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.
How did El-kAY-nuh respond to this? Well, give him some credit, he tried to be understanding and supportive, telling Hannah how much he loved her ("am not I better to thee than ten sons?" ( 1 Samuel 1:8). To prove it, he gave her a double portion at the feast. However, it didn’t work then, and it doesn’t work now – food is no cure for emotional distress. Neither is using drugs or alcohol. We can’t cover up our pain by drowning ourselves in our jobs or money and certainly the arms of a man or a woman is no substitute for God’s promise. As hard as he tried, even her loving husband couldn’t remove the deep anguish and pain Hannah felt. El-kAY-nuh was no longer a substitute for what she’d dreamed for her whole life. Hannah had gotten to the point in her life were she realized that her husband could no longer complete her. He no longer replaced God’s promise for her life. So she turned in another direction. Hannah turned to the Lord.
Sometime we want to run to our parents or friends to tell them our troubles and get solutions but how many of you know that THEY don’t have the answers!! Or we go call the psychic hotline only to find out that they don’t even have a clue. No matter how good intentioned any man is they don’t have the solution or the answer to your problems...have your friends in trying to help you offered you a substitute for what you really want? Has your family ’organized’ a replacement for what God promised you? People say when the desirable is unavailable then the available becomes the desirable...but I beg to differ, I will not take a substitute for my promise. Hannah refused to take a substitute for her promise. The only solution or answer to you troubles is Jesus our advocate. We need to learn how to run to him. In some instances the pastor may have the answer. What are you using to substitute the need of God in your life? What has become your El-kAY-nuh? Again I say run to Jesus. I dare you to put all that hinders you…all that you substitute for Christ to the side, and follow the path that God has laid out for you.
As I began to apply serious hermeneutics to this text in its entirety I was able to determine Hannah’s formula for discovering her promise, that we all should follow if we Dare to Dream Again!
1st She overcame her fears…
Hannah overcame her fear of Pee-NIHN-uh. After years of constant taunting, she began to understand that she could not allow her adversary to block her promise. You see fear is a natural human response to a perceived threat. Hannah was threatened by Pee-NIHN-uh so much so she did not eat. Some fears, like fear of heights can keep us from harm, other fears like the fear of new challenges and the unknown, will keep us from our Dreams. God rarely takes away our fear. Instead, He asks us to be strong and take courage. Courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it’s choosing to act in spite of the fear. Hannah took courage and believed in God in spite of her fears.
2ndly She Prayed…
The bible says that Hannah wept "in bitterness of soul". It seemed to her that she just couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much to bear. The shame, the lack of fulfillment, the taunting looks and words of Pee-NIHN-uh... watching her children playing, perhaps the attention shown to them by their father - the hopelessness, the despair. Hannah’s first response was bitter tears. However she did manage to get to the next step. Hannah had her dreams shattered so she turned to the Lord in prayer. Prayer often arises out of deep needs: money needs, job loss, sickness, death of a loved one, divorce, abuse. However if we Dare to Dream Again our crying must turn into praying. Hannah prayed "in her heart". The bible says, her lips were moving, but no words were uttered and Eli thought she was drunk. Perhaps this was the kind of prayer Paul spoke about in Romans, "with groans which cannot be uttered." For some, it may even be praying "in an unknown tongue", the language supplied by the Spirit to pray for ones own and others’ needs even when full understanding is lacking. Notice also that Hannah "poured out her soul’ as she prayed. This was not a surface prayer - it was prayer from the center of her being. It reminds us of the familiar words of the Psalmist "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul", and "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
Lastly, She Worshipped…
The text goes on to say that Hannah worshipped the Lord which was her way of thanking the God for an answer before it was manifested. It is noted in the text that Hannah praised God. Hannah was burdened, Hannah prayed and Hannah had a basis for praising God for the answer. We must learn to rely on God as we leave our problems in his hands. Hannah received a promise from the God—she would get the answer she had sought. When we first met Hannah, she was in anguish, embittered, without hope. What made the difference? She received the promise of God—she Dared to Dream Again!!!
She now knew that God was with her: he had promised to intervene. She ran to her husband happy, with confidence and hope. She ran back to the temple the next morning and continued to worship God. Please don’t miss this… sometimes we may have over come our fears, we’ve wept and prayed and we’ve gotten our answer and we know what God has promised but in the manifestation process we forget to worship. Hannah worshipped, she worshipped God because she believed her promise would be made evident!! That’s what we have to do Saints continue worshipping while we’re waiting on the loan to go through, continue to worship while we’re waiting on the promotion, continue to worship while you’re waiting to be admitted to school. Continue to worship while you’re waiting for a husband or a wife, continue to worship while you’re waiting for that child you’ve longed for. Worship Him…Worship Him!!!
Many of us, when we first got saved had hopes at one time that our lives would amount to something for Jesus. Slowly but surely those hopes faded; the flames have been fanned. Many of us looked forward every day to spending time in Bible reading. But eventually other things influenced and quiet time became difficult. Many of us, when we started out, had a dream of going where we were needed to serve the Lord, and we would give our life away for the Lord’s sake, for hurting people, and for those who didn’t know the gospel. But those dreams, too, have dulled.
We don’t seek anymore, assuming that the undiscovered things can’t be discovered. We don’t knock anymore, because too many times the doors have been closed, too many times our knocks went unanswered. Once we hoped to have friends and community, but we’ve settled for acquaintances. We used to repent, but now we just live with remorse. We used to hope for love, but now we put up with good intentions.
Jesus is saying, "I Dare You to Dream Again! Ask Him day after day for life. Seek what is lost or is yet undiscovered. Knock on the doors and knock again, and go on to the next door and knock again. Our Father loves us, if he has made us to long for spiritual depth, reality, and usefulness, and if he has given us gifts to use, won’t He fulfill His promise if we like Hannah Dare to Dream Again? God wants to open someone’s womb today, if you’d just Dare to Dream!! He wants to birth in you today, what He placed in you so long ago.
I stop by on my way to my Father’s House to let someone know this morning Because He! lives…Because He! lives you can face tomorrow…Because He! lives all fear is gone…Because we know He holds the future…and Life…I said Life is worth the living just because He lives!!!!!!
I DARE YOU TO DREAM AGAIN, I DARE YOU TO TAKE BACK EVERYTHING THE ADVERSARY STOLE FROM YOU!!! I DARE YOU TO GO GET YOUR INHERITANCE! YOU ARE THE SEED…MY FAITH RECEIVE…THE BLESSINGS OF ABRAHAM. WHEREVER YOU GO, YOU’RE ANNOITED TO GROW, WHATEVER YOU DO, DARE TO DREAM AGAIN. YOU ARE THE HEAD, NOT THE TAIL, ABOVE NOT BENEATH, I DARE YOU TO BE A LENDER, AND NOT A BORROWER I DARE YOU TO DREAM AGAIN!!!
