Hannah: Prayer of Pledge
1 Samuel 1:9-20
One evening mother was busy fixing supper. Her little boy came up to her and gave her a piece of paper. She dries her hands on her apron and reads.
For cutting the grass: $5.00 for cleaning up my room this week: $1.00 for going to the store for you: $.50 Baby-sitting my kid brother while you went shopping: $.25 taking out the garbage: $1.00 the list went on. At the bottom it said, Total owed: $14.75. Well, his mother looked at him standing there, and the boy could see the memories flashing through her mind. She picked up the pen. She turned over the paper he’d written on, and this is what she wrote:
For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge. For all the nights that I’ve sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge For all the trying times, and all the tears that you’ve caused through the years: No Charge. For all the times I wiped your nose and your butt: No Charge For all the toys, food, and clothes: No Charge Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love is: No Charge. When the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you." And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL". When it comes to a mother and her child there is a special bond and as we all know mothers sacrifice a lot. Tonight we will be taking a look at woman named Hannah who personifies motherhood.
Now before we really begin to look at Hannah I want to begin with this statement. When it comes to our own prayer lives we all have our own desires. Things we want or desire. And the question we all ask: “Is it ok to ask God for the desires of our hearts?” It depends on what you desire and if it’s part of God’s Will for your life. I’ll explain more on that at the end.
Tonight as we look at Hannah we are going to see that Hannah had a desire to have a son and we know that according to scripture every year she prayed for God to give her a son and I believe it would be safe to say that she just didn’t pray once a year for this but pretty often she prayed for son. Eventually God answered Hannah’s prayer and she had a son.
The thing we will see tonight is that Hannah almost wasn’t a mother, but the Lord allowed her the gift of a son and since that day Hannah has come to be known as or called the model mother of the Old Testament. Tonight we will notice that the Bible speaks of her sorrow, her supplication and her sacrifice. So let’s begin tonight by looking at Hannah: The Prayer of Pledge.
Let’s look at her sorrow…………
I. Sorrow (vv. 1-10)
Hannah had a loving husband but could not bare him a child. In those days a woman found her worth in her children. That is still the way it is in some parts of the world today. A man finds his worth in what he does his work and how he provides for his family. A woman on the other hand finds her worth in taking care of her family and her home. In those days if you couldn’t bear a child other women looked down upon you. Not only that the husband would sometimes look down upon his wife. That was not the case for Hannah though, her husband loved her dearly. (v. 6-8)
Like many us, Hannah was sure that she had the right to be bitter. Life hadn’t been fair to her. And every day, people reminded Hannah of her sorrow. Hannah was one of two wives of a man name Elkanah. The other wife, Peninnah, had children. But Hannah had none. In ancient Israel, children were more than important: they were symbols of fulfillment. In Hannah’s case her childlessness was a burden.
Now before we go on many of you are wondering why did Elkanah have two wives and I thought that was wrong? In many ways, Elkanah seems to be a good and godly man, except that he had two wives. Apparently Hannah was his first wife, and when she proved barren, he married Peninnah so he could have a family. We don’t know why Elkanah didn’t wait on the Lord and trust Him to work out His plan, but even Abraham married Hagar (Gen. 16) and Jacob ended up with four wives! While bigamy and divorce were not prohibited by Jewish law according to Deut. 21:15-17; 24:1-4, God’s original plan was that one man be married to one woman for one lifetime (Mark 10:1-9.)
According to verse 7 every year the whole family went to Shiloh to the annual festivals and every year according to verse 7 Hannah went to the house of the Lord year after year to pray & ask God to give her a child. Because God had not given her a soon she had become filled with sorrow or bitterness.
Now you and I can definitely understand why Hannah felt bitter. She was denied something that she wanted desperately. This was all part of her sorrow. And like many of us when she didn’t get what she wanted, she started to wonder if God heard her prayers and if He did was He able, after so many years, to answer this request?
So we can see that Hannah was downhearted. We can tell it in her prayer. Hannah spoke of her condition as misery. How tragic it is when we don’t get what we want so we sulk and we get so wrapped up in our sorrow that we’re unable to experience the simple joys that enrich our lives.
Hannah’s depression was so great that she could not even recognize evidences of the grace of God. Hannah had no child. But she had a husband who loved her and who was sympathetic. We can sense Elkanah’s love in his words encouraging Hannah to eat: “Don’t I mean more to you than 10 sons?”
So many times when we don’t get what we want we feel bitter or sorrow and when we allow that into our lives so many times we are unable to see the gifts God has blessed us with. We become blinded to the evidence of His love and grace. Hannah’s perspective was so totally distorted by her personal tragedy that she could not sense the beauty, the good, or grace with which God infuses in every believer’s life.
Another thing that I see happening in the lives of Christians today is when God doesn’t answer our prayers right away or He doesn’t give us what we want we stop asking, feel sorry for ourselves and we begin to give up on God. How many times have we just given up on God? We stopped asking and because we stop asking, we never get to see the fruit of answered prayer. Like Hannah, we may be sorrow stricken, but let us never give up on God, for He never gives up on us. Did we ever think that perhaps in our time of waiting, waiting on God’s answer, he is preparing us, strengthening us to be used greatly by Him?
II. Supplication (vv. 11-18)
So burdened was her heart that Hannah left the feast without eating and went to the tabernacle to pray. We read that Hannah, in her bitterness, took two vital steps. First, she took her bitterness to God. And second, in prayer she began to reorder priorities. Hannah made a commitment, a vow, and a promise to dedicate the son she prayed for to the Lord. She no longer wanted a child just for herself. She began to look beyond her one needs, and to envision the good that meeting her needs might do for others.
