A Heartfelt Prayer and God’s Care
1 Samuel 1:1-28
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 1. Why are we studying 1 Samuel? Four reasons:
Reason #1
In the Book of 1 Samuel, there is so much relevance to our culture today, for written just prior to this book, we read at the end of Judges 21:
“In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Judges 21:25 (LSB)
I suppose if we could describe our age today, it could be described as the age of relativity. And this very much like that statement: that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. In other words, it was not like they did what was wrong in their own eyes. I mean that is part of our culture that may deliberately do wrong. They may rob a bank, kill someone, or cheat on their marriage, though I suppose that even many of these things may try to justify their actions. But what we learn from this statement is that people can convince themselves that they are right, though they are wrong. And that is a lesson to us, that we would never try to convince ourselves that what we did was right when it may be opposed to God’s Word, or try to justify to ourselves. That yes, this was wrong, but I had every right to do it anyway, or that I do not need to repent of this or make it right with someone. So, we need to understand that when we open up the pages of history in the Book of 1 Samuel, we find ourselves during a time in history when people were doing what was wrong, yet it was right to them.
Now 1 Samuel is a time in the history of Israel that is not as talked about or explored by Christians as maybe other areas of the Bible. So, to give you some background. The Bible opens with creation and Adam and Eve and their descendants. And then Noah and the flood. Then the calling of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then of course, Joseph and the journey into Egypt. Next, Moses taking them out of Egypt into the wilderness and into the Promised Land. Later came Joshua and eventually they are led by judges, whom the Lord chose, a time when the people rebel against God and He then raises up a judge to lead them and bring them back to Himself, where we see men such as Samson and Gideon. And that era is now ending as we have the last judge in the Scriptures, Samuel, and just before the time when God will lead them by a king. So, reason #1, there is much relevance to our times today. Secondly, I have entitled this series: Looking for a Spiritual Leader, which is really a major theme in the Book of 1 Samuel.
Reason #2
Because it is all about leadership and the search for leadership, quality leadership, I mean we live at a time when this is a major dilemma for us, as our leaders in society fail miserably. And I do not say this because we do not live comfortably, after all, we do. We have many advantages over most cultures and most other times in history regarding finances and conveniences. I suppose it is not our desire from our leaders primarily for more things such as money, or better healthcare or more paid holidays, but our desire should be greater honesty and integrity from government and hard work that can be trusted. And someone who has a strong God-conscience, that sees his role as ruling fairly and rightly under God.
When our kids were with us at Thanksgiving we got into a big discussion of who we would vote for if we were Americans. Talk about a hodge-podge! Now I landed on Mr. Trump, but with so much reservation. As I said Nebuchadnezzar was not all that moral himself, but he did like Daniel. But most of my crew said they wouldn’t vote for him either, Nebuchadnezzar that is. And I am sure that our Canadian leader Mr. Trudeau and myself would disagree with so many issues. Yet admittedly, I would probably rather have him over for lunch and a game of croquet in the backyard than Mrs. Harris, or Mr. Biden, or Mr. Trump. Yet the sad part is the leadership dilemma is not only a government issue or an issue in society, but it is also a church issue, as one-by-one many known evangelicals have dropped by the wayside. The most recent being Steve Lawson who has been such an outstanding preacher of the gospel. There was an article in the Dallas News that was titled, Don’t Stop Believing, though many messengers of the gospel in the Dallas area were having moral failures.
And I guess the big question is, why is all this happening? Can people teach the Word of God and it not transform their own hearts? Is the whole of Christianity a complete hoax? I mean the world might conclude that if the leaders of Christianity are not sincere, how can the followers be sincere? In other words, if the guys who know the most about God and His Word are hypocritical, what about the average Joe sitting in the pew? And if the former president of Liberty Christian University, Jerry Falwell Jr was found out to be a complete fraud a few years ago, then what about all the over 100,000 students that attended his school every year? The ones who read all the books that he recommended and took all the courses that were offered under his leadership. Wouldn’t it only make sense that those who followed his leadership would also be completely messed up? For we would make that association with many people, I am sure. We might read about someone who fell from grace because of some moral failure and read that they were part of this movement, government party, this denomination or part of this particular group, and say, well that figures, surprise, surprise!
