We honor our mothers in two ways:
(1) SOME ARE HERE TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF THEIR MOTHER who has gone to be with the Lord.
Some of you are wearing a white rose or carnation to show that she has gone to be with the Lord.
Today, you remember all the GOOD THINGS your loving mother taught you as a child.
Illus: I read about some things you would never hear a mother say to her child, such as:
• "How on earth can you see the TV sitting so far back?"
• "Yeah, I used to skip school a lot, too."
• "Just leave all the lights on ... it makes the house look more cheery."
• "Let me smell that shirt -- Yeah, it's good for another week."
• "Go ahead and keep that stray dog, honey. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day."
•“Well, if Timmy's mom says it's OK, that's good enough for me."
• "The curfew is just a general time to shoot for. It's not like I'm running a prison around here."
• "I don't have a tissue with me ... just use your sleeve."
Many have come to honor the memory of a loving Mother who always looked out for their best interest.
(2) SOME ARE HERE TO HONOR THEIR MOTHERS who are still living.
Some are wearing a red rose or a red carnation to show that your Mother is still living.
Today you have a chance to:
• Look her in the eyes again and say, “Mom, you are the greatest and I love you!”
• Put your arms around her and give her a big squeeze.
• Give her a Mother’s Day card expressing how you feel about her.
• Take her out for lunch and let her know how much you love her.
These are the things that we should do today for our living mothers, because next year we could be among those who are honoring our mother in memory.
Our mothers have taught us so many things. Did you know that 80% of what a child learns, they learn before they are five years old?
Illus: I read the other day that one man said,
• My Mother taught me LOGIC. She said, “If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can't go to the store with me.”
• My Mother taught me MEDICINE. She said, "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
• My Mother taught me ESP. She said, "Put your sweater on; don't you think that I know when you're cold?"
• My Mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE. She said, "What were you thinking? Answer me when I talk to you...Don't talk back to me!"
• My Mother taught me HUMOR. She said, “When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me."
• My Mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT. She said, "If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.”
• My mother taught me about GENETICS. She said that when I am bad I am just like my father!
• My mother taught me about my ROOTS. She said, "Do you think you were born in a barn?"
• My mother taught me about the WISDOM of AGE. She said, "When you get to be my age, you will understand."
• My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION. She said, "Just wait until your father gets home."
• My mother taught me about RECEIVING. She said, “You are going to get it when we get home.
• My mother taught me JUSTICE. She said, "One day you will have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you, then you'll see what it's like."
But I would like to get serious for a few minutes because motherhood is a very serious thing.
When asked of the greatest need in France, Napoleon responded emphatically, "Mothers!" And I believe that one of the greatest needs in America today is for good godly MOTHERS and GRANDMOTHERS.
Hannah is a good example of a Mother who took Motherhood seriously. She produced a son by the name of Samuel, and anyone who has read about this man knows how God greatly used Him.
This great prophet of God probably would not have been the man he was if it had not been for his godly mother.
Let’s look at some of the things that made her a great mother.
I. HANNAH LOVED CHILDREN
Hannah DESIRED children, she did not DESPISE them!
As a parent, I will be the first to admit that children are not always easy to like.
You have heard the old saying about why grandparents are called grandparents: it is because we think it is . . .
• GRAND to see them COME
• GRAND to see them GO
Illus: I read about how you can tell if you want children. You need to take the-
• MESS TEST: Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Now rub your hands in the wet flower bed and rub the walls. Cover the stains with crayons. Place a fish stick behind the couch and leave it there all summer.
• TOY TEST: Obtain a 55-gallon box of Lego's. (If Lego's are not available, you may substitute roofing tacks or broken bottles.) Have a friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the bathroom or kitchen. Do not scream. (This could wake a child at night.)
• GROCERY STORE TEST: Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you shop at the grocery store. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.
• DRESSING TEST: Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag, making sure that all arms stay inside.
• FEEDING TEST: Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water. Suspend from the ceiling with a stout cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert spoonfuls of soggy cereal (such as Fruit Loops or Cheerios) into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.
PHYSICAL TEST (WOMEN): Obtain a large beanbag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans.
PHYSICAL TEST (MEN): Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and arrange for your paycheck to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.
If you can pass all these tests, you are ready to have children.
Hannah LOVED CHILDREN and she wanted one desperately. Look at 1 Samuel 1:10-11, we read, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.”
Notice, she accepted her role in life. She was a woman and God had designed her body so she could produce children. She wanted to do what God had put her here to do! Look at verse 10, the Bible says she was praying, “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.”
She recognized that children are a gift from the Lord and she made a promise to the Lord. If He would favor her with a son, she said in verse 11, “…then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life…”
It is obvious from the scriptures that she LOVED CHILDREN and desperately wanted one. That is certainly different than our days
A. IN THE DAY IN WHICH SHE LIVED
MWomen considered motherhood sacred and if a woman could not bear a child she felt disgraced.
• In Genesis 30:1, Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”
• Deut. 28:4 teaches us that child bearing is God’s blessing. We read, “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body.”
• In Psalm 128:3, the Psalmist pictured a man blessed of the Lord and says of him, “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house.”
• Psalm 127:3 says,“Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.”
Hannah was not a mom by mistake; she was a Mom by choice.
