“Damaged Goods”
1 Samuel 1:1-5, 10-11, & 19
Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb.
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 rasor come upon his head.
And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.
Let us pray -- Lord, the task of preaching your Gospel is once again in my keeping and I commit myself to do it the best that I can. Clear my mind of distractions, warm my heart with compassion, and fill my soul with faith in your goodness and power. Speak to me that I may speak for you. Speak through me that I may speak to those who wait to hear your word. Save me, Lord from fearing so much my own frailty that I forget your mighty power. Help me to trust in your care and providence. Let me speak the words, which I believe that you have given me. May I decrease while you increase in Me? Right now Lord I ask that you remove self, I ask that you remove pride and may the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord my strength and my redeemer. This is my prayer, Amen.
Often times in the certain stores they will have a special section of items that are considered to be damaged goods. These items have either been dented, scratched, or something is wrong with them and they are said not to have the value they are suppose to have. Because these items are considered damaged they are either marked down to a very reasonable price or some stores will just throw them away and consider them as trash. To the store they hold no profitable ability to them, they are damaged goods.
We find in our text the history of a woman called Hannah. Hannah had a condition that is called barred, which simply means that she was unable to have children. Unlike many in today’s society, women that have children and do not want them, but women in the Old Testament days desired to have children. They looked upon the ability to have children as approval from God that they were without sin. However when a woman was not able to have children she was not socially accepted by those that could. She was publicly criticized, talked about, harassed, teased, provoked, made to feel less than a woman was, and was considered to be worthless and useless.
It was believed by society that she had committed a sin against God and this was His punishment for her sin, by not allowing her to have children. Often times when a woman was not able to have children, her husband would kill her, because her barrenness brought reproach upon him. This is one of the reasons Moses instituted divorce. Instead of killing her, he would send her back to her father and she would live the rest of her life has a widowed woman, because she was now considered damaged goods. She was worthless and useless to any man.
Hannah suffered from this barrenness, she was socially unaccepted, criticized, not only from those that knew her, but those in her family unit, for her husband had two wives. She was harassed, teased, disappointed, discouraged, had low self-esteem. She felt useless, worthless, incomplete, forsaken, she considered herself as damaged goods in the eyes of others and in her own mind.
Eventhough her husband loved her and tried to fill the cracks of her broke spirit with a worthy portion. Eventhough he treated her with respect it was only a temporary fix. She was still considered in her mind and by others as being damaged goods.
Often times we become disappointed, discouraged, emotionally emasculated, and spiritually messed-up, we get talked about, and criticized. We may even not be socially accepted, rejected by family, friends, and society has a whole. Some may be locked in a mental prison of low self esteem looking for a way out, only to find a temporary fix. We get caught up in drugs, alcohol, and elicit sexual activity only to find that the problem is still there. We are considered damaged goods. Society has cast you off as being some kind of social disaster, they may have even tried to categorize you into the class of msifitted, mislead, miseducated, and misdirected scum of the earth. You are damaged goods
Understand that from this that is considered to be damaged goods there is a miracle that is coming out of you. We just must become like Hannah, although she was considered to be damaged goods, socially unaccepted, worthless and useless in the eyes of all humanity she remained sincere, faithful, humble, steadfast and unmovable and asked God to remember her. She became like a radiator of a car.
A radiator of a car will sometimes develop a leak and you can put a patch on the leak to fix it, but that patch is just a temporary fix. But they have what is called stop leak and with stop leak you don’t put it on the radiator, but inside the radiator and it finds the leak from the inside and fills that crack never to leak again.
When Hannah asked God to remember her, she was sincere and steadfast; He placed something inside of her that she never felt before. He filled all the cracks of her so-called damaged life, He filled the cracks of her broken spirit and out of what was considered damaged goods God brought a miracle named Samuel.
The name Samuel means: “Asked of God or Name of God” After Samuel was of a proper age she gave Samuel back to the service of the Lord.
The Bible says and “Samuel grew”, the name of God grew. Out of what was considered to be damaged goods the name of God grew. You may be thinking that you are not of any good use. Society may have rejected you, your family may have turned your back upon you, may even be thinking that if it would all just be over that thing would be different, you may say that you are just damaged good, but that is just what God is able to use.
Sometimes you may wonder why it seems like the devil is always fighting against you, why are people always talking about me, back God is able and wants to birth a miracle in you.
In your mind you may feel as though you are worthless, but I think of the statue of Venus, when it was made she arms, over times the arms were broken off, people said it is now a worthless statue good for nothing. However today it is considered a priceless price of art.
That is how God wants to change your life around. The devil has you believing that you are a worthless piece of junk that is good for nothing, you are damaged goods. But God is about to birth something in you if you just yield to Him. God said you are a are as pure gold, but He needs you to yeild to Him. The world says you are damaged goods, but God said watch what I’m going to do in you if you just let me.
Although her life had humble beginning -- she made a difference in this world. Just like Hannah, maybe God has prepared you to act in “such a time as this.”
God told me to tell you that you are beautiful, bold, and that you are courageous. And He wants you to act for ... for such a time as this.
I stopped by to tell you that you are bold enough to tell your friend that you are not going to talk about folks anymore.
I stop by to tell you that you are bold enough to tell the devil to go to hell
You’re beautiful enough to realize that you do not have to get high on drugs to have a good time.
You’re beautiful enough to realize that you have to set a good example for your daughters and your sons.
You’re beautiful enough to know that God will supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory -- and that you do not have to go around strugglin.
I stopped by to tell you that God wants to be your Jehovah -Rohi “the Lord our Shepherd.” He wants to lead you, he wants to feed you and protect you from hurt harm and danger.
The same God that called the sun, moon and stars to orbit the earth want you to know that He loves you.
The same God the molded the dust of the earth and blew His breathe into the temple called man is the same God that is higher than the heavens, deeper than the oceans, lovelier than any sunset, stronger than any wind and fresher than the morning dew.
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL, BOLD AND COURAGEOUS
God wants you to stop trusting in man -- He wants you to put your hand in his unchanging hand.
Even in your present circumstance you are still BEAUTIFUL, BOLD and COURAGEOUS.
There is a miracle that is about to come out of you all you have to do is push, Pray Until Something Happens. Hannah was considered to be damaged goods, she was laughed at, talked about, socially cast off, but out of her came something that changed a notion of people.
Matter of fact, I need to get a praise on right now because somebody said I was damaged goods at one time in my life somebody said that I wouldn’t be anything!
Somebody said that I wouldn’t make it! but it was a lie! But that’s alright... I’ve been lied on, cheated... talked about, mistreated Buked, scorned, talked about as sure as your born!
I’ve been up, down, almost level to the ground. But as long... as I got King Jesus, I don’t need nobody else! And when I think of His goodness and all that He’s done for me, my soul cries out Hallelujah! I thank God for saving me! And so, you can say what you want about me... I’m still gonna praise God! If I don’t praise Him... “if I hold my peace, the rocks will cry out!” I don’t know about you, but I want no rock crying out for me! I’ve been through too much to let a rock steal my praise!
Don’t give up. It may seem as though you are damaged goods right now, but if you just hold on to God’s unchanging hands you will be priceless.
God said a broken heart and a contrite spirit, these are considered to humanity to be damaged goods, but to God it is just what he can use.
