Hannah, They Got Up
September 27, 2009 1 Samuel 1:1-28 Hebrews 11:1-7
How many of you remember the person who taught you how to ride a bicycle? How many of you remember either your foot slipping off the pedal and you stopping, or you going wobbly and hit something, or you simply fell down when you tried? A couple of us took off the first time we were given a little push, but most of us did not make a successful ride on our very first try. But something told us get up and try it again. We did and some of us rode off.
But some of us had to get up and try it again before we finally rode that bicycle. Now if you looked at us today, you can’t tell which of us fell down or how many times we fell down. All you know is that we can ride a bicycle. The key in learning to ride a bicycle is not dwelling on how many times did you fall, but rather remembering, how many times you got back up until you finally drove off.
Everybody here has been pushed down a couple of times in life by some thing or by someone. We grow up and there’s a bully pushing us down. Sometimes by their physical force and other times by their words. We have circumstances that come in our lives that we have no control over, and they knock us down. We didn’t see the illness or the disease coming that would knock us down. We couldn’t see the divorce or separation on the horizon even though we were having problems so it knocked us down. We certainly didn’t expect to lose our job when we were doing such a good job for the company, so it also knocked us down.
We had no idea that one stupid choice we made was going to put us in the situation we found ourselves in. But boy that thing really knocked us down. There is something that is here now or something that is coming in the future that is going to knock us down, and there’s nothing we can do to make sure our lives are free of knock downs.
The one thing we should not do is to confuse a knock down with a knock out. Just because a great boxer is knocked down does not mean he has lost the boxing match. It’s not the knock down that determines the winner. It’s how long you’re down that’s going to matter. Because if you get knocked down in the ring and you’re still moving, all that happens is the referee starts to count to 10. If you’re back on your feet before the number 10 comes out of his mouth, you’re back in the fight.
We are launching a new series today with the theme, “They got up.” We will look at different men and women in the bible who got knocked down through a variety of circumstances and ended up being greatly blessed by God because, “they got up”. They were people just like us who ran into some heartache and disappointments in life, but they got back up.
The first person we are going to look at is woman by the name of Hannah. Hannah’s name means grace. She had captured the heart of Elkanah, and knew that he wanted her to be his wife. She was so excited about the marriage and the many children they would have. Her future looked so promising. No doubt they had a wonderful wedding ceremony in the joining of their families. They began their lives together, and they truly loved each other. It all started out so well.
The problem started about a year in the marriage, when people started asking, “when is that little boy going to start coming along”. She would joke with the women and say, “oh we’re working on it.” They kept working on it, but there was no pregnancy.
Hannah started feeling downcast and depressed. Why isn’t she getting pregnant? Now you have to understand that at this time in history, the pressure on a young woman to produce not only a child, but even more so a son, was enormous. It was proof of God’s blessing on your relationship.
A woman who did not have a child for her husband was thought to be under a curse. When Hannah and Elkanah walked out together, people were whispering behind their back. “I wonder what’s wrong with them. They ought to have had some kids by now.” This thing started to eat at both of them. No doubt when their families got together and Elkanah’s brothers were bragging about how many sons they had, it made Elkanah envious.
When Hannah’s sisters produced another child, it only added to Hannah’s periods of doubt and discouragement. She was about ready to try anything to get beyond this point in her life. Certainly she had prayed about it, but nothing seemed to be happening.
You know when you start to see part of your dream coming apart at the seams, you have to know that God is still in control. We like to plan our lives in such a way that everything simply falls into place. God is not always interested in everything falling in place exactly as we want it to. Sometimes God is interested in doing something in and through our lives that can only be developed through some form of loss or some kind of pain.
Oswald Chambers wrote a book “In My Utmost For His Highest” and in that book he said , "If through a broken heart God can bring his purposes to pass in the world, then thank him for breaking your heart."
Unfortunately, though depending on how long our season of barrenness or emptiness lasts, we are tempted to listen to the options of Satan rather than trust in the faithfulness of God. That’s why we turn back to old ways, and how we use to handle problems. We look back for old bad relationships to hook up with people we should never contact again simply because we’re lonely and we think time is passing us by.
