Hannah's Rising

[00:00:06] Amen. [00:00:08] Let's pray and ask that God bless to bless the reading and preaching of his word as we turn to the story of Hannah in one Samuel, our heavenly Father. [00:00:22] And we are thankful that you are honest in your word, as you are in everything that you speak about, the distress that we feel, the anxieties and pressures, the losses that are so common in this life under the sun. [00:00:43] Lord, we thank you that not only do you speak to these truths, but through the incarnation, you have experienced them yourself. [00:00:52] You know our sufferings, you know our sorrows. [00:00:56] And you have provided for us a great solution to them. A healing that can begin here and now in our lives and will come into a consummate, glorious, eternal end. The return of our savior. [00:01:16] O lord, we long for that day. And we ask that as we hear your word now, as we hear of your deeds, as we hear of your preservation, your works of providence, that you would encourage and strengthen our hearts as you did Hannah's. In our own troubles, in our own distress. [00:01:35] Open up your word to us and comfort us that we might be strong in you and in the strength of your might. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:01:46] If you're able to remain standing, please do otherwise, feel free to be seated. And let's turn our attention to one Samuel. Chapter one, first Samuel, one. [00:02:17] The beginning here of Samuel really goes through chapter two, verse eleven. [00:02:23] But I'll just be preaching on chapter one this morning. And then we'll think about Hannah's prayer in the next. [00:02:32] In the next sermon next Sunday. [00:02:37] Alright, let's hear God's word. [00:02:41] There was a certain man of Ramethaim Zofim in the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuf and Ephrathite. He had two wives. [00:02:56] The name of one, the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah and Penninah had children, but Hannah had no children. [00:03:09] Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas were priests of the lord. [00:03:21] On the day that when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her. Though the lord had closed her womb and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the lord had closed her womb so it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? [00:04:07] After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, o lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. [00:04:40] And as she continued praying before the lord, Eli observed her mouth. [00:04:46] Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard of. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. [00:05:01] But Hannah answered, no, my lord. I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman. For all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. [00:05:21] Then Eli answered, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. And she said, let your servant find favor in your eyes. [00:05:33] Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. [00:05:39] They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the lord. And then they went back to their house of Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, I have asked for him from the lord. [00:05:59] The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, as soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of the lord and dwell there forever. [00:06:15] Elkanah, her husband, said to her, do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may the lord establish his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three year old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine. And she brought him to the house of the lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. [00:06:40] Then they slaughtered the bowl, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, o my lord, as you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence praying to the Lord for this child. I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives. He is lent to the Lord, and he worshipped the Lord there. [00:07:05] Amen. [00:07:07] Please be seated. [00:07:27] Well, here in first Samuel, the very beginning of this book, we have a story that I think we can all relate to. The story of Hannah. [00:07:41] The story of Hannah is a story of a woman who feels trapped. She feels trapped. She feels trapped in her circumstances. She feels trapped in circumstances that she can't control. [00:07:55] Listen to this list of things. All right. Listen to this list and see if you can relate to any of these things in some way or another. [00:08:04] First we see that Hannah has a spouse who cares for her, loves for, loves her, but struggles to understand her pain and says unhelpful things. [00:08:15] What does Elkanah say, hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? [00:08:25] Elkanah clearly loves her. The Holy Spirit tells us so in verse five. But yet he doesn't fully understand. Or maybe he's even refusing to admit the situation she's in, the pain she's feeling. Maybe partly because he's the one who caused it. Taking on a second wife, which sometimes happened in the ancient near east. When one wife couldn't produce children, a husband would take on a second worse. [00:08:53] Eli makes it about himself. [00:08:55] Notice what he says. [00:08:59] He says, am I not more to you than ten sons? [00:09:04] As one wise commentator put it, he could have said, why are you sad? You are worth more to me than ten sons. [00:09:13] But instead of reassuring her, Ilkanah foolishly adds another layer of guilt on her. He makes it about himself and says, don't you love me? [00:09:24] Of course she loves him. [00:09:27] So her husband. [00:09:30] Then Hannah meets a religious leader who's quick to think the worst of her and condemn her when what she really needs is prayer and encouragement. [00:09:39] I'm sorry to say there are times when I can say I have been an Eli, quick to judge. And there's times when I, and perhaps you have experienced an