1 Samuel 1:3-20 A Woman of Faith ES 13 May 12, 2095
Today is Mother’s Day, so I thought we would take a look at Prophet Samuel’s mother Hannah.
• She is a woman of faith. Despite her very difficult situation, she did not lose faith in God.
• She frequented the house of the Lord and “pour out her soul to the Lord” (v.15). She pleaded for God’s favour. She “kept on praying to the Lord” (v.12), asking God to do what only He could do.
• God answered her prayers, and blessed her with the desire of her heart. Not just one son (Samuel) but eventually 3 more sons and 2 daughters (v.21).
(1) A Woman of Faith Has PROBLEMS WATCH YOUR RESPONSE
We have this tendency to think that the heroes of faith in the Bible were somehow different than we are or that they were immune from problems because of their faith.
• This is a skewed understanding of realities. They all faced the same hardships and problems as we do.
• Righteous people do suffer, and probably more so in those times than ours.
• The BIG difference was HOW they responded to the problems.
• Despite her misfortune and mistreatment, Hannah continued to worship God year after year.
Hannah was barren and in the Jewish culture, considered a curse.
• She was mocked at each time she comes to the house of the Lord.
• She wept and would not eat. Even her husband’s special treatment (v.5) and comforting words (v.8) were unable to console her.
• She was so deeply troubled that when she poured out her soul to God in prayer, she looked like a drunkard woman.
Who says a man or woman of faith will not cry? Who says a devout “servant of God” will never face disappointments? Ask Elijah, and he would tell you there was one time he wanted to end his life.
• God has allowed the good things and the bad things to come to our lives, but with a divine purpose – a purpose that is often beyond us.
• In his struggle, Job says, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)
• Solomon says, “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.” (Eccl 7:14)
There will be times of disappointment. There will be times we’ll be greatly discouraged. Christians face REAL problems, not fake ones.
• The important thing is what you do when you are disappointed and discouraged.
• Do you respond like Job’s wife: “Curse God and die.” (2:9) or like Job: “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” (2:10)
• You can wallow in self-pity, you can blame self, people or God, or you can choose to bring it to God and ask God for help.
• That sounds easy but it would take FAITH. We RESPOND WITH FAITH – faith that God is still FOR you and not against you; that He has your concern in mind and not the One to blame for the cause of it; and faith that God can still HELP you despite the problem you face.
Hannah showed that. It takes faith to come to the house of God and pray.
• It takes faith not to give up on yourself, on your situation, and on God!
• The solution to your problems lies with God; therefore the need to PRAY!
(2) A Woman of Faith PRAYS BELIEVE IN PRAYER
Hannah believes in prayer. She believes it is efficacious. She was preoccupied with it; she was driven to God.
• 1:10-11 “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
• It is the “pouring out of her soul to God” (v.15). There is nothing she can do. She is completely at the mercy of God. She did not give up on God.
As part of her prayer, she made a vow that if she was to be blessed with a son, he will be dedicated to the Lord for his entire life.
• Her son would serve in the temple and be a Nazirite.
• The Nazirite vow is given in Num 6 and it can be made by anyone who wants to be fully consecrated to the Lord for His service. He needs to (1) abstain from wine and similar drink, (2) not cut his hair and (3) cannot go near a dead body.
Verse 12: “She kept on praying to the Lord…”
• It was a persisting prayer, bathed in tears, an outpouring of her soul before God, a praying out of great anguish and grief. This was not a sign of unbelief.
• You can be blatantly honest with God in your prayers. Very often, I find the Lord hearing the cries of our heart more than the words of our lips.
• Don’t hold back when you come before God in prayer.
The prayer time transformed her.
• The priest Eli says, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” (v.17); most likely not knowing what she had asked
• She responded: “May your servant find favour in your eyes.” (v.18) That’s AMEN!
• Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
• Why? What changed? She has not received anything. What has lifted her spirit? God’s presence. God lifted her spirit! She had an ENCOUNTER with God.
• That’s what PRAYER did. Only prayer can bring about such an outcome.
If you are depressed, get into God’s presence by praying. We enter His presence when we pray. Nothing will change until you experience the PRESENCE of God.
