God’s fingerprints can be detected all through history.
• At times His work is dramatically obvious - like parting the Red Sea, tearing down the walls of Jericho - but other times, it’s not noticeable to our senses.
• Our lack of perception, however, does not mean God is not working. And it does not hinder His activities.
God keeps working whether we’re aware or not. But blessings come to those who are spiritual attuned to what God is doing.
• We have peace and hope in our hearts, knowing that God is at work. Our faith grows because we discern His activity in our lives.
• Can you see God at work today? Can you learn to see the God who is at work in your life today?
Let’s see God at work, by looking back at the history of Israel, in 1 Samuel.
We would not appreciate 1 Samuel so much, if we had not known the backdrop painted for us in the book of Judges.
• Israel had fallen apart for over 300 years, after the death of Joshua.
• She would have continued in that wrong direction, had not God raised a prophet to turn things around.
You see, God has not given up on Israel. It was Israel who had given up on God.
• God, by His sovereign grace, would act to draw His people back again. His love for His people has not changed.
• God did that for Israel and God is doing that today. He has not given up on Israel, neither would He give up on us.
• We are doom only because we give up on God, and never the other way around.
God would draw His people back to Himself in 1 Samuel.
• First, they would get a king, because of their stubbornness. They insisted on it and they got their own king – the people’s king – King Saul.
• He is not God’s kind of king. He did nothing to influence the people back to God. And we see God stepping in to replace him with His king – King David - the God’s kind of king, “a man after His own heart,” the Lord says.
1 Samuel tells of God’s sovereign act of drawing His people back.
• Samuel played an influential role in this. That is why the Jewish scribes used his name for this book. He is not the author of this book, but played an important role in their history.
• Samuel died in 1 Samuel 25. 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book, divided later by the Greeks.
• The author is unknown, but he must be someone who survives King David because the book covers all the way to the time of David.
So God is going to use this man SAMUEL to turn the tides around for Israel.
• Let’s look at 1 Samuel 1. Where is he? Yet to be born. That’s where we are going to start.
• He was not even in the mother’s womb because his mother was barren.
[Read 1 Samuel 1:3-20]
God has His plan. He has a plan even before we know it. He has a plan even before we are born.
• Eph 1:4 “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
• He said to Jeremiah - Jer 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
God can create an answer where there is none. God raises Judges, He raises prophets, and He raises Jesus, to do His work and accomplish His will.
• He can make a way in the desert and streams in the wastelands (Isaiah 43:19).
• Don Moen sings rightly, “God can make a way where there seems to be no way.”
1. GOD WORKS THROUGH OUR TROUBLES
Who says godly men and women will have no trouble in life?
Who says godly people will not suffer?
Samuel was born into a family torn apart by rivalry. His father had two wives.
• His mother Hannah was barren for many years and was despised at home (especially so in the Jewish culture).
• She spent most of her days in sorrow, despite her husband’s special treatment (1:5) and words of comfort (1:8).
But she is a worshipper of God. Year after year, she would go to the Lord’s Temple at Shiloh with the family and spend extended time praying.
• 1:10 “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.”
• Look at the Scriptures carefully, no hero of faith is immune from troubles.
Just take a look the women who were struggling to have a child – Sarah (Gen 16-17), Rebekah was barren until Isaac prayed for her (Gen 25:21), Rachel, Jacob’s wife (Gen 30:22). In the NT we have Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother (Luke 1:7). She and her husband Zechariah were both well along in years.
Godly people have real problems. Righteous people do suffer, and sometimes, even more so than others.
• Look at Hannah. Who says a woman of faith do not cry? Who says a devout woman will not face disappointment in life?
God allows the good and bad to come into our lives.
• The comforting truth is that He has a divine purpose. That purpose is often shielded from us or beyond us.
• Why is this man born blind? Jesus says, so that the work of God might be displayed in his life (John 9:2-3).
• 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)
About 2 months ago a Christian friend of mine called me with great anxiety and asked me to clarify something. He just got to find out how Apostle Paul died - beheaded by the Romans, under Emperor Nero. He was shocked. Devastated.
He kept asking me, how can this be? How can God allow this to happen? Paul has done so much good for God, for His church. He wrote a third of the NT. Why did not allow this to happen to Paul? Why didn’t God protect him?
I said Paul has finished his race and God is giving him his well-deserved REST. Paul wasn’t the only one to die a painful death. All the disciples, except probably John, died a gruesome martyrdom. They offered their lives to God. They proclaimed the Gospel faithfully. The people opposed them and the devil fought them, so they were persecuted.
Getting the right perspective is important. It will prevent us from pre-judging God, misreading His intentions, and misunderstanding His ways.
• Paul says, “Fight the good fight of faith.” (NKJV 1 Tim 6:12) It’s a spiritual war that we are called to, and no one is immune.
• Hannah trusted God, despite her misfortune and mistreatment. Her suffering did not turn her away from God; it drove her to God. He pain did not cause her to blame God; it drove her to worship Him!
She prayed and prayed. 1:12 says she kept on praying to the Lord. She was so passionate that the priest thought she was drunk.
2. GOD WORKS THROUGH OUR PRAYERS
The only way to overcome our troubles is to go down on our knees.
• And it’s not just about getting the answer. It’s about getting our hearts right.
• Hannah was weeping and deeply troubled when she prayed. In her own words, “out of great anguish and grief” (1:17).
• At the end, she went away and “her face was no longer downcast.” (1:18) She found PEACE, even though the answer had not yet come.
Prayer is NOT about getting the answer; it is about RESTING IN THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD.
• “I trust Him. He is good and He knows what He is doing. He is in control and He has my best interest at heart.”
• Phil 4:6-7 “6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” A shift from ANXIETY to PEACE happens THROUGH PRAYER.
Prayer aligns my heart with God’s heart. It gives me peace, knowing that God is in control. It gives me peace, even before the answer, even without the answer.
It is really amazing to see how God answers the prayers of His people.
• Remember the list of women who were barren and prayed for a child - Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Elizabeth, and Hannah?
• See how God responded to their prayers - Sarah gave birth to ISAAC, Rebekah to twin ESAU and JACOB (Israel), Rachel gave birth to JOSEPH, Elizabeth gave birth to JOHN THE BAPTIST, and here Hannah gave birth to SAMUEL.
• All of them gave birth to great servants of God!
God can still do a great thing, through our troubles. Their misfortune is not a misfortune to God.
• In fact, God needs to wait for Samuel to grow up. God needs to wait for all of these servants of His to grow up. Time is not an issue.
• We pray and we trust Him. We pray and God gives us the REST we need in our heart. It is a PEACE that comes to us even before any answer.
God is at work in our lives today. God does His work in our lives through our troubles and through our prayers.
• We will see His will fulfilled and His purposes accomplished. That is what we want to see, right?
Can you see God at work in your life? Pray and ask God to open your eyes to see.
Dear friends, if you are still seeking to know God, you need to know WHO Jesus is and WHAT He has done. He came to save us from our sin and reconcile us with God. He died on our behalf as punishment for our sin and rose again back to life. Put our trust in Jesus and acknowledge Him as Saviour, you will receive His forgiveness and the gift of eternal life with Him.