Illus: Someone said, “You know you've turned into a mom when...
• You automatically double-knot everything you tie.
• You find yourself humming the Barney song as you do the dishes.
• You hear a baby cry in the grocery store, and you start to gently sway back and forth. However, your children are at school!
• You actually start to like the smell of strained carrots mixed with applesauce.
• You weep through the scene in Dumbo when his mom is taken away, not to mention what Bambi does to you.
• You spend a half hour searching for your sunglasses only to have your teenager say, "Mom, why don't you wear the ones you pushed up on your head?"
• You are out for a nice romantic meal with your husband, enjoying some real adult conversation, when suddenly you realize that you've reached over and started to cut up his steak!
Hannah was a MOM BY DESIRE AND CHOICE. WHY WAS SHE BARREN FOR SO MANY YEARS?
There always have been women who could not bear children for physical reasons. But this is not the case with Hannah necessarily.
Look at 1 Samuel 1:5-7, “But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: BUT THE LORD HAD SHUT UP HER WOMB. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.”
Notice, in verse 6 that her enemies were cruel to her.
We know that children can be cruel to each other. But adults can be just as mean as children. Hannah could not bear children, and the Bible says, “…Her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.,,”
WHY DID GOD SHUT UP HANNAH’S WOMB? We would have to be God to know why, but I believe it is safe for us to speculate as to why she might be barren.
Maybe the reason that God shut her womb was because sometimes we need to really want something before we really appreciate it.
As a pastor, I have noticed that many times women are with child but it is by accident.
Please do not misunderstand what I am saying. Many of us are here by accident. Our parents were not trying to have a child, but one day by accident we came any way. And we had godly parents that loved us and raised us to love the Lord, and for that we are thankful. While our parents might not have planned on us being here, God the Father specifically made it happen.
There is something special about a woman who sees other women having children but she can’t have one herself. It becomes the desire of her heart to have a child. If after years of praying and desiring a child, she finds herself with child, she is so excited she gets on the phone and starts calling everyone she knows. Then, as the baby begins to grow, she walks around wearing a big over-sized T-shirt that says, “Baby on Board!”
When the Lord opened Hannah’s womb, she was one happy Jewish lady.
In those days women desired children.
B. IN THE DAY IN WHICH WE LIVE
When you live in a society like ours, where people are caught up with themselves, it should not surprise us that we have mothers today who do not have THE TIME OR THE DESIRE to raise a child.
Illus: A very pretty actress was being interviewed on television. She was asked if she planned to have any children. She said she did not think so because it would mess up her figure and her career. And by the time she is too old to act, she will not be able to bear children.
WHERE IS THE DESIRE FOR CHILDREN TODAY? It used to be a curse if a woman could not bear children. Today we have women in our society that feel they are living under a curse if they have children.
• We live in a society where some women have had as many as a half dozen abortions.
• We live in a society where 1.5 million babies are aborted each year.
Illus: They were doing a program on television where they were talking about the American industry having to bring in foreign labor. One of the reasons is because mothers have aborted millions of children, and now we have a shortage of young people to work in the factories and to serve in the military.
We live in a society that DESPISES CHILDREN. We have aborted some of our finest citizens.
Illus: A professor at the UCLA Medical School asked his students this question: “Here is the family history: The father has syphilis. The mother has TB. They already have had four children. The first is blind. The second died. The third is deaf. And the fourth has TB. The mother is pregnant. The parents are willing to have an abortion if you decide they should. What do you think?” Most of the students decided on an abortion. “Congratulations,” said the professor, “you have just murdered Beethoven.”
• We have Mothers who are marching in thousands in Washington, DC, saying they want the RIGHT TO MURDER THEIR CHILDREN!
• We have organizations like “Planned Parenthood” which is no more than an organization that wants to PREVENT CHILDREN FROM BEING BORN.
• We have those today who advocate abortion by saying it is only a fetus. Notice, when Mary was pregnant, the Bible referred to her child as a baby, not a fetus! The Bible says of Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus that, “. . .She was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”
HANNAH LOVED CHILDREN, and -
II. HANNAH LOVED THE LORD
Notice, she is not marching on the streets asking for the right to abort a child. She is on her knees before God asking for a child.
Look again at verse 11, we read, “And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life…”
A. SHE KNEW WHERE TO GO WITH HER PROBLEMS
Notice, she said, “…O Lord of hosts…”
B. SHE KNEW WHERE TO PLACE HER DEVOTION
She said, “…But wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life…”
We need Mothers today like Hannah who commit themselves to their families and to the God who has given them their families.
Illus: In this church we have a dedication service for parents who are blessed with newborns. When children are born, the parents bring the child before the congregation and before God, and pledge publicly that they recognize this child that they hold in their arms is a gift from God and that they want to give this child back to God and want God to help them as parents to raise their child.
Dedicating our children to the Lord is not only a good thing to do; it is the right thing to do!
Look at 1 Samuel 1:24–28, we read, “And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young. And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD. For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.”
Hannah was a godly woman who made a vow to God, and she kept this vow. Mothers, have you kept all the vows you have made unto the Lord?
Conclusion:
We see that . . .
I. HANNAH LOVED CHILDREN
II. HANNAH LOVED THE LORD