eli. [00:09:50] Perhaps that's true of you. [00:09:53] In addition to a judgmental pastor and an insensitive husband. Hannah finds herself with a family member who is intentionally trying to provoke her. Intentionally. This is not an accident. Penina is being mean, really mean. In verse six, the Holy Spirit calls Peninnah her rival. [00:10:16] Although it's certain that this is Hannah's perspective, we see here that it's also the Lord's perspective. [00:10:23] The word here for rival comes from a word meaning distress. It's used often to speak of confinement, of a kind of shrinking freedom around you, oppression. [00:10:34] And in Hannah's case, it's extra worse because this family member is another wife. [00:10:41] Thankfully, the practice of having multiple wives is unusual in our day, but sadly, deep internal strife coming from a family member who's intentionally trying to harm others. [00:10:56] Not so uncommon. [00:10:59] We experience these things in addition to these things, these people in her life, and not to overwhelm us on this beautiful Sunday morning. But we are forced to see that Hannah also faces physical challenges. Barrenness in this case. Perhaps you relate to this as well. Perhaps in barrenness or perhaps some other trouble in your body that the Lord has chosen for you and that you can't do anything about. [00:11:30] Finally, we can easily surmise that Hamma struggles with a sense of purposelessness, perhaps even guilt and shame, as barrenness was often a mark of curse, not necessarily on individuals, but as a nation as a whole. This was part of the curse for disobedience. [00:11:48] You can imagine the kinds of things Penina might have said, who am I? Hannah might have wondered, what's my job? How do I fulfill my role as a wife and a mother? Particularly in a society where bearing children with such a key part of that role, and those who are not productive in this way were often outcasts in some way or another in their own families. [00:12:17] This is a tough situation. She's finding herself in a situation she can't control, a situation she can't do anything about. [00:12:26] Elkanah was certainly protecting her from some of this. He loved her, but it was still, no doubt, very difficult. [00:12:35] And so, as I said, it's a story we can all relate to. We've all found ourselves at various times, trapped in situations, circumstances, pressures that feel outside of our control. And sometimes they are outside of our control. [00:12:50] Our hearts become like Hannah's, broken, vexed, deeply distressed. [00:12:59] And our actions become like Hannah's, crying, not eating, feeling alone, being alone. [00:13:11] The good news is that in this story about Hannah, God shows us a way out. [00:13:16] He shows us a way out of these feelings of depression and anxiety and powerlessness and the way out that he shows us is prayer. [00:13:26] Prayer to the Lord of Providence, the Lord who rules and governs all things. [00:13:33] If we pay attention not just to Hannah, but to the work that God is doing, the God that she depends on, you will see that you can pray and find help in times of need, just like Hannah does. [00:13:48] Now, this brings up a really important question, doesn't it? [00:13:52] Is God really able to do anything about our situations? [00:13:57] Because if he's not, then there's no point in praying to him. It's just another layer of helplessness, another layer of powerlessness. But if he is powerful to do something about things that we cannot, that really changes things, doesn't it? [00:14:13] So is God. This is a question to you to think about. Is God able? Is he able to do anything to help you in the circumstances you find yourself in? If we're going to pray for help, we need to know and be certain that God can do something about our problems. We need to know that he is capable even when we're incapable. We need to know that in places where we feel powerlessness, we feel powerless, that he is powerful. Well, good news. He is powerful. And we see that here in our story. [00:14:47] We see it in all kinds of ways. One, he's worthy of worship. Usually things aren't worthy of worship unless they are powerful. And that's the setting for everything in this chapter. Because of God's great might, he's worthy of worship not only on earth, as Elkanah and his family, Hannah and the others are doing, but in heaven, too. [00:15:09] Revelation 19 six. The apostle John writes, then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out, hallelujah for the Lord, our God, the Almighty, reigns the power of the Lord, the almightiness of the Lord attached to worship. He's worthy of worship. We see that here in our chapter number two. He's the one who can open a womb. [00:15:46] Remember, this is not the first time this has happened either. In fact, at many key moments in history, God has used women who were incapable of having children, either due to barrenness or virginity, to bring forth children. [00:16:03] Sarah, Rachel, Mary. [00:16:08] We see a miraculous thing, wonderful things, happening in the birth of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord Jesus, just as we see these things happening with the birth of Samuel preparing the way for King David. [00:16:22] There's a pattern here, isn't there? There's a thing that the Lord is teaching us over and over and over again throughout the scriptures. He is powerful to bring life out of nothing. [00:16:34] He is powerful to bring blessing out of curse. [00:16:40] In Genesis 1814, he says to Sarah, Abraham's wife, is anything too hard for the Lord at the appointed time? I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son. [00:16:58] Amazing. The Lord is almighty. He's worthy of worship. He can open the womb. [00:17:04] And as we know from one Samuel, he can also close the womb twice. We're told that it is the Lord who closed the womb of Hannah. The scripture does not hide the fact that it's the Lord who both opens and closes the womb. It's not just like there's some things he can control and then other things