But then what about the leaders in 1 Samuel? How would the people of Israel react to them? Samuel, whose sons were described in the Bible as wicked, took bribes, they were greedy and unjust, and Samuel appointed them as judges over Israel. Maybe we would have some questions about Samuel. And then, of course, Saul, who seems somewhat deranged at times, disobedient to God, and disloyal to David. What if Saul was running for Prime Minister in our next election? And then of course David, a man after God’s own heart. And during his reign, he is found out to be an adulterer and murderer, what would we think if David ran in the U. S. election in November? So, a good reason for studying 1 Samuel is because of the similar condition of the culture, as everyone did what was right in their own eyes, and that there was a major leadership issue, as it didn’t seem that there was anyone in leadership in Israel that the people could trust.
Reason #3
Is that all this OT history that we are given is for our benefit
“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Rom 15:4 (LSB)
The stories, the accounts, the instruction, and the wisdom given to us in the Bible is all for our good and spiritual benefit. Now there is always a caution when teaching Old Testament narrative for we are not always given the bottom line of each story. As the story is often given to us without the Lord’s opinion. The closest book we have to this in the New Testament is the Book of Acts. In other words, we are often given a decision by someone or an action, but the Bible does not always say that the Lord was displeased with so-and-so or pleased with them. At times it does, but not always, making it difficult to determine whether what they did was good or not. But when we are careful and read through all these accounts, God uses His Word to sharpen us and grow us. Not just the narrative of the Bible story, but the thinking, the reasoning, and the real issues behind each story. Finally, there is a little less spiritual reason for studying 1 Samuel.
Reason #4
When I attended the Alistair Begg pastor’s conference last year, he was asked that question, “What would you suggest to preach on?” And he said, 1&2 Samuel, which he did a series on fairly recently. I did notice that he was almost four years getting through the two books. But I promise, we will not be that long, and plan to end at 1 Samuel. So, let’s begin by looking at verse one.
“Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.”
1 Sam 1:1 (LSB)
Now this is an odd introduction here as much of 1 Samuel is providing a solution to the problem of leadership in Israel. This would be like writing a book on the greatness of Canada, and start out by saying, now there was a man who lived fairly close to the Arkona post office named Larry. We may not quickly respond, ah there we go! But we are confronted here with a real story in real history, where we are immediately introduced to an unknown man who lives in an obscure place, Ramathaim-zophim or Ramah for short (vs 19), a no-name place with a nobody character. John Woodhouse notes here:
“The solution to Israel’s leadership crisis will not be found in the expected places. We do not begin this story with the prominent and the powerful in Israel, but with an unheard of ‘certain man’ from the hill country of Ephraim, possibly with remote family connections to the equally obscure town of Bethlehem.”
John Woodhouse, Preaching the Word: 1 Samuel 21
“Now he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”
1 Sam 1:2 (LSB)
Already we have run into the first problem of men doing what was right in their own eyes. Polygamy, something that the Bible is often quiet about. But we learn from the Scriptures that this was never God’s intent. And every story in the Bible that includes polygamy also includes conflict and pain. Alec Mattia states here that “Two wives are a dark backdrop against the work that the Lord was going to do.” As the Bible never tries to candy-coat its players or its setting, but always presents it the way it is, with all of its warts. Not the way it should be, but the way it is. This always is in stark contrast to the work of God, as our Lord often works despite our failures and faults. And we also learn here that within the rough conditions of Israel as a whole when they were supposed to be living in the land of plenty, were added the trial of Hannah of being one of two wives and then her inability to have children.
As there are always going to be problems. We could have several great conditions here in society. You might get a great pay increase and lose your health. You might have good children, but a terrible marriage. You may get that dream home, but lose your job. You may live in a peaceful place by the lake, but you are troubled by the lack of peace in the world, for there is always going to be problems. It made me think of that old song, “I see that worried look upon your face. You’ve got your troubles, I’ve got mine. I too have lost my love today. All of my dreams have flown away. You need some sympathy, well so do I. You’ve got your troubles, I’ve got mine.”
So, let’s review this troubled story that I trust you have read. Helpful in this series if you read the passage each week. Verse 3, they journey to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice.
“Then Elkanah her husband said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?’ Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. And she, bitter of soul, prayed to Yahweh and wept despondently. And she made a vow and said, ‘O Yahweh of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a seed amongst men, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.’”
