Mother’s Day 2014: Hannah
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 5/11/2014
Have you found the perfect Mother’s Day present yet? If not, let me make a recommendation. In the Bible, in the book of Exodus, God gave us commandments for how we should live, how we should act toward him, and one another. And right in the middle of really heavy statements like “you shall have no other gods before me” and “you shall not murder,” he gave us the fifth commandment: “Honor your mother and father.” Honor means to regard with great respect, to recognize, or to esteem. The fact that God even added “honor your mother and father” to the Ten Commandments should show us how important it is. There are lots of things you can give your mom on Mother’s Day—whether it’s breakfast in bed, or a day at the spa—but let’s not forget the most important thing. The best gift you can give your mom is to honor her. That’s what we want to do here today—honor the moms of Blooming Grove.
As beautiful an occasion as this is, however, Mother’s Day can also be a challenge for many of us. Some of us can’t help but reflect on ways we wish we’d been better parents—or had better parents—and some of us wish we’d been better sons and daughters to our parents. For some, Mother’s Day is a painful reminder of wayward children, broken relationships, even painful loss. Others among us have long and desperately desired to have children, to start a family, yet have been denied that blessing. But whatever may be going on in your heart and life today, I believe God has a message for you, a message that—if you’ll let it—will take root in your heart and mind and make this a day to remember and treasure.
It’s a message that involves one of the most famous mothers in history, yet it can apply to men as much as to women, to those who are expecting and those who have long stopped expecting, to any who are hurting as much as to those who are happy.
This story takes place in the Old Testament, in the first chapter of First Samuel. There in 1 Samuel 1, we discover the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Hannah’s story is one of both heartache and happiness. God knew that her story could touch the hearts of weary moms a thousand generations later, so I’d like to invite you to ponder her story, and as you do, perhaps, discover your own. Her story starts off with a problem.
• HER PROBLEM
The first verse of 1 Samuel 1, tells us Hannah was the wife of a man named Elkanah. But that wasn’t her problem. The problem was she wasn’t his only wife. Elkanah had another wife named Peninnah. Here’s how Scripture sums up Hannah’s problem: “Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not… 6So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. 7Year after year it was the same—Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat” (1 Samuel 1:2-7 NLT).
Hannah knew that children were a gift from the Lord and more than anything else, Hannah just wanted to know the joys of motherhood. If you’ve ever struggled to become pregnant, I’m sure you can identify.
But on top of her fertility problems, Hannah had to live with Peninnah and her pugnacious progeny. And of course, Peninnah insisted on adding insult to injury every chance she had. Year after year after year. Peninnah would gloat and Hannah would wonder, “What’s wrong with me? Doesn’t God love me? Why would God give children to a mean spirited hag and leave me feeling like my womb—hollow and barren.”
Thank God, none of us have that problem. But all of us know what it’s like to have strife and stress in our home. You don’t have a sister-wife to compete with, but maybe you’ve got a meddling mother-in-law that has a knack for making you feel two-inches tall. Or maybe, unlike Hannah, you’ve got a houseful of kids still in the temper-tantrum and fit-throwing stage and you just feel like pulling your own hair out sometimes. Or maybe you have husband who doesn’t appreciate you or help out as often as he should. Sometimes life can feel like a never ending battle against dirty dishes, piles of laundry, and crayon covered walls. The pressures of parenthood can occasionally reduce even the best moms to tears.
Moms can often have unrealistic expectations for themselves and their families. If Hannah’s problems tell us anything, they tell us there is simply no such thing as a perfect mom. And there are no such things as perfect kids, perfect marriages, or perfect families. There will be moments when the problems of parenthood, knock you to your knees and reduce you to tears. But, as someone once said, “When life knocks you on your knees… well, that’s the best position in which to pray, isn’t it?”
And that’s just what Hannah did. Let’s take a look at her prayer.
• HER PRAYER
The Bible says that each year Hannah, Elkanah, Peninnah and the whole family would travel to the Tabernacle in Shiloh to worship and make their annual sacrifices. And each year Hannah would pray for a child. One year in particular, this is how it went:
Once, after they had eaten their meal in Shiloh, Hannah got up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the entrance to the Lord’s house. 10 Hannah was so sad that she cried and prayed to the Lord… 12 While Hannah kept praying, Eli watched her mouth. 13 She was praying in her heart so her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “Stop getting drunk! Throw away your wine!” 15 Hannah answered, “No, sir, I have not drunk any wine or beer. I am a deeply troubled woman, and I was telling the Lord about all my problems. 16 Don’t think I am an evil woman. I have been praying because I have many troubles and am very sad.” 17 Eli answered, “Go! I wish you well. May the God of Israel give you what you asked of him.” (1 Samuel 1:9-17 NCV)
How do you usually respond when life gets you down? How do you react when others treat you poorly or you’ve got a plateful of problems? If you’re like most of us, you don’t typically turn to God. In fact, many of us tend to turn against God when we hit a rough spot. But not Hannah.
Verse 10 says Hannah “cried and prayed to the Lord.”
Verse 12 says, “Hannah kept praying.”
Verse 13 says, “She was praying in her heart.”
Verse 15 says she was telling the Lord about all her problems.
Verse 16 says she was praying because she had many troubles and was very sad.
Hannah was in a miserable situation, and although her husband loved her, he didn’t fully understand the pain she had to endure. As hurtful as her situation was, she did something that far too few of us do when we are hurting—or when we are happy, for that matter. She prayed. She prayed with tears streaming down her face. She prayed with passion and pain. She prayed persistently and powerfully.
