Mother's Day Meditation - Hannah

Mother’s Day Meditation

Read: What is a Mother? (From The Tale of the Tardy Oxcard)

We all have a mother. So...We all have expectations of what a mother should be. Each one of us place (and have placed) certain expectations on our mothers. We expect Mother to be there when we most need her.

We expect her NOT to be there when we don’t want her around.

Mother is the person who knows everything.

And if she doesn’t, you can be sure sooner or later, she’s going to find out.

I love the story about the frazzled mother who sent her little boy to bed, and the little boy was mumbling to himself, “How come every time she gets tired, I’m the one who has to take a nap?”

Or there’s the one about the family that just had their FOURTH child (not mentioning any names), all under the age of five. Some friends sent a playpen over to the family and a couple days later they got a thank you note from the mother of the four kids. It read: “Just what we needed. I sit in it every afternoon and read, and the kids can’t even get near me!”

I heard one just recently about a mother who had spent all day with her kids, and nothing was going right. She was exasperated and tired and frazzled. And in the evening a soul winner from the local church came and knocked on her door, and she invited him in. His first question was, “How would you like to live forever?” And that tired, worn-out mother said, “I don’t think I could handle that!”

There is no other job in the world that is as heart-breaking, or as rewarding, as motherhood. And no other job - (hear me now) - No other job, will have the influence, or the impact on the world, like parenting does. 90% of teenagers, when asked who influences them most, still say their parents. That influence can be a godly one, or a worldly one. The world these days, and the feminist movement, the economic structure, society, places all kinds of expectations on mothers these days. A sign posted in a restaurant says it all: It reads: “Our pies are like the ones your mother used to bake - before she entered the workforce.”

This morning I want to talk about three things - only three that are expected of moms, by God. Moms, if you have these three characteristics, God is pleased with you and you will be a blessing to your children, and that blessing will be visited to their children, and their children’s children. That’s God’s promise.

Men, if you support your wife, the mother of your children, in fact any woman you’re in relationship with, to develop these three attributes. If you support and encourage, these three characteristics, your relationship will be blessed.

Hannah had these three characteristics. And her husband, Elkanah, nurtured them in her - he respected her for them and as a result, their relationship was blessed of God.

#1 Hannah was a woman of prayer - She was a woman of prayer - we’re told in verse 12 Hannah CONTINUED praying before the Lord and Eli observed her mouth.” He watched her. She wasn’t just praying some mundane, repetitive prayer, she prayed passionately. Vs 10 says, in bitterness of soul, she wept and prayed, so much so that Eli thought she was drunk and chastised her for it. Why did Hannah pray so fervently? Because she knew that Elkanah wasn’t the source of children, God was. Every child that is ever conceived in this world is a gift from God. (Let me say that again.) Every child that is ever conceived in this world (yes, no matter how) - every child is a gift from God. Hannah knew that. She knew the scripture. She knew that children are a heritage from the Lord, and she desperately wanted God’s gift to her - so she prayed.

# 2 Hannah was a woman of faith - We’re told she went up to Shiloh with her husband to worship

- Hannah had a believing, worshiping husband and she faithfully went with him

- he made the trip to Shiloh yearly

- that means, by the way, that he went up each year the number of times that were required - and according to Exodus 23, that would have been three times

- so she was faithful in worshiping with her husband

- had that common bond - worshiping the same God

- now Elkanah was not perfect - he was a polygamist - not condoned in the OT, but was culturally accepted

- we’re told Elkanah loved Hannah - most likely she was the first wife and when it was discovered that she was going to be barren, Elkanah married another wife to have children