1 Sam 1:3-11 (LSB)
She later returns home, the Lord answers her prayer, and she has a son. “Now it happened in due time that Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked him of Yahweh’” (vs 20). And after raising the child, she returns with the child back to Shiloh, keeping her promise. So, what would we do if we were trying to resolve the problems in Israel? Would we focus on one family and one obscure woman who had this one problem? For (vs 5-6) contain the same statement, “Yahweh had closed her womb. “But the key here with her faith is that she knew this. She understood the sovereignty of God, but she also understood that God could resolve her heartache. This is good to know that even things in our lives that we might view as negative come from the hand of God. So, all things that come to us and all things that do not are also the result of the Lord’s sovereignty.
Now this does not mean that Hannah is passive, for she didn’t believe that God was sovereign and He did this, and therefore, she could do nothing. That would be a sort of a fatalistic kind of faith. Maybe some here might tend to become really angry or throw a pity-party. In other words, why did God not allow me to have a child or to get that position at work? Lord, why did You leave me in such a bad state? Other people might respond not by getting angry, but by saying, who cares? I don’t even care anymore. And so they laugh it up or live it up, while others might just give up. What do you do when God sends heartache your way? Because He will. Hannah goes directly to God, she looks up to God.
“And she, bitter of soul, prayed to Yahweh and wept despondently. And she made a vow and said, ‘O Yahweh of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a seed amongst men, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.’”
1 Sam 1:10-11 (LSB)
Her prayer reminds us so much of the promise given to us by God when we may be struggling.
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”
2 Chr 7:13-15 (LSB)
You know we might look to the sovereignty of God and conclude, well, I can’t do anything, for God controls everything anyway. So, He will do what He will do. Yet another way of understanding the sovereignty of God is that God is all-powerful and God does control all things, and therefore, if there is a good and right desire in my heart then it is God to whom I need to come before and ask Him. Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Because our God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there is nothing our God cannot do!
Again, we need to be careful that we do not apply everything an Old Testament character does to our own lives, that by doing exactly what they did the results will be the same. But we do learn here from Hannah how to understand the sovereignty of God, and that because He is sovereign, He can do anything and therefore, we need to pray to Him. Listen to her prayer (vs 11), “O Yahweh of hosts.” She knows the majesty of God and His greatness, that all kings and people must bow before Him, and (vs 11), “look on the affliction of Your maidservant.” She sees herself as a servant of God. In other words, she humbles herself before God.
Hannah doesn’t stay at home from church when things are hard. No, we see her in church, praying to God. She is sad (vs 10) she wept, her soul was bitter, and she would not eat, but she doesn’t get angry at God because of her circumstances. No, she brings her request to God, and (vs 11) “remember me and [do] not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a seed among men,” a son. And we even see her promise something to God. Now we would never want to try to bribe God, try win God over, or try to test God. But I believe in her promise to God that she would dedicate this child to the Lord. She shows her heart for the child she wishes for and the love she has for the Lord.
“Now it happened, as she multiplied her praying before Yahweh, that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart; only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk.”
1 Sam 1:12-13 (LSB)
Woodhouse comments:
“If Israel had a leader who could not tell the difference between a godly woman’s heartfelt prayer and drunken rambling, no wonder Israel had a leadership crisis!”
John Woodhouse, Preaching the Word: 1 Samuel 32
Thankfully Eli was reassured by Hannah of her intentions and he blesses her, and she (vs 18) goes back home and she ate and her countenance was joyful. Man, that was a good day in church. It would have been interesting if Elkanah had asked her about church. She likely would have given a pretty good report. I wonder what our thoughts of church are when we come home with our families. Lots to be excited about? So that our kids know that God is good and He is to be greatly praised! Also, good to be reminded of the value of church, that there is never a good time to stay home from church unless an illness makes it completely impossible. Never underestimate the value and our need to be in church.
“Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh and turned back and came to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and Yahweh remembered her.”
1 Sam 1:19 (LSB)
See, Hannah worshipped God outside the church as well. We often speak of our need to remember God at the communion table and times to remember His goodness. Joseph when he was in prison remembered the dreams the Lord had given him. But even greater when Yahweh remembers. Yahweh (vs 19) remembered her. Remembered is such a beautiful word in the Bible. The Lord remembered Noah. The Lord remembered His covenant with His people. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, yet He remembered Abraham and Lot. God remembered Rachel. And the Father remembered His promise to Israel and sent His Son Jesus. And as the thief hung on the cross beside Christ, he said, Jesus, would You remember me when you come into Your kingdom.
