We all have dreams, plans for our ourselves, don't we? But no matter how big our dreams or plans are, God's plans for us are bigger ... much bigger ... often bigger than we can imagine.
Take ... oh ... Hannah, for example.
Her dream was to have a son who would remove the guilt and shame that she felt from being barren. But God had a dream, if you will ... a plan for Hannah's son that was bigger than anything she could possibly imagine. Let's see what her dream was for her son and what God's plan was for her son and compare the two.
Let's start with Hannah.
To begin with, the Bible says that Hannah was married to a good man. The opening verse of 1st Samuel informs us that her husband ... Elkanah ... was from a distinguished family with deep roots. You can tell that from his long pedigree in verse 1: "There was a certain man from Ramathiam, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, song Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite" (1 Samuel 1:1).
His lineage went all the way back to the original families who had settled the area.
Elkanah's name is a compound word made up of two words ... "El," which means "god" and "Ganeh," which means "to acquire." So, because of God, Elkanah ... and apparently his family ... had acquired some degree of wealth and/or property. In Elkanah's case, enough to support two wives and very large family.
Hannah was Elkanah's first wife and, according to the scripture, Elkanah loved Hannah very much. When Elkanah would go to sacrifice to the LORD at Shiloh every year, he would give portions of the sacrifice to his second wife, Peninnah and to all her sons and daughter but to Hannah he would give a double portion because he loved her even though the LORD had closed her womb and she wasn't able to give him children.
The reason that Elkanah had two wives was because his first wife ... Hannah ... had no children. In a day when the success of your farm or your business depended on having children ... in a day when your future security depended on having children to take care of you in your old age ... in a day when passing on your family name to future generations was important ... not having children was a big deal and a very serious problem. So, when Hannah failed to produce children, Elkanah ... according to the custom of that time ... took on a second wife ... Peninnah ... in order to give him children ... apparently lots of them. A fact that she apparently enjoyed rubbing in Hannah's face.
The names of Elkanah's two wives ... "Hannah" and "Peninnah" ... are reflections of their character. Hannah's name means "gracious" or "favored." As I've already pointed out, however, she was clearly favored by her husband, Elkanah, who gave her a double portion every year when they went to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts ... Jehovah Sabaoth ... at Shiloh. Elkanah showed her grace and favor when he gave her a double portion to show her how special she was to him even though, as the Bible put it ... or as they believed ... God had 'closed her womb.' Her inability to produce children, on the other hand, was seen by her and possibly her husband, certainly by Peninnah and possibly friends and neighbors, not as a sign of God's favor but God's disfavor. But what Hannah or Elkanah or Peninnah didn't know was that God was also about to show her grace and favor by giving her a child. And He doesn't just bless her with a child ... a son ... but blesses her AND the nation of Israel with a very special and unique child.
Although Hannah is favored by Elkanah, she no doubt didn't feel blessed or favored by Elkanah or God at this point. With no children, her financial security is tenuous as best. All of Elkanah's inheritance will go to Peninnah and her children. When that happens, Hannah will no doubt end up a widow with no means of support. So, although she is favored by Elkanah, she also has a reason to be fearful.
Peninnah's name, however, means "fertile" or "prolific" ... and it fits because she had many children. Though the Bible doesn't tell us how many, it does say that she had "sons" ... plural ... and daughters ... again, plural. So, we know that she had at least four children, making her future secure.
But Peninnah was also very cruel and vindictive. She apparently enjoyed tormenting Hannah by constantly pointing out how Hannah had no children while she had many. Perhaps Peninnah was jealous of the extra attention that Hannah got from Elkanah while Hannah remained barren and she had given Elkanah so many children. The scripture doesn't say, but Peninnah probably saw her children as a blessing from God and Hannah's lack of children as a curse or punishment from God. At this point, both women would probably agree that Peninnah was blessed and Hannah was cursed ... which still didn't give Peninnah the right to be cruel and make Hannah feel as though she deserved what Peninnah was dishing out. But people can be cruel ... very cruel ... at times, amen?
We tend to think that our good fortune is the result of our own efforts and that other people's bad fortune is the result of their failure. More likely, however, neither is true. That was certainly true in this case. Can you name a single son or daughter of Peninnah? But we all know the name of Hannah's son. How many of Peninnah's sons or daughters were used by God to guide the future of Israel? How many of Peninnah's children had books of the Bible named after them, eh?
Perhaps God "closed" Hannah's womb, not to punish her but to bless the nation of Israel. He needed the right person ... Samuel ... to be born at the exact right time so that Samuel would grow up and lead Israel at a time when the nation would need a leader like Samuel the most.
At the point when the Bible begins Hannah's story, everything has come to a head. Peninnah has been tormenting Hannah with little digs for the whole time that they've been in Shilo to worship the LORD. Finally, on the big day of the worship feast, Hannah breaks down and begins weeping. I'm sure that it must have been a very awkward moment for everyone around the table. Elkanah tries to comfort her but ... as anyone who has dealt with the profound problem of infertility can tell you, well-meaning words bring little comfort.
But Hannah knows whom to turn to in her time of suffering. She goes to the Tabernacle and pours her heart out to the LORD in prayer: "O, Jehovah Sabaoth ... the Lord of Hosts ... if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give your servant a male child ... then I will set him before You as a Nazarite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head" (1 Samuel 1:11).
