Sermon Brief
Date Written: July 11, 2013
Date Preached: July 14, 2013
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: A Series In 1 Samuel
Sermon Title: The Prayer of a Broken Heart/Spirit
Sermon Text: 1 Samuel 1 [HCSB]
Introduction:
This morning I want to begin a series from the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel…This book is actually the 1st part of 4 parts to a series about the transition of Israel from a Theocratic nation where judges were used by God to lead the nation to a nation ruled by a sole king.
In the Septuagint (The Greek version of the Old Testament) 1 Samuel was not the title for this book. It was actually 1 Kings and there were 4 Kings books 1st Kings, 2nd Kings (which we know now as 1 & 2 Samuel) and there were 3rd Kings and 4th Kings (which we now know as 1&2 Kings)…
There is much we can learn from the 1st book in this series of stories about the transition of a nation… This book specifically is a book that is really an introduction to the transition period for the nation… where they begin to transition from judges leading the nation to kings/prophets leading the nation.
The prophet/priest Samuel was the LAST of these judges to lead and counsel the nation. Many see Samuel as the 1st of the great prophets.
Samuel’s role did evolve from strictly being a judge to becoming both a judge and also a prophet… and with that transition the king becomes the center of government for the nation!
However, I am not here this morning to give you a history lesson about the book of 1 Samuel… This morning I want us to focus on the 1st chapter and the tremendous prayer of a broken heart/spirit… Let’s look at the prayer of Hannah!
When we read the story of Hannah, we can see that 1st Hannah was AFFLICTED by her situation, broken and ridiculed as well as feeling alone and useless! She hurt deep within her soul! She needed God in a great way! Have you ever been there? Let’s look at Hannah’s situation…
Hannah was afflicted – 1 Sam 1:6-8 [HSCB]
6Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7Whenever she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way every year. Hannah wept and would not eat. 8“Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?”
Here we find that Hannah is one of 2 wives of a man named El-kanah. She is afflicted because she has no children. Her affliction is coming from the other wife and from society in general…
She is ridiculed and mocked by the other wife; a woman the Bible calls “her rival". She would mock & make her life miserable. She would flaunt her children in front of Hannah and degrade Hannah in front of the servants and in front of Elkanah. This other wife made Hannah’s life a living hell…
However it did not end with this other woman, but also in society Hanna was being looked down upon by others because of her lack of children. To them this was an obvious sign that God was punishing her for her sin…whatever that sin may be!
She was mocked by her rival, and society ridiculed her… she was in pain, but what I find possibly worst of all is that her husband… the man to whom she should be able to turn for comfort – was NOT there for her!
In fact, it seems as if he was oblivious to her pain… he tells her, “Why are you worrying about all these people, you’ve got me and I am better than 10 sons!”
He thought that all his wealth and what he provided as a husband was what she really needed… but what she needed was his heart, not his wallet!
When we look at Hannah’s situation we can see that she felt all alone and possibly she may have believed that because of what OTHERS thought of her that maybe God had really abandoned her as well…
This sounds a lot like the book of Job… Job’s friends told him that he MUST have sin in his life because God would not allow such suffering to one without sin!
Likewise in the NT we find the same thought pattern prevailing! You MUST be guilty because God is punishing you for something…
This led Hannah to feel all alone in her marriage. Elkanah’s kindness toward her was not what she needed, she needed a touch from God! So Hannah got on her knees and cried out in her affliction!
I want you to know that is what we must do when affliction and trouble comes into our lives! I am sure everyone in this room knows what affliction is in your life!
We are afflicted from all sides while living in this world. We cannot escape the evil and sinful nature of this world, but we must do what Hannah patterns for us to do…when afflicted TURN TO GOD!
People in our church we have seen affliction with several setbacks over the past few years! We have seen attendance & membership drop! We have seen ministries that once thrived have become almost non-existent.
We have seen the financial condition of the church go from thriving to struggling & wondering if we would even keep the doors open!
BUT… over the past 2 years we have seen a wonderful move of God within our fellowship! We are seeing NEW people coming, people from our own community… people who say they want to serve God with us here at Oak Park.
We have seen ministry opportunities begin to reveal themselves to our fellowship and we have begun to accept and grab hold of the ministry vision God has laid before this church!