• That’s why Jesus calls the house of God the house of PRAYER!
• When Jesus entered the Temple and saw that it was turned into a marketplace – in Matt 21:13, He burst out saying: 13"It is written, `My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a `den of robbers.'" (house of prayer – Isa 56:7)
• Den of robbers – they have come to earn something for themselves.
• Jesus did not describe God’s house as a house of worship, which is appropriate; or a house of preaching, which is right too. But He called it “a house of prayer” because that defines the house of God best – it is where we ENCOUNTER God!
When it all started in the wilderness, Moses was asked to build “the tent of meeting” – the Tabernacle. It is the place of MEETING between man and God.
• If we have many activities but no “close encounter of the divine kind” – nothing has taken place, actually.
• We may have just attended a concert and not worshipped God; or went through a ritual but not actually communed with God.
Hannah’s encounter with God in prayer changes her disposition.
• She experienced God’s comfort and assurance that no man or circumstance can give her.
I had just started reading the book JUST AS I AM by David Ring.
He was born with cerebral palsy. He had complications at birth and he was technically dead for 18 minutes after delivery. No oxygen reached his brain and a portion was permanently damaged.
His family’s story was catastrophic – his father had a mangled arm, two of his siblings died at infants, three of them suffering from haemophilia (a disorder that impair the body's ability to control blood clotting, which is used to stop bleeding), living in perpetual poverty, and the parents eventually separated because of the stresses of life, and his father died of liver cancer when David was 11 years old.
He said (p.23): “Happiness is determined by circumstances, but joy depends on our relationship with the Lord Jesus. Your happiness can be taken away because of circumstances, but nobody can remove your joy.
You say, “Dave, I’m saved, but I don’t think I have joy.” Do you know why? It is because circumstances are robbing you of the joy that is in you. Joy is still inside you, but the problem is that someone or something is stifling your joy. Joy should be an outward expression of an inward experience.”
Hannah’s joy had been stifled by the sad situation and the scorn from those around.
• But it was restored when she met the Lord in prayer.
(3) A Woman of Faith Sees God’s PROVISION EXPECT A MIRACLE
Expect God to act. Expect God to step in (you’ve just invited Him to). God responds to prayer; God ALWAYS responds to prayer.
• When I say “miracle” – it does not mean something dramatic; simply something divine. Expect an act of God. Expect the extraordinary. Expect not the natural.
• If it is the natural I am expecting, you don’t need God to step in.
God answered her prayer, and she named him SAMUEL (sounds like “heard of God” in Hebrew).
• Every time she calls her child, she is reminding herself that God heard her.
• God did not just give her a baby but a prophet to be, someone whom God will greatly use, someone who will find his name into the Bible!
God kept His promise, and so did Hannah.
• When the boy was weaned (about 3 years old), she brought him back to the house of the Lord. She has promised to dedicate the child to the Lord.
• 1:24-28 “After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. 25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 28So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." And he worshiped the LORD there.”
• And she launched into a prayer song of praise – 2:1-10
To offer the child to God was not an easy thing to do. Hannah longed to have a child, and now she gladly offers him back to God. Samuel will stay with the priest and grow up to serve in the house of God.
• Reminds me of Abraham – God gave him a son, and then challenged him to offer him up.
Many people make promises to God, only to forget them when they get what they want. Not so with Hannah.
• Man and woman of faith recognise that everything belongs to God. Everything we have today comes as a gift from God!
• Even when we pray and ask from God, nothing we receive comes out of merit. It is the favour of God. Everything is by His grace.
Each year the mother would visit the boy. Read 1 Sam 2:18-21
18 But Samuel was ministering before the LORD-a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, "May the LORD give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the LORD." Then they would go home.
21 And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.
God will never short-change you. He is more generous than we think.
• Samuel grew up to become one of the most significant prophets of his time.
CONCLUSION
1. Face with a PROBLEM – stay focus on God. WATCH HOW YOU RESPONSE.
2. PRAY and tell it to God. Keep on PRAYING. God has not changed.
3. Finally, expect God to ACT. Expect God’s surprises. He has your best in mind.
