It has become a tradition in our church on Mother’s Day to look into the life of a mother we see in the Bible. Today we will be considering the mother of Samuel, Hannah primarily.
1. BACKGROUND.
When the book of 1 Samuel opens up, we see this mother as a woman in need. She was a woman of child bearing age and was married to a man who wanted children-yet was unable to conceive. It was eating her up.
Who could blame her? She lived in a society where motherhood had become the definition of a woman. Even though we do not think that way anymore, it is still correct to say that motherhood brings the ultimate sense of fulfillment to a woman. I remember reading an interview with Betty Friedan, who founded the National Organization for Women (NOW)towards the end of her life. The interviewer praised her for all her achievements and asked her if she had any regrets. Her reply was surprising. "I regret that I never had a child," she said.
In the ancient Israel, it was considered a curse to be barren. In fact, one of the promises of the Palestinian covenant was that there would be no barren women among the Israelites (Duet. 7:14). But we know from the bible itself that historically, there were barren women in Israel. But God answered their prayers and gave them children.
2. TURNING POINT
We see Hannah waiting for a while to see if she can get her answers naturally. She prayed, she cried, she complained etc. for no avail. The turning point in her life came when she acknowledged that her answers can come only from God. So on one of her trips to Shiloh for festivals, she decided to go all out in prayer.
Desperate needs always motivate people to do desperate things. Such a person cannot be held back by protocols and social norms. Mothers in this country are well known for that. Many of the things that are making a difference in our society today came because of the incessant efforts of mothers who lost their children to drunk driving, gun violence etc. and decided nobody else will have to go through what they had to endure. Our congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy came into politics as a result of her son being gunned down in the infamous LIRR shooting rampage.
Hannah stood by the veil of the tabernacle and started praying. Her lips were quivering with emotions. I can guess where the prayer started: "Lord God, You are the one who made a covenant with Israel and said there will be no barren among us. So what happened to me Lord? Where is my blessing? Am I not part of that covenant?" Then she proceeded to make an oath before God that if God would give her a son, she would give him back to God. She did not want to keep that child. She just wanted to see God fulfilling the covenant in her life so that her enemy would not rejoice in her plight.
We have read the response of the high priest Eli to her heart-felt prayers. It is a calssic example of the inability of even people in ministry to understand the pain of others. I want to encourage you today to take courage and pour out your heart before God, just as Hannah did, even at the cost of someone misunderstanding you. Let me tell you why. 1 Samuel 1:18 says the her face was no longer sad. Years of sadness etched across her face was wiped out by the tears that she shed that day! If you also can achieve the same, isn’t it worth taking the risk of being misunderstood?
God was faithful and answered her petitions and blessed her with Samuel as her first born.
3. PREPARING SAMUEL FOR A LIFE TIME OF MINISTRY.
The rest of the story is even more incredible. In our key text for today, we see Hannah bringing Samuel back to the tabernacle as she promised. She did that after Samuel was ’weaned’(of breat feeding). Being born in an Eastern culture I can tell you that it meant Samuel was baout five years old.
Remember the five year olds in our congregation. Can we picture any of them in a tabernacle, given over the priest to engage in ministry? Of course not. We consider them as babies and treat them as babies. But Samuel was different.
Look at that passage again. We see that Samuel came to the temple wearing a little linen ephod. The white linen cloak was the dress code for the priests. Samuel came ready to minister!
What a job Hannah did! She told Samuel ever since his infancy that he was an answer to her prayers and that even though she loved him more than her own life, she would have to give him back to God. Imagine a child knowing what his life purpose is and accepting it wholeheatedly at the tender age of five! At the age when we as parents are struggling to leave little Johny alone in the kintergarten class for half a day, here comes Samuel with his little linen claok asking ’how can I help?’
I want to stay here for a few minutes today and bring out three different points.
ONE, how did Hannah manage to prepare a child in five years for alife time of ministry? By starting early! We live in a day and age where I have heard from countless number of people that they will not impose their faith on their children. They want their children to choose for themselves after they are adults. That is so wrong! The Bible tell us, ’Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6). That is why it is so important to bring your children to church instead of letting them sleep late on Sunday mornings. Let them get to know Jesus early in life. It will stick with them.
TWO, how did Hananh manage to make little Samuel impervious to the corrupting influences that surrounded him? By developing a single minded focus in him. The sad story is that even though Samuel came ready to serve the Lord, things were not going right in that temple. Eli’s children had absolutely no fear of God and they were ’stinking up that joint,’ if I may borrow a phrase from our young people. They were womanizers. They discredited the sacrifices of the Lord. They were men of ill repute. Imagine leaving a child all alone in such an atmosphere. Yet, it never affected Samuel. He never messed up! In fact, at the end of his life he called the entire camp and challenged them to point their fingers ta ny mistakes he ahd made. They couldn’t! The single mided focus that hannah instilled in Samuel at a tender age, stayed with him for a very long, long time.
THREE, Samuel’s willingness to minister. When the little Samuel came wearing the white linen claok, I am sure that Eli took a good look at him and probably smiled inside. Yet, he could see that this kid had a heart for ministry. The Bible says, "Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child." From the language of chapter three, we can perceive that his initial ministry was simple- cleaning the wick of the seven branched lamp they had in the tabernacle. Small job, but he did it faithfully. I can picture Samuel sleeping next to the lamp in the tabernacle, as if he is the protector of the lamp. Jesus once said, ’if you are faithful in little things, I will put you in charge of greater things.’ That is exactly what happened to Samuel. One night, God called him and ushered him into the office of the prophet, even as a very young man.