Hannah’s prayer was a desperate one, it was so heartfelt that her lips moved but no audible words came out. Hannah was praying from the heart. The high priest at the time, Eli, thought she was drunk and rebuked her. Why did Eli think she was drunk? In those days, silent prayer was not a characteristic of early Hebrew praying. Hannah’s unusual type of prayer caused Eli to think she was drunk. However, when she explained that she was praying out her anguish and grief, Eli blessed her and assured her she would have a son and Hannah went away with a strange assurance. That prayer of Hannah’s was answered she conceived and bore a child whom she named Samuel. A child who would grow up to become one of the most significant of all Bible characters.
Earlier Hannah had been discouraged to the point of being physically sick and unable to eat. At this point, she returned home well and happy. The change in her attitude may be attributed to three factors: 1. She honestly prayed to God. (1:11); 2. She received encouragement from Eli. (1:17); 3. She resolved to leave the problem with God. (1:18). This is the antidote for discouragement: tell God how you really feel and leave your problems with him. Then rely upon the support of good friends and counselors.
Looking at this conversation that Hannah had with God reminds us of two things when it comes to prayer. First, remember that what ever we ask of God or whatever we want God to show us when it comes to our prayer life the answers may not come immediately. It is imperative to remember that we are on God’s timetable and when it’s time for us to know or receive He will reveal it to us or give it to us. 2 Peter 3:8-9 says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you…” For Hannah, it took several years to see the answer. Our answer is not always immediate. We must be patient and remember that God knows best so we must trust Him.
The second thing we need to remember when it comes to prayer is that we must be specific with our prayers and not vague. Hannah didn’t utter a vague prayer. She was very specific. She told God she wanted a Son. Vague prayers will not change a nation; they will not bring a revival; they will not bring lost souls to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, a specific prayer will change a nation, bring revival, and bring lost souls to Jesus Christ.
Now let’s see her…
III. Sacrifice (vv. 11, 19-28)
We see that in verse 11 Hannah had prayed, “Lord if You will, I will”. If you will give me a child, I will give him to you for your service. Hannah prayed about her infertility, promising that if God would give her a son she would give him back to God for lifelong service. The pledge “…then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head” indicates she would dedicate him as a Nazirite.
We see that as Eli had promised, Hannah had a son, whom she named Samuel, which means “ask of the Lord.” And as she had promised, as soon as Samuel had been weaned she gave him back to God. In those days mothers usually weaned children at the age of three, and surely during those precious years Hannah taught her son and prepared him for serving the Lord. However, he did not have a personal knowledge of the Lord until later when God spoke to him in 1 Sam. 3:6-10. But, humanly speaking, to give her son up at the age of three to keep her promise to God must have been the most difficult task of Hannah’s life especially since she had waited for so long to finally have a son.
Hannah made a solemn pledge. She asked God for a son, if He provided a son she promised God that she would give her son back to Him. God gave her the desire of her heart. Since the Lord had answered her prayer Hannah was true to her pledge and gave Samuel back to the Lord as she had promised.
How many times have we made a promise to God, and never kept that promise. The Bible tells us it’s better not to make promises to God because most of the time we don’t hold up our end of the deal. Matthew 5:33-37 says, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Christians, a lot of times who are in a crisis, often try to make deals with God and God a lot of times will hold to His end but we don’t. I recall a movie with Bert Reynolds years ago. All throughout the movie he tried to kill himself. At the end of the movie, he swam out into the ocean, as far as he could possibly go. When he reached that point, he decided he didn’t want to die. He began swimming back to shore. He started to bargain with God. “I’ll give you 75% of all I have, if you get me back.” He would go a little farther, “God if you get me back to shore I’ll give you 40% of all I have.” Finally he reached shore he said, I’m a man of my word, 20% of all I have is yours God.” If we make a promise to God we need to make sure we live up to our end of the deal.
Now as I stated earlier, it must have been painful for Hannah to leave Samuel. But Hannah’s prayer, recorded in chapter 2, is a prayer of pure joy. Perhaps even more significant, it is a prayer that shows deep awareness of who God is. Hannah acknowledged God as holy (v.2), as One who knows and weighs human deeds (v.3). Hannah saw Him as the One who satisfies the needy (v.5), who is Master of life and death, of poverty and wealth (v.6). Her sense of the power and glory of God is summed up beautifully in these verses: 1 Samuel 2:8-10 “For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces…”
What a tremendous change of attitude! The same Hannah who was so bitter and downcast that she could not even sense God’s grace now saw the Lord clearly. In fact, she was able to praise God in a situation which some might expect would throw her back into despair-the loss of the very child she had prayed for!
What was so different? Hannah now was able to look beyond herself and her own needs. She could sense God’s love now, and trust Him. And she could sense the future that God had for this fist child she loved so deeply. Because Hannah truly had given her son to the Lord, she trusted God to care for him and to give him a fulfilling life.
So in closing, at the beginning I asked “Is it ok for us to ask God for the desires of our hearts?” I believe the answer is yes as long as it is in God’s Will, as was the case with Hannah. Hannah’s desire was to have a son but that was also God’s Will for her life. For example, maybe your desire is like Hannah’s, which is to be a parent. Maybe your desire is for a loved one to be saved. Maybe your desire is to know whether God would have you take a new job. Whatever the desires of your heart might be bring them to God, but make sure you ask for God’s Will to be done not yours. Can we do this tonight? Can we just get with God for a moment and ask him for the things we desire? Whatever the need come bring it to God….