We pull out the cocaine pipe we said we would never use again in order to try to feel good and forget our problems. We turned back to alcohol and start drinking again thinking we can handle it. We don’t listen when others try to tell us we’re drinking too much. Those things are never the solution to our problem, and the promise they offer of comfort fall far short of what Jesus gives when we keep waiting on Him for deliverance.
Hannah and Elkanah made the mistake of thinking, we’ve waited long enough on God, we’ve got to do something ourselves. You might feel like that this morning, but I encourage you to wait a little longer. God has a plan that you can’t see. One of the most troubling parts of this passage of Scripture is that, the reason Hannah cannot conceive is that God has closed her womb.
Now why would God do something like that, when the girl is trying to live right and trying to be what she wanted to be for her husband. This is why we walk by faith and not by sight. Some things are just not going to make sense when we are going through them. Hannah’s desire is right but the timing is off.
How many of you can look back over your life and see something that made no sense at the time, but now you can see a little bit of what God was trying to do in a situation? The bible tells us it is impossible to please God without faith.
What circumstance in your life right now has got you knocked down making you think, God is not really covering your back. As a matter of fact, the devil is showing you, if you just compromise here, you can get what you want. Hannah and Elkanah decided to go for the compromise.
There was a custom in place at the time that was never sanctioned by God, but it went like this. “If a woman did not have children, her husband could take a second wife by whom he could have children.” Now I don’t know which of them decided to take this course of action or if they decided it together to stop people from talking about them or what. I do know they got outside of God’s will. It’s amazing how we can see people who made the same dumb mistake we are about to make, and yet we tell ourselves, our situation is going to be different. We want fall into the same trap.
You may recall Abraham and Sarah tried this same thing, and ended up with a mess in their family. Abraham took Hagar as his wife. Hagar got pregnant. She laughed in Sarah’s face and the baby mama drama was on. Sarah was in her 80’s and she was ready to fight this young woman over the mess going on in their home.
Hannah and Elkanah had to have made this decision together to bring the woman, Peninah, in their home, because the bible says Elkanah loved Hannah. Well Peninah comes in and boom she gets pregnant. Not just once, but time and time and time again with sons and daughters. Peninah starts making fun of Hannah by insulting her, calling her names, reminding her she’s the one having the babies, and basically making Hannah’s life miserable.
Hannah and Elkanah start having serious problems. He’s trying to make up for the misery in the house, by showing his love for Hannah more and more through the gifts that he brings to her. Peninah know’s this man does not really love her, but instead of attacking him, she turns up the heat on Hannah because if Hannah was not there, then maybe Elkanah would start loving her. The Baby mama drama is in full swing in this house.
Hannah’s dream has completely fallen apart. At first it was just the people outside her house. Now the outside problem has been brought inside, and there is nowhere to go to get away from it. She is a prisoner in her own home. Her dream is now a nightmare. She couldn’t find peace even from going to the temple, because the moment she got home, Peninah would start attacking and provoking her all over again. It got to the point she’d spend the day crying, and she just stopped eating. She wanted a son so badly, she was ready to just die. All the stress of her home had gotten to her. This thing had gone on for several years. Why won’t God do something?
One of the most frustrating things about being a Christian can be knowing that God could do something to change our situation, but God does not do it. Look at Hannah. Even with all the mess and abuse that’s coming from Peninah, not once does the Scriptures say that Hannah retaliated or tried to get even with her. You know this woman was walking with the Lord.
She was feeling about as knocked down as you can get, but she still was holding on to her faith. She may have even had empathy for Peninah, because she had helped bring Peninah some pain by assisting in providing her with a husband who used her but didn’t love her. It’s been said that hurting people hurt people. Peninah was hurting too, but handling it poorly. No woman wants to be number 2 to her husband.
There is a verse in 2 Corinthians 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Sometimes my friends we are knocked down in order for the world to see Jesus come alive in our bodies. People can see a part of God in us when we are down, that our pride may keep them from seeing when we are on top. We need to show people, what it is to get up.
