Facing Problems through Prayer
1 Samuel 1:1-28, James 5:13
Bible Background
The final verse of Judges echoes a statement made 3 times earlier. In those days Israel had no king, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. What the author of Judges is telling us is that Israel has already rejected God as their king. Samuel was born as a great prophet and judge in Israel. He served as the final judge before a monarchy is established. In fact, he anoints the first two kings. Many see the book of Judges as a demonstration of the terrible condition of Israel without a monarchy. This provides proof of the need of a central governmental leadership. Some have said that God never wanted Israel to have a king except himself. Possibly. But God provided laws through Moses for the kings of Israel even before the period of the Judges. (Deut. 17:14-20). It is perhaps better to interpret this differently. God was not opposed to Israel establishing a king, but never as a rejection of his rule over them. They rejected his rule as their King long before there was an earthly king in Israel.
Hannah’s Problem and Prayer
God’s word records the birth of Samuel as an answer to a barren woman’s cry for help.
Hannah (whose name means “grace”), is one of two wives of Elkanah. The trouble with polygamy in the Old Testament shows up many times. The wife’s chief role in those days included supplying children for the family. Hannah’s barren womb was considered a curse. Elkanah’s other wife was fruitful. She was also spiteful. Elkanah’s favor of Hannah over her rival is obvious at the feasts where he gives her a double portion of food. His efforts are futile in comforting Hannah and only increase the spiteful treatment that her rival, Peninnah, pours out on her. Everyone is miserable in this story. Hannah goes to God for help. As she prays she is at first mistakenly rebuked by the priest, then immediately blessed by him. She leaves comforted. Her prayer consists of a vow to God. “Give me a son, and I will give him back to you all the days of his life.” God answered, “Yes.” Hannah was true to her word, and Israel was blessed with Samuel.
Questions for Reflection:
What makes you sad?
How would you describe the home life of Elkanah? Can you picture his family on the way to worship? Does it look anything like what happens at your house and in your car?
Why do people of faith in God act like Peninnah sometimes? Know any Peninnahs in your life? How have you handled these relationships so far?
Is Hannah right our wrong to be so upset? What advice would you offer to help her?
How does she demonstrate faith in God? Did God remove all of her problems? How can our problems help us in our relationship with God?
Lesson:
From Parenting with Prayer
In 1 Samuel 1 we see a great picture of connecting prayer and parenting in the Bible. Most of us who are parents pray. Even if we didn’t pray much before becoming parents, we generally find the motivation to pray afterward. Kids have a way of putting us on our knees. But not having kids can put you on your knees as well. Hannah shows us a case of this. She wanted to be a mother in the worst sort of way. Several motivating factors made Hannah want to have children.
1. Social security in those days was all wrapped up in how many children you had to take care of you in your old age.
2. Men looked for wives who could supply this needed security.
3. In Hannah’s case she has a rival who has already supplied her husband with children where she has failed.
4. Her rival, Peninnah makes life miserable for Hannah capitalizing on her barrenness, prodding her with it until she cries.
5. Her husband, with the best of intentions, puts pressure on Hannah to be happy with him and loads her down with guilt on top of guilt. Hey, I’m happy the way it is, why aren’t you?
6. Hannah feels guilty, alone, misunderstood, emotionally crushed… and on and on.
What is the answer to this mounting struggle? If you ask Elkanah, he would tell you that Hannah just needs to accept it and be happy with him. If you asked Peninnah, she’d tell you she had her own problems, and Hannah was one of them. If you asked Hannah, she would say, “I need to have a baby!”
All of us face various struggles in life. In 1 Samuel 1:1-28 everyone has a problem, don’t they? Even though our attention is drawn to Hannah’s problem, she is not alone in the problem department of life. Elkanah has two wives to handle. Talk about problems. You’ve probably heard that one wife is monogamy, two wives is bigamy, and three wives is trigonometry. Elkanah has marital math problems. One wife is multiplying and the other is unable to add.
