Hannah Prayed
1 Samuel 1:1-20
Mother’s Day – May 12, 2002
Introduction
Happy Mother’s Day!
I hope that this will be a blessed day for all of you, particularly those of you who have weathered the challenge of child-rearing.
We’ve added a few new faces since our last Mother’s Day visit, so I want to ask you the same question I asked last year.
How many here have either been a mother, or have had a mother?
Some of you will catch that on the way home.
The story is told of a young minister, who when he was still single, preached a sermon entitled, “Rules for Raising Children.” After he got married and had children of his own, he changed the title of the sermon to, “Suggestions for Raising Children.” When his children got to be teenagers, he stopped preaching on that subject altogether.
I admire mothers, and I especially admire my wife, because she has to raise my children.
Before we get into the message, I want to share something I found recently. This is kind of lengthy, but I think you’ll enjoy it. These are “Mother’s Ten Commandments of Eating.”
1. Of all the beasts of the field, and of the fish of the sea shalt thou eat. But of the leaves of the tree, thou shalt not eat thereof. For in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely get a stomachache.
2. Thou shalt drink of all the good liquids I have given unto thee. Only let not thy liquids be spilled onto thy clothing nor onto they neighbor’s clothing.
3. When thou sittest in thy chair, thou shalt not place thy feet on the table nor over thine head. For that is an abomination to me.
4. Thou shalt not pour Kool-Aid over thy mashed potatoes, nor use it as a dip for thy celery, nor spill it over the floor of the place of eating.
5. When thou hast drunk of thy cup, it shall not be held to thy face as a mask, nor used to strike thy brother or thy sister upon their head.
The real danger of reading these is that it might just give some kids some bad ideas, amen? Don’t do it, kids.
6. Thou shalt not eat thy macaroni with thine hands. Neither shalt thou distribute it widely over the place where thou livest.
7. Thy brussel sprouts shalt not be made into any graven image in the place where thou eatest. That is an abomination to me.
8. When thou sittest in thine chair, thou shalt not slideth down therein.
9. Remember thy mealtime to arrive when I calleth thee. Three meals thou hast been given to cause thy borders to increase.
10. If thou keepest all these commandments I have given unto thee, thou shalt be perfect in my sight, and perfect in my neighbor’s sight.
(Sermon Central)
It’s kind of a tradition that on Mother’s Day we bless mothers, but on Father’s Day we beat up on the dads. This year I’ve decided to switch that around, so get ready, ladies!
Not really. One of the things I have learned in my few short years of preaching is that there are some things I have no business preaching on, and one of those is how to be a good mother.
I have no experience in that area, and don’t care to.
Yet the preacher is obligated to talk about something on Mother’s Day, so I think I’ll just talk about baseball, okay?
Just kidding.
I was doing some searching to find what I could say to mothers that didn’t sound trite and patronizing, and as I was looking, I came across a sermon outline based on the prayer of Hannah, in 1 Samuel.
I did not borrow the outline, but it got me thinking.
Hannah was a mother who didn’t just get married and start having kids. The Lord had closed her womb, and she had a rival in another wife of her husband.
A number of women know the heartache of not being able to conceive. Hannah knew that heartache.
Yet she prayed that God would open her womb, and the Lord did.
But what I want to focus on here is not that God opened her womb. Unfortunately, God does not always grant that request.
I want to focus on the nature of her prayer, because all of us can learn from her prayer, whether you are a mother or not.
If you are looking to spruce up your prayer life, then I invite you to pay attention for the next few minutes as we explore how we can implement the principles of Hannah’s prayer.
But to do that, we need to look at the story. Please turn with me to the book of 1 Samuel.
If you are using the Bibles in the seats, you will find our passage on page 190.
Please follow along as I read:
1SA 1:1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the LORD. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?"
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s temple. 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."
12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."
15 "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."
17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."
18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him."
There are at least three principles I want us to put into practice from Hannah’s prayer, and the first is to…
I. Pray Decisively.
Hannah set her sights on praying for a son. She purposed in her heart to beg the Lord to give her this blessing.
I might add that if she had read Friday’s newspaper, she might have prayed for a girl, since a researcher in Finland found that boys may actually shorten the life-span of mothers. True!
Anyway, she was not going to be persuaded, even in the face of the encouragement of a husband who loved her and saw her pain, and expressed his love for her.
And she persisted even in the face of persecution and ridicule. Her rival was merciless in her ridicule and torture.
Let me tell you right now, if there was no better argument for banning polygamy, this would be good enough, amen?
All through Scripture, when multiple wives were had, there was nothing but strife. And this lady was a role model for meanies.
She would not be persuaded by the high priest, who seeing her lips move as she prayed, thought she was drunk. And when he saw the heart of Hannah, he blessed her and expressed his hope that her request would be granted.