Hannah started to get up by keeping on heading to the temple knowing that Peninah would be waiting when she got home. One particular day, she stayed a little longer at the temple. She said, “God you know how badly I want a son. Lord if you would deliver me out of all this misery that I am in, I promise you, I will give this son back to you forever, and he will be consecrated to You for Your will and Your purposes.
Hannah is ready to turn her dream over to God and is willing to walk away from it. She knows that ultimately her salvation is not in her dream, but in the faithfulness and power of her God.
Hannah was in such grief, that her lips were moving, but no words were coming out of her mouth. Eli the priest saw her and accused her of being drunk. When she convinced him that she hadn’t taken a drop of anything, he then told her to go in peace and may the Lord grant you what you have asked for. Hannah took his words in faith and for the first time in a long time, she sat down and ate her a good meal. Her face was no longer downcast. She looked prettier than she had in quite a while.
Elkanah couldn’t wait to get home that night because he knew it was going to be a good night. The bible says they had sex when they got home, and the Lord remembered Hannah’s prayer. Hannah was walking around with a smile on her face, and month by month she started growing and all the haters had to stop hating.
There is nothing mentioned again about the trouble and abuse caused by Peninah. I don’t know what happened in that situation but it changed, and it changed dramatically. Aren’t you glad the person causing you the grief can be changed by God. Their day is going to come.
Nine months after that prayer in the temple Samuel was born. When it came time for the family to go to the temple for the yearly sacrifice, Hannah said “I won’t be going until he’s weaned. That means she waited until he was about 3 years of age. She then took him to the temple along with an offering and gave him to Eli the priest saying, “this is the little boy I prayed for and I told the Lord if he gave me a son, I would give him back to the Lord for his entire life. So here he is for you to train him however you want to train him for the Lord.”
How many of you know it was not easy to leave her dream and her promises behind in the form of her son Samue? But Hannah went on to write one of the great prayers of praise in the bible, saying “my heart rejoices in the Lord. In the Lord, my horn is lifted high.”
After she gave Samuel up, each year when it was time to go up for the yearly feast, she made him a new outfit to wear. Eli said to Elkanah and Hanna, “may the Lord give you children to take the place of the one you gave to the Lord.” Hanna gave birth to three more sons and two daughters. My friends when we’re knocked down and think it’s all over, start to look up and get up. Help is on the way.
You see, God needed Samuel, but God was not ready for Samuel when Elkanah and Hannah wanted to have a child. They were thinking in terms of a family, but God was thinking in the terms of a nation. God could not remove the corrupt priest ruling the nation, until God had a priest that could take their place.
This Samuel is going to take their place. This is the Samuel that will become the greatest among the judges of Israel. This is the Samuel that will unite the nation and anoint Saul king of Israel. This is the Samuel who is going to anoint David to replace Saul as king of Israel.
When you get up like Hannah did, you don’t know how many people God wants to bless through you. Hannah paid a terrific price to be a vessel used by God. It was not easy for her to get knocked down, and then beat up, and then back on her feet but she did get up. Because she got up, an entire nation was able to get up. Somebody is watching you while you’re down. God is putting things into position to lift you up. Don’t take a short cut. You’ll be bringing in more misery than you can imagine. Make a vow to the Lord, “God when you give it to me, I will give it back.”
Remember you are a servant of El Shaddai, which means God Almighty. God Almighty, knows how to provide what you need and God is going to give you enough to sustain you during your crisis or your barreness.
I want you to know just because you’re down does not mean you’re going to stay there. There was a time when Jesus had been really knocked down. He had been nailed to the cross and in his moments of darkness it grew darker still with the sun even refusing to shine.
They took his dead body him down off the cross and put him in a tomb, which was their form of a grave. For three days he was down and it looked like he was out. But because the Father had a plan, he got up and changed the world forever. Get up with Jesus, and let him change your world forever. If Hannah could get up by the grace of God, you can as well. Just go ahead and give yourself the chance.
It’s impossible to fail so badly that God’s grace can’t reach us. We can hand over to God the messes we’ve made, and stand amazed at his ability to create beauty from the ashes and help us get back up. Know that God has not forgotten you.
Romans 8:28 tells us 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who [a] have been called according to his purpose.