“Now it happened in due time that Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I have asked him of Yahweh.’”
1 Sam 1:20 (LSB)
See, our prayers to God are not just a “hope so” or “wishful thinking,” for the same God we pray to is the same God who answered this prayer of Hannah. She wasn’t playing the Ontario lottery. She wasn’t gambling on her hope and wanting some good luck, but she placed everything on the solid Rock. It also does not mean that the Lord could not have answered “no.” But it does mean that it is God who can change the circumstance, and therefore, it is God to whom we must go to. And it also does not mean that just because God does not answer our request, that we would ever be content to quit asking when no answer is clearly given. Sometimes we pray that a loved one will get better and they die. Or the job opportunity that we desire is given to someone else. But other times the answer is not a determined “no,” and therefore, we keep asking. Paul told the Ephesians to pray at all times with all perseverance. Think of this prayer of Hannah’s. Also think of Luke 18, Jesus told this parable:
“In a certain city there was a certain judge who did not fear God and did not respect man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice from my opponent.’ And for a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow is bothering me, I will give her justice, lest by continually coming she wears me out.’”
Luke 18:2-5 (LSB)
And why did Jesus tell this parable? Well, it tells us exactly in the verse prior, “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart.” So, we know there is value in asking over and over again until the Lord clearly answers “yes” or “no.” And now Hannah takes these few years with her son and prepares him for his service to the Lord. Not too many mothers would have this clear purpose in preparing their child for ministry. But good to view the upbringing of our children with this kind of clarity. As here Samuel would become a significant leader in Israel and Hannah is given the responsibility of preparing him. W. Harris said:
“It may be questioned if anyone in the kingdom of Israel at this time was doing so great a work for God as Hannah … indeed, her house had become a temple since it enclosed this priest, this prophet.”
- Harris, The Preacher’s Homiletic Commentary: 1 Samuel 21
True, Hannah’s task was unique as it involved just a few short years of ministry. But the purpose of Moms today is the same, though for a longer time, that they are training their children to become valuable instruments for God’s purposes. And the phrase in (vs 23) as Elkanah says, “only may Yahweh establish His word” is a little unclear. But this is the type of clarity we must have of God doing what He will do, that we would be a people who are confident that the Lord will establish His word. Finally, Hannah returns to Eli and says:
“And she said, ‘Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to Yahweh. For this young boy I prayed, and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to Yahweh; as long as he lives, he is dedicated to Yahweh.’ So he worshiped Yahweh there.”
1 Sam 1:26-28 (LSB)
This is a story in the Bible, and we do need to be careful not to take this story only as an example of how we are to act or how life would work out for us, as there would be some caution. We cannot conclude from the story that life is sad without children. In other words, God may have said “no” to Hannah, and yet she could still have a great role in ministry for God. It did not require that she be a mother, it was just that the lord chose Hannah and chose to answer her prayer. Do we see the danger in taking the narrative too far? That everyone who sincerely prays will have this special answer from God and have such a divine calling. There were likely other women in Israel who truly loved the Lord and trusted Him and who were unable to have children or maybe had some other major disappointment in life. Yet I believe the greatest lesson from the story is not about Hannah’s faith and persistence, nor is it about Elkanah’s kindness and understanding toward her, nor it is even about God’s coming leader in Samuel. The greatest lesson here is about God. And I believe that Elkanah has it right when he says that the Lord will establish His word, for Woodhouse notes in the story that it is God who cares for Hannah; it is God who will showcase all this His plans for His people Israel; and it is God who is beginning His plan to bring David to the throne, through which will come His Son.
And for some of you, you may be experiencing trouble having a child. You may be struggling with a serious health issue and maybe no one even knows. You may have a child who is lost spiritually, or your spouse is sinning and you do not know what to do about it, or you are so concerned about your work, there is so much uncertainty. In other words, your problem is bigger than you can handle. Therefore, tell God, for He cares. He knows all things and He can do all things, and He wants you to lean on Him and call upon Him. Let’s pray. Lord, life has its problems. In fact, not only are You aware of this, but You have allowed those problems, but You also desire Your people to come before You and call upon You … and ask You. So, may we be a humble people. May we be a people who are truly Your servants. And may You remember us when we call out to You. And all God’s people said, amen.