What a great example of a true ’super mom’ do we find in Hannah! God blessed her again and she conceived more children. Nobody goes wrong by giving to God.
4. RACHEL, THE MOTHER OF ALL ISRAEL.
I guess a few of the mothers in our audience might be feeling a little guilty, listening to my message thus far. They feel guilty because, despite all their good intentions, all their prayers and supplications, all their intercessions and interventions, some of the children did not turn out to be Samuels. Some of them don’t come to church anymore. Some of them are totally into the world now. Some may be on drugs. Some may have joined the gangs. Does that mean their mothers are failures? Not at all!
Over the years, I have told you stories of children growing up in godly families and going through spiritual struggles in their adulthood. I have told you the experiences of Billy Graham, Jim Cymbala, David Jeremiah and other well known men of God. If you are in that category, I have a word for you.
Please turn with me to Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 15 and 16. Here we see another mother. Her name is Rachel. We know that Rachel was the wife of Jacob and thus one of the great grandmothers of all Israel. It is i that sense that her name is mentioned here.
We see her crying in this passage, ’for her children were not.’ It is a picture of the Babylonian captivity. Rachel’s progenity, the children of Israel, had gone away from God. Despite all of the instructions through the prophets, despite all the gentle corrections through oppressions from neighboring countries, they refused to learn their lesson and stick with God. So God finally decided to send the northern kingdom into Assyrian captivity, from where they got dispersed all over the world, and the southern kingdom into Babylonian captivity.
Everyone had given upon them- except Rachel. ’She refused to be comforted,’ the Bible says. That is my message to the suffering mothers in our audience. Others can give up on your child. They may come to you and say, ’How long you are going to pray for this boy or this girl? You did yor part already. Now let them go. Let them learn their lessons. Let them rot in jails.’ Don’t you buy into that! You are the last barrier between your child and total destruction of his life. So don’t give up on that child. He may in a gang today. She may be on drugs today. They may be living on the street and baltanly getting involved in things that dishonor you and dishonor God. But don’t give up on that child. "Refuse to be comforted." Keep crying in the presence of God. Keep interceeding for them. Keep fasting for them. It will have its effect, guaranteed.
Look at Jeremiah 31:16. Because of the continuous cries and petitons of Rachel, right in the middle of the judgement, God issues a promise:
"Refrain your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy."
Listen mothers, don’t give upon yourself, don’t give upon your children. Keep praying. Find a few other mothers and sisters in our congregation to form a prayer covenant with you. ’Your work shall be rewarded’ and ’your children will come back.’ Do yo need proof? Ask Billy Graham. Ask Jim Cymbala. Ask David Jeremiah. If their children came back to the Lord, your children also can. Keep up the task, keep up the tears.
5.REWARD FOR GODLY MOTHERS.
Now some of you may ask me why should we bother? If the children don’t turn out to be the way I expected, if the family don’t turn out to be the way I dreamed of, why can’t I jst give upon the whole thing and walk away? I know the society will understand. Wouldn’t God understand me also? How long I have to cry?
Even otherwise, why can’t I buy into the propaganda of the women activists and live as a single? Why should I take upon myself all the sufferings and pains of motherhood? Why should I get up at 2’0 clock in the morning to feed a child? Why can’t I be a career woman only? Well, being a male, I cannot pretend to know all of the ’women issues.’ But I can tell you something to encourage your hearts.
Your work is not in vain! In fact, Bible tell us about
four different rewards of a godly mother. Turn with me to Proverbs, chapter 31, verses 28 to 31. in summary this is what we see there:
A. Her children will praise her. Pro. 31:28.
B. Her husband will praise her. Pro. 31:28.
C. God will acknowledge her. Pro. 31:30.
D. She will leave a legacy behind. Pro. 31:31.
Susanna Wesley was a mother who had gone through much in her life. To begin with, during the first nineteen years of her married life, she gave birth to nineteen children. That turned out to be the least of her problems. Eight of those children died of natural causes and sickness. One child was accidentally smothered by an aide. One child was paralytic. Her husband, though a minister, was victim to bouts of depression and would disappear from the home leaving Susanna with many children. One time he disappeared for a whole year. On top of everything, they were extremely poor and mired in debts.
But none of that stoppeed Susanna from impacting her children and instilling her deep faith into them. Two of her children turned out to be giants of Christian faith. John Wesley who started the Methodist church was and is a beloved communicator of the gospel with power. Charles Wesley wrote more then 9000 hymns and poems in his life time. Many of his hymns are still the favorite in churches across denominational lines.
When Susanna died, this is what was written on her tombstone:
"A Christain here her flesh laid down
A cross exchanging for a crown."
It must have been penned by her poet son, Charles. Even though by the time of her death the Wesley brothers had become world famous, looking back at their childhood experiences and how their mother mananged to have the family going, they could acknowledge that she had nothing but cross in her life. It is as if, Charles were saying, "Ma, I know everything you went through. But you don’t have to carry that cross again, Ma. You have gone on to receive your crown."
Her children shall praise her, the Bible said.
Your work is not in vain, mothers. Your children need you. We need you. The society need you. God is counting on you.
Keep up the good work and have ablessed mother’s day!
I invite all the men in this audience to join with me this morning to pray for our life partners, our mothers, our grandmothers, our daughters. Let’s pray.
