact, some of us actually heard clearly what God wants to do for us but OUR present circumstance does not IN anyway indicate any possibility of manifestation. We are so overwhelmed by the problem that we fail to see the possibility of a solution. So perplexed by life’s ups and downs that we Dare to Dream the dreams that “God the Dream Giver” has placed in us.

The 1st chapter of Samuel is about the birth of Samuel who was considered the greatest figure in Israel’s history between Moses and David. Samuel’s father was El-kAY-nuh and his mother was Hannah. In 1st Samuel the spotlight is on Hannah. El-kAY-nuh had two wives – Pee-NIHN-uh and Hannah. Plural marriages were permitted under Mosaic Law. In Matthew Jesus declares that God’s original plan was the marriage of one man to one woman. The Old Testament record even shows that trouble always followed the practice of plural marriages or polygamy.

By now I’m sure most of you know the subject of polygamy or plural marriages has resurfaced in the news. A Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound was recently raided by Federal officers over accusations of polygamy, child abuse, and teen pregnancies. And isn’t sad that for the 401 children removed from the West Texas polygamist compound, life as they know it – where even laughter was forbidden – is about to change drastically.

Now the victims of what state authorities suspect is the largest child abuse case in the nation’s history, these children are likely to face a myriad of psychological problems, including extreme phobias, identity issues and problems obeying authority figures, according to several cult experts. Through the proverbial turmoil these daunting questions come to mind. What future have these children been afforded? Will they ever have the opportunities SO many of us take for granted? What dreams that they Dared to Dream will actually reign true for them now? These questions are so real and oddly enough they drive us closer to what I was able to glean from our text this morning.

El-kAY-nuh was a godly man. He took his family each year to Shiloh where the Tabernacle had been located since the days of Joshua. They made the journey in order to worship and sacrifice unto the Lord. Pee-NIHN-uh had children, but Hannah was childless. To have children was a sign of God’s blessing and to NOT have children was a source of shame to Hebrew women. Pee-NIHN-uh took advantage of her situation and made fun of Hannah and became her revival and her adversary. Pee-NIHN-uh was jealous of Hannah and very spiteful, hateful, hostile and full of Malice. The bible tells us that El-kAY-nuh loved Hannah but it doesn’t say that he necessarily loved Pee-NIHN-uh. Hannah suffered much mental and physical anguish under Pee-NIHN-uh’s hand. We see this due to the fact that Hannah did not eat and she wept sore.

Have you ever been in a situation where it looks like everything is just going wrong for you...you lost your husband or your wife, your children, your home, your job, and you may have even been at the point of losing your mind. You couldn’t eat you couldn’t sleep as you felt your dreams slipping away in the dark. Anyone here this morning ever felt like your world was crashing down on you. An adversary is an opponent, one who stands in your way of progress and hinders you. In fact that this is the devil’s position. Who or what is your own Pee-NIHN-uh? Who or what is blocking you from seeing what Dreams lie in wait for you. God has predestined all of our futures but if we allow the Pee-NIHN-uh’s to taunt us we will never reach our destiny.