I want you to notice several things about Hannah's prayer. First of all, it was intense. Verse 10 says that she was "deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly." The Hebrew in verse 10 indicates that her prayer came from the very depths of her soul. It contained all her grief ... all of her heart ... and yes, all of her bitterness. She not only wept, she wept bitterly. Hannah was despised by Peninnah and misunderstood by Elkanah ... but she found solace as she poured out her heart to the LORD.
Have you ever done that? Poured out your heart to the LORD? If you are in need of solace and hope, I would highly recommend it.
Second ... Hannah's prayer was continual. In verse 12, we read that Hannah "continued praying before the LORD." This was not a one-off or a causal request, lightly made but an intense, on-going prayer ... one that she had been praying for years. What she poured out to the LORD was the deepest desire of her heart ... and she wouldn't be satisfied until she had poured out all of it before the LORD.
This is important. God doesn't want part of you ... and sometimes the only way to give Him your all is to pray honestly and continuously. In fact, Hannah was praying so hard and so intently that the priest, Eli, thought that she was drunk and tried to shoo her away.
Third ... she didn't just ask God for something but offered to give God something in exchange for what God was going to give her ... in this case, a son. If God would give her a son, she would give her son to the LORD. In verse 11, the Bible says that Hannah made a vow. If the LORD gave her a son, she would set him before God as a Nazarite.
A Nazarite vow was a special promise that people made to dedicate themselves totally to the LORD. Ordinarily, it was for a certain length of time ... a few weeks, a few months, maybe a year or a few years. During that time, the person who made the vow would not drink alcohol or intoxicating beverages or cut their hair. What was unusual here was that Hannah made the vow for her son before he was born. She made the vow on Samuel's behalf ... Samuel didn't make the vow for himself. Also, she made the vow ... not for a few months or even a few years ... but for Samuel's lifetime.
Our dreams are usually selfish and short-sighted. Hannah's dream was to have a son who would remove the guilt and shame that she felt from being barren ... to preserve the family name ... and guarantee her survival in the future. What she didn't realize ... what she had no way of knowing ... was that God was going to answer her prayers and give her a son ... and that He had plans, great plans, for her son ... plans that she could never imagine. She dedicated her son's life to the service of the LORD ... and the way that Samuel served the LORD was to serve God's people.
At the time of Hanna's prayer, God's people were in pretty bad shape. The people were not united ... neither politically nor religiously. After describing some intertribal conflict between the tribe of Benjamin and the other eleven tribes that almost ended the nation of Israel, the Book of Judges concludes with these words: "In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes" (Judges 21:25)
It was a time of anarchy and insecurity. It was also a time that the worship of the LORD was being corrupted in the Tabernacle. In 1 Samuel 2:12-17 you can read about Eli's two sons ... Hophni and Phineas ... who slept with the women who helped with the worship in the Tabernacle and who dishonored the LORD by taking the best parts of the sacrifices for themselves.
Hannah wanted a son to solve all of her problems. God wanted ... and needed ... strong leader ... one who could unite the nation, one who could reform the Tabernacle and get rid of the corruption. God wanted and needed a strong leader who would prepare the way for the coming king. Hannah prayed for a son, one that she vowed to give back to the LORD. God wanted a leader who would turn the people back to the LORD. The people were turning away ... the light was going out ... so God used Hanna's prayer for a son to restore that light and bring salvation to Israel.
God answered Hannah's prayer and gave her a son whom she named "Samuel' ... which means "God has heard" or "God's name." Mighty appropriate, amen? Perhaps we should end our prayers sometimes by saying "Samuel" ... "God has heard" ... to remind ourselves that God has heard our prayers just like He heard Hannah's prayers.
If you read the rest of 1 Samuel, you will see just how pivotal Hannah's son was to the history of Israel. Through Hannah, God raised up a great leader who did undo the corruption of the Tabernacle ... who led the Israelites to unite and defeat the Philistines ... and who eventually anointed Isreal's first King ... Saul ... and Israel's second and most powerful king ... David. And without David, there would have been no Jesus.
Man, that's awesome, isn't it? I think so. God not only "heard" Hannah's prayer and answered in her time ... giving her a son ... but is still answering it in our lifetime, amen?
At the beginning of this sermon, I said that Hannah's dream was to have a son who could remove the grief and shame that she felt from being barren. She had no idea at the time that God had a bigger dream ... a much bigger dream ... a dream for the nation of Israel ... and that she was going to be a part of it.
In the end, Hanna's dream became God's dream. Ture to the LORD, she took Samuel to the Tabernacle when he was of the age of three or four and left him there, as the says, for the LORD. And, as she was want to do, she prayed, this time pouring out her joy and praise instead of her grief and sorrow. Part of her prayer ... or song ... went like this: "The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor" (1 Samuel 2:7-8a). All this and more came true for Samuel.
This song ... or prayer ... became so important that David repeated parts of it in Psalm 113: "He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with prices, with the prices of His people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children" (verses 7-9).
We also hear echoes of Hannah's prayer in the Magnificat ... Mary's song of praise when she learns that she is to be the mother of God's salvation for Israel and all humankind: "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53).
At the end of Hannah's prayer or song of thanksgiving, we find these words: "The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; He will give strength to His king, and exalt the power of His anointed" (1 Samuel 2:10b). The Hebrew word that she uses for "anointed" is where we get our word for "messiah." Because of Hannah, God used Sameul to anoint King David ... who was the frontrunner of King Jesus ... the true Messiah.
So, we see that Hannah was not just a bereft woman who was loning for a son, but someone through who God would one day .... in His time ... anoint a messiah ... a king ... to bring down the powerful and lift up the poor. How big are your dreams, my friend? How big are your prayers?
Let us pray ...