Her lesson to mothers, and to all of us, is to pray decisively.
If God has laid something on your heart, then go for it.
The Bible says that if we pray according to God’s will, He hears, and He grants that what we have asked.
God had a plan for Samuel before the beginning of time. Hannah was convinced that God was capable of opening her womb, and to use her son to His glory, which He did.
Samuel went on to become the last judge of Israel, and anointed both Saul and David as kings of Israel.
So, pray decisively.
Second,…
II. Pray Specifically.
Hannah prayed for a son. But not just a son, but one who would grow up to be a servant of God, promising to give him over to the service of the temple after he was weaned.
Let’s stop there for just a moment.
She prayed for this boy, and then gave him over when he was weaned, probably when he was two or three.
Now I look at my children, and especially Olivia, who is 3 years old. It would be hard enough for a father to give over one of my children, after I had grown to love them for 2 or 3 years, and maybe get to see them only occasionally.
I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Samuel’s mother to do that, after praying for him for so long, nursing and nurturing him, and rejoicing in the provision of God.
But she did it anyway. It was in accordance with what she had prayed beforehand. I think God gave her some supernatural grace to not only let him go, but to rejoice in seeing the fulfillment of God’s grace.
I’m sure she was sad, but it must have been mixed with gladness.
Back to our point. She could have said, “Give me a son, so I can be happy.” “Give me a son so my husband will be happy.” “Give me a son so I can shut up that other woman.” “Just give me a son.”
But she went beyond that. She knew what she wanted, and prayed specifically for it.
There is no reason for us to be nebulous in our prayers.
We spent a few weeks looking at the prayer of Jabez. One of the cautions I gave during those messages was that we don’t want to make it just a mindless mantra.
One of the ways to do that is to be specific when bringing each of those requests to God.
An example is when we ask God to expand our territory. I have been asking God that He would allow us to reach 10% of our area for Him.
I have also been asking that God would allow me to expand my territory when I am out running errands or whatever.
On Friday I was able to give out an invitation card to one of my former co-workers at Herberger’s, whose son has become very disillusioned about the Catholic Church lately.
I was able to visit just a moment, telling her to tell her son not to give up on God because of the scandals of a church.
We can be bold in asking God for specific needs and concerns. Get beyond, “Bless him or her.” Pray for a specific blessing.
A lot of people pray that God would “be with” somebody. “Lord, be with brother so and so today.” Folks, if they know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, then God is already with them, amen?
Pray that God would do something in that person’s life!
Anyway, we need to pray specifically. And ladies, I would encourage you especially in this area.
I am convinced that while there is something special about men praying, few things grab the ear of God like a praying mother.
Pray specifically for your children and grandchildren.
One last thing before we get into the next section. Sometimes we don’t know how to pray for someone.
Sometimes we get a burden and we don’t know what’s going on. Or sometimes we are facing a situation and we don’t know how to pray for it.
That’s okay, because God says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit knows our hearts and prays for us as only He can.
But whenever possible, pray specifically.
Next,…
III. Pray Expectantly.
Hannah’s attitude was one of expectance. She didn’t feel that she was praying to a weak or powerless god, like the gods of the nations surrounding Israel.
She knew she was praying to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the one who had delivered Israel from the clutches of Pharaoh, and had brought them to the Promised Land.
She knew that God was capable of bringing her request to fruition, so she prayed expecting Him to do it.
God has given us many great and precious promises in His Word, that we can claim and expect God to fulfill in our lives.
And while Hannah is not claiming a promise of God from Scripture, we can learn from her attitude.
Pray like God can do it. Expect Him to keep His Word. Expect Him to bring loved ones to Christ, or to bring them back.
Now remember, God doesn’t promise to always answer our prayers the way we want, but He does promise to answer.
But pray with the idea that the all-powerful God is listening, hears your heart, and is willing to act on your behalf, just as He did in the case of Hannah.
Conclusion
I mentioned before that while this is mother’s day, and that while we were looking at the prayer of a mother, the principles would be universal.
It’s true. We can all pray decisively, specifically, and expectantly.
But I also mentioned that I think few things grab the ear of God like a mother praying for her children.
I want you to listen to a song by Philips, Craig, and Dean called, “Midnight Oil.”
The song is about how grateful the guy is that his mother prayed nightly for her family.
Listen closely, and I want to show us one last thing the song brings out before we dismiss.
(Play song)
Did you catch the secondary lesson of the song? Not only did the mother pray, she passed on a legacy for her boy to practice with his own family.
Now that’s something to consider, whether you are a mother, father, uncle, aunt, or whatever. Others can be impacted by your prayers.
Pray decisively. Pray specifically. Pray expectantly. And pray that you will leave a legacy of faith in Almighty God.