I believe we have seen this happen because in the midst of our affliction we did the right thing… many of our fellowship understood that WE could do nothing to change things, but that we served a God who could do anything!
We have gone to the throne of Grace in prayer with the affliction of our church… and I believe God is beginning to move in our fellowship & in our community because of our prayer!
Hannah knew her affliction was great, but she knew her God was GREATER! She took her request to God with a broken spirit and a broken heart and God heard her prayer!
Today, you may be experiencing great affliction or difficulty in your life! You may NOT know which way to turn for help, but I want to tell you that my counsel to you is to use Hannah’s example we find here in chapter 1… Take your broken spirit TO GOD! He will hear… and He will answer!
Hannah took her broken spirit to God, but I want us to understand that she did not do this with some formal or rehearsed prayer! This was a prayer directly FROM A BROKEN HEART… this was a prayer FROM a broken spirit! In this prayer we can see that…
Hannah poured out her heart –1 Sam 1:10-18 [HSCB]
10Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.” 12While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her lips. 13Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14and scolded her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” 15“No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. 16Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.” 17Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the petition you’ve requested from Him.” 18“May your servant find favor with you,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.
Deeply hurt and weeping reveals to us the brokenness of Hannah’s heart… here we find her pouring out her heart to God!
She knows that her prayer is going to the One who can make all things right as she prays to the “Lord of Hosts” which acknowledges God for who He truly is…
How often do we go to God with a broken heart but we fail to acknowledge God for WHO He is… In Jesus’ model prayer in Matt 6 we see the very 1st thing He instructs is to acknowledge God for who He is… “Our Father in Heaven, HALLOWED by your name!”
But also we can see that Hannah knew and understood that this One she prayed to as Lord of Hosts… the creator of the Universe, was a God of love who cared for His children!
We see this in her tone toward God in her prayer… Hannah was not formal in her approach to Him but personal in that she spoke out of her brokenness
(She knew where she was in life, she knew what society thought about her, but she also knew what God felt… and that He loved her) Hannah knew that in her brokenness God’s love was able to cover her!
When we come to God and acknowledge Him for who He is… that does NOT mean we have to be formal & stuffy in our prayer… As Jesus said in his model prayer… “Our Father in heaven…”
This is our heavenly father we are praying to… we must acknowledge Him for who He is but it does not mean we cannot approach Him with our true feelings and heartfelt brokenness!
When you pray to God… He wants your honesty and openness! He wants you to open up to Him for YOUR sake, for you to come to the realization that he is YOUR rock and fortress… that He is your deliverer! Are you willing to pray to God with an open, honest heart that reveals your brokenness?
I will tell you this… God is willing to listen to your broken heart… It is His desire to repair your broken spirit… He desires you to place ALL on the altar when you come to Him in prayer! Don’t allow pride to hold you back in your prayer time with God!
What we can see in this prayer by Hannah is that pride was NOT a factor her prayer! She was unashamed in her brokenness before the Lord! We also find that God answered her repentant, unashamed heart’s prayer!
Conclusion:
Hannah’s prayer was from a broken spirit heart and a trust in a sovereign and loving God that she knew loved her… In her brokenness she was able to open up to God… in her brokenness she was able to know He was her answer… in her brokenness she laid ALL on the line!
This morning you may be here and things may look bleak, but that is just where God wants you to be! Let me explain… you see as awful as it sounds and feels, it is a GOOD thing to come to the END of ourselves and our own power!
When you feel the pain of realizing what worked in the past is not working now…
When you feel the confusion of not knowing where to turn or what to do next…
When you feel the helplessness of spinning hopelessly out of control in your life…
In our brokenness is the time we must be willing (as Hannah was) to abandon ourselves and our own ability to solve our own problems!
We must forsake belief in ourselves and fall headlong into the love, grace and mercy of a God who cares deeply for us! At a time such as this is when God can take our broken spirit and heal our hearts and mold us into what He desires…
We rely on ourselves and our own power far too much! We rely on our power… a power that will FAIL & abandon us!
In our brokenness of spirit we must surrender all of who we are to the God of all miracles… Abandon your pride and sense of self-worth and:
Allow the God who alone spoke the very world into existence…to speak mightily in your life!