Look at verses 21-23… 21 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD and stay there forever." 23 And Elkanah her husband said to her, "Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the LORD confirm His word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.
The Bible doesn’t say it, but after Hannah has her baby and they are planning to go back to Shiloh to worship, I can just imagine that Elkanah is glad when she decides to stay home with the baby. He’s heard enough bickering. But I wonder what he was thinking when she told him she would give the child to the Lord to live there always. Hannah shows that she has great influence with Elkanah when she makes this decision. He evidently agrees to it. Later, after Samuel is taken to live with Eli and serve in the house of the Lord there in Shiloh, we learn that God blesses Hannah with three more sons and two daughters.
Peninnah disappears from the Bible at verse 6 of chapter 1. She is the person that is easy to despise in the story. She is married to Elkanah but she probably feels displaced by Hannah to whom Elkanah shows favoritism. She has the one thing that lets her hold her head high. She has given her husband children and Hannah has not. I wonder what her life was like after Hannah began to have children. I also wonder what Peninnah’s prayer life was like. A couple of comments about her and we will move on.
1. She was obviously happy with the advantage of having had children over against Hannah’s barrenness. She used it as a means of cruelty to Hannah. What might the story have looked like if she had had compassion on Hannah and prayed with her for her to have children?
2. She is an adversary to Hannah so that when Hannah does have children instead of rejoicing together, Hannah prays a prayer of vindication over her as an enemy.
3. The story is told in such a way that when you read it, you want to side with Hannah. Point? God will humble the proud and exalt the humble. Pray for your enemies and do good to those who hate you and God will reward you. Had Peninnah been good to Hannah, this story would have taken a completely different turn.
Isn’t it too bad that there was no friendship between these two women? I can’t imagine the kind of household such a relationship would create, but this certainly demonstrates the wisdom of the one wife for life rule that Jesus said was that way from the beginning.
Finally, there is Eli the priest. Eli was also a judge for Israel. He and his son’s were politically powerful people. But we also learn later that Eli’s two sons were wicked men. Eli was a success as a political leader but a failure as a father. He’s the preacher who raised ungodly kids. How sad. The most godly child in his house is not his son but Samuel. Let’s just glance at chapter 2:12-17 for a second. 12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD 13 and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. 14 Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw."
16 And if the man said to him, "They must surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as you desire," then he would say, "No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force." 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men despised the offering of the LORD.
Ben Serach wrote in 200 B.C. “It is better to be childless that to have an abundance of godless sons.” Proverbs 10:1 A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.
What applications can we draw from this passage of God’s word?
1. First of all, it is clear that everyone has problems and struggles in life. From Elkanah to Eli in this story, there were problems. Not all were of the same nature or intensity but no one was free and clear of struggle.
2. There are clearly wrong ways of handling your problems. Elkanah tried to fix it himself. He thought that he could make things better for Hannah by showing her favoritism. This is not the way to fix anyone’s problem. Favoritism only made things worse for everyone involved. Peninnah handled her problems by a “one-up-manship” move. She took advantage of the weakness of her rival and used it against her. Eli failed as a father because he did not discipline his sons, creating huge problems for not only him but for the Israelite nation. His success as a priest is overshadowed by his failure as a father.
3. Prayer is the proper place to find peace from you problems. Hannah is the one bright light in the story. She takes her problems before the throne of God. She leaves them there and trusts in his power to help her. Not that all her problems go away, but she goes to God and lays her burden down there. We could look at many scriptures in the Old and New Testaments that plainly state this point. Such as Ps 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Or 1 Pet. 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. But I believe that most of us already know many of those. The real question is will we practice God’s answers or will we seek to find our own ways of dealing with them.
4. God uses our struggles to get us to depend on him. This may not be a popular idea, but it is very biblical. Ps. 119:69 Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. 70 Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. 71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. Or Isaiah 30: 19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!" But not everyone listens with God chastens them. Jer 5: 3 O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
Even Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered. God uses trials, pain and suffering for our good… if we let him. Everyone has problems. Come before God with your problems and he will help you find heavenly solutions.