Hannah’s example challenges all of us to be people of prayer. If you’re a parent, be a praying parent. If you’re a wife, be a praying wife. If you’re a mom, be a praying mom. If you’re son or a daughter, be praying son or daughter.
Even though she had gone years thinking, perhaps, that God wasn’t listening, or that God didn’t care, or that she wasn’t worthy—she kept on praying. She never gave up on prayer. She never gave up on God. Neither should you.
Hannah reminds me of a story that Paul Harvey once told about a 3-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store she said to him, “Now you’re not going to get any cookies, so don’t even ask.” She put him up in the cart ad he sat in the little child’s seat while she wheeled down the aisles. He was doing just fine until they came to the cookie section. He saw the chocolate chip cookies and he stood up in the seat and said, “Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies?” She said, “I told you not even to ask. You’re not going to get any cookies.” So he sat back down. They continued down the aisles, but in her search for certain items they came across an end cap with a display of Chips-Ahoy. “Mom, can I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” he begged. She said, “I told you that you can’t have any. Now sit down and be quiet.” Finally, they were approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed that this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart and shouted in his loudest voice, “In the name of Jesus, may I please have some chocolate chip cookies?” And everybody in the store just cracked up. Some even applauded. And, due to the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left with 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies.
Don’t you know that Hannah had her prayers answered, too? When Hannah and Elkanah got home, the Bible says, “the Lord remembered her. 20 So Hannah became pregnant, and in time she gave birth to a son” (1 Samuel 1:19-20 NCV).
Now, I don’t know why God took so long to answer Hannah’s prayer, but it might just be that God wanted Hannah’s prayers more than Hannah wanted a child. What if something similar is true for you? What if God has something in store for you—for your future or for your children or your marriage—that only prayer can bring about?
I honestly believe that if we would do like Hannah and fully rely on prayer, it would turn our lives upside down! We wouldn’t just pray before meals, we would pray before everything! Like Hannah, we would pray and keep on praying. Like Hannah, we would pour out our souls to God. Like Hannah, we would pray until people questioned our sobriety! Let’s be like Hannah and make prayer a priority.
And if you are a parent, I also urge you to make a promise like hers.
• HER PROMISE
In the midst of pouring out her heart to God, Hannah made a mind-blowing promise. She prayed, “O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime, and as a sign that he has been dedicated to the Lord, his hair will never be cut” (1 Samuel 1:11 NLT).
You know what? Hannah kept her promise.
She never cut her son’s hair, which at the time was a sign and a reminder that you are dedicated to God. She even went a step further than that. When her son was old enough, she brought him back to the Temple in Shiloh, where he lived and learned the ways of God. Eli, the priest, became his mentor and that little boy—Samuel—became a mighty man of God, the last of the great judges and the first of the great prophets.
Moms, have you given your children back to God? Some of you are thinking “I’d like to give them back, but I think I lost the receipt.” But that’s not what I mean.
Today, it’s Hannah’s example we follow in dedicating our children to God in the church. Now, we don’t throw away the clippers and set up cots in the church basement; rather, we as parents follow Hannah’s example by making a promise to God—a solemn vow—to dedicate our children to him. To raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, teaching them God’s Word and instilling them with faith. And we bring them up in the House of the Lord—as a part of God’s family.
Dedication:
Right now, I’d like to invite two young families—the Ribbles and the Richs—to come join me on the stage. These young families have each had a new addition recently. Kara and Dusty recently became parents for the third time to baby Isaac and Josh and Stephanie became parents for the first time to baby Madison. They are joining me up her today, because they want to follow in Hannah’s footsteps, by dedicating their children to God. It is not easy. It will take commitment and perseverance. It will have ups and downs and even heartbreak. That sort of sacrifice is why godly mothers (and fathers) deserve our deepest gratitude. In a moment, we’ll pray together over these parents and their children, but first I’m going to ask you to make the same promise that Hannah made:
• Promise: Do you promise to dedicate your son/daughter to God, to give him/her back to God for all his/her life and to raise him/her in the House of the Lord?
• Prayer: “On this special day, when we honor the mother’s in our lives, we’d like to say a special prayer for these two mothers, their husbands, and their children…
• Presentation: We’d also like to give each of these little ones a small gift, as sign and reminder that they’ve been dedicated to God, as they get old enough to understand, each time they see these teddy bears, you parents can explain to them what they represent.
Invitation:
You may have come here today with no expectation of any kind of change or commitment. You may have planned on nothing more than an hour of music and preaching. But I want to urge you to do two things before you leave. First, give the mothers in your life they honor that they deserve and God commands. Second, I want you to consider dedicating or re-dedicating yourself to God.
Maybe you were lucky enough to have a mom who loved you and dedicated you to God when you were a child and now is the time to reaffirm that commitment. Or maybe you’ve never given your life to God, and now is the time to dedicate yourself to living for him. I invite you to make that commitment by praying silently as I pray aloud:
Lord Jesus, thank You for our mothers. Thank You for the example of their love and sacrifice that are an echo of YOUR love and sacrifice. Thank You for loving me and dying for me. I bring to You my sins and ask Your forgiveness. I offer my life to You and commit to following You. Come into my heart and make me new. Amen.
If that’s your prayer today, I want to invite you to come talk with me while we sing this next song. As we prepare to stand and sing, I pray the same prayer for you that Eli prayed for Hannah: Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him. Amen.