Allow the God who alone parted the Red Sea…to split your troubles and allow you to walk thru them unharmed!
Allow the God who took Goliath down with a small stone… to take down the GIANTS of your life!
Allow the God who fed 5000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread… to provide for you, even when you cannot see it… abandon yourself and allow Him to move!
Allow the God who raised His Son from the dead for the salvation of the world and the transformation of the cosmos… to shape, mold and change you into what He desires of you!
This morning your prayer should be simply this… Jesus I surrender myself to You! Jesus I surrender ALL of who I am, all of what I desire, all of what I hope to be… to YOU!
This morning you may have a broken heart… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning you may have a difficult or bad marriage… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning you may be struggling with addiction or sin… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning church members you may be struggling with conflict within the church body… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning you may be a parent struggling with wayward children… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning you may a child struggling with parents who don’t seem to love you or care… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning you may have a friend who is lost & has not responded to the Gospel… BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning we all know that we have a community around us that NEEDS God’s love and salvation… let’s BRING IT TO JESUS!
This morning we must realize that we must bring it ALL to Jesus!
If you are here today and you know Jesus as your Savior, this morning I want you to go back to last week and picture yourself standing on that same shoreline I described! A shoreline looking out on the millions of lost souls of this world… I want you to then LOOK thru your spiritual eyes you can see all the lost drowning in sin…
But God is not calling you to share Him with ALL those souls, but this morning I want you to look at those persons or THAT person to whom God is leading you to share His love! I want you to picture them and I want you picture yourself physically reaching out to save them!
God is calling on YOU to lay aside your pride, your insecurities, your selfish behavior, your laziness… and He wants you to move past your fear and share His love with the lost He his guiding you to…
But before you begin, I believe you should become broken of spirit… come to Jesus with a broken heart about your disobedience… BRING IT TO JESUS…
I call on you to come up here to this altar and lay it all out before God and let Him wash over you with forgiveness and mercy… THEN I believe you will be able to trust God to lead you as you reach out to the lost God has placed in your path!
What WE, as a church, have to understand is that we are NOT going to reach our community with great ideas, or great programs or classes! No matter HOW good they seem to be…
We are not going to reach our community by volunteering at JoEllen or Parc Fontaine… Don’t misunderstand me, those things are great things & we MUST continue to do them! However, we have to understand that these ‘programs’ or ‘ministries’ are NOT what reaches the community!
They are tools we can use, but if we are going to reach our community it will only be done through the love and grace of Jesus Christ… and we can only share His love when we are broken before God on our knees!
EVERYTHING has to start on our knees! ALL we do here at the church must have its beginnings and continue in and thru the constant prayer of our members and those who attend our church!
We must come to God with a broken spirit… with a submissive heart… and listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading! As your pastor, I am pleading with you to surrender in broken hearted prayer to Christ today!
We are an afflicted church because of many different circumstances and we are NOT going to cure our ills with programs or the pastor’s great ideas…
The ultimate CURE for our church can only found in and thru the power of the Holy Spirit!
We must hit our knees with a broken spirit & repentant heart! We must fall before Jesus unashamed and broken and pray for His guidance and wisdom!
Psalm 33:16-18 tells us: “…The King is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Behold, the EYE of the Lord is ON those who fear Him, and on those who hope in His steadfast love!”
There is NO great program or great ministry that is going to win our community to Christ! There is no amount of money that can win this community to Christ!
We cannot do this on our own people, but here is what we have to understand… we are instruments in HIS hand… things like ministry and programs and money are tools in His hands… for HIS plans and purposes!
Would you all stand and bow your heads as I lift up our fellowship this morning in prayer!
Dear God, this morning we humbly & fearfully come before you as individuals & as a corporate body! We know you are the God of the universe & that You spoke all things into existence & you are ruler of all things!
God we fully trust in YOU and your unfailing love for us! Lord we know what Your Word tells us about Your unending mercy & unparalleled power!
Lord, we are broken before You! Lord, take our brokenness and I pray that You can use it for YOUR glory! Lord, let us see Your glory revealed in our community!
Father, our prayer is that You would take us and use us as the instruments OF that glory! Lord, let us see YOUR victory FIRST in our hearts and then in our community!