that he can't. No, he's in control of it all. That's why we call him almighty. That's why we worship him as almighty. [00:17:32] We can add this, that God is the one who has perfectly timed everything so that Hannah would be led to make her vow and dedicate her son, who would replace Eli, who would be the judge of Israel, who would save Israel, bring forth a kingdom and establish a whole new era of God's people. Perfectly timed, right? Perfectly timed. God works perfectly. In this moment, in this family, you might say God could have done it another way. And I'd say, well, sure. [00:18:14] And I'm glad we agree that the Lord is almighty. Right. God can do these things, and he does do these things in these wonderful ways. Isaiah 46 ten says, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand. I will accomplish my purpose. [00:18:35] Well, as we think about this question, is God able? We can conclude with this. He heard her prayer, didn't he? He heard it and he answered it. She asks of the Lord. And he answered, this is not a small thing. The idols of the nations whom Israel encounters throughout the history of Samuel and kings and beyond. They serve gods who cannot hear. [00:19:02] They cannot see. They are not real gods. [00:19:05] Psalm 115, verses four through eight, puts it this way, very memorably. Kind of funny. [00:19:11] Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths but do not speak. They have eyes but do not see. They have ears but do not hear. Noses but do not smell. [00:19:28] Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them. [00:19:36] What the psalmist points out here is that idolatry is a vicious cycle. It's a vicious cycle. When we pray to the powerless products of our own hands, we become more powerless. Right? Because we're praying to dumb things. We're praying to powerless things, and then we become like them, powerless, leading to more powerlessness. Leading to more powerlessness. [00:20:00] Well, instead of getting trapped in a situation like that, first Samuel, one calls us to rely on him who actually can hear, who has power and can break a vicious cycle and turn it into a virtuous one. [00:20:16] Isaiah 40 29 31 says this of God. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might. He increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. [00:20:45] You see what Isaiah is saying? Even the strong, even the youthful are going to get tired. But because the Lord can give strength to the faint, because the Lord can bring life out of death, those who are in the Lord will be strong. [00:21:02] So the point is simple to say, God can hear you. God can do something about your situation. [00:21:10] He's powerful to do the things that you cannot. He can dramatically change your situation and do it with absolutely perfect timing to the millisecond and smaller. [00:21:24] So God is able, perfectly able. [00:21:28] Knowing that God is able to help us certainly helps Hannah. It helps us. But it leads us to a second question. [00:21:36] Is God willing to help? He is able. But does he want to? Is he willing to? [00:21:46] What do you think? [00:21:48] There are lots of verses that answer this question. Lots of verses that tell us about God's willingness to help us when we call on him in prayer. [00:21:58] I'll give you just a bucketful, maybe a handful. [00:22:03] But there's an ocean full of these. I'd encourage you to look for them in scripture. You will be surprised by how frequently the Lord says things like ask and you shall receive over and over and over again. And he says it in different ways. Let's look at three examples. [00:22:23] First, he says it just plainly, like a thesis statement at the beginning of an essay you might write for school. [00:22:30] Psalm 34, for example, says this. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. [00:22:46] Right? It's simple, right? Very straightforward, very clear. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous, he delivers them. He is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. [00:23:02] Matthew seven. In Matthew seven, Jesus takes what we're going to call this thesis, right? And he makes an argument, he reasons right to this conclusion here. Jesus doesn't just state the God's willingness to answer prayer. He builds this argument from the lesser to the greater. Listen to how he says it. This is Matthew seven seven. He says, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. And the one who knocks, it will be opened. [00:23:37] Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? [00:23:44] Dad, can I have some bread? Here's a rock, right? No one does that. Or if he asks for a fish, gives him a serpent. [00:23:53] Jesus then says, if you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? [00:24:10] You see what Jesus says he's like. Even you can get this right. Even you people who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children when they ask you for them. How much more your heavenly father, who is perfect in all things, will supply to his children when they ask. It's a good argument. It's pretty solid, and it's God's word. We can trust it. [00:24:37] Third, we can look not just at God's promises and the logical proofs of it. [00:24:44] We can consider God's actions. Do his actions align with what he says he will do? [00:24:51] We can see it right here in Hannah's life. [00:24:54] Hannah's hit rock bottom. She's desperate, weeping, refusing to eat. It's been years of this going on, these family conflicts. Every year they go to Shiloh to worship the Lord, and all along the way, there's Penina pushing her buttons, getting her goat. All these phrases that we have to indicate these crazy, difficult struggles that we experience when people do these kinds of things to us. [00:25:25] The walk from Ramathaim, where they were, to Shiloh, was about 15 miles. [00:25:36] 15 miles. It's about the distance from my house to here. [00:25:44] Takes about six and a half hours to walk. [00:25:48] Probably a couple days journey. If you're taking things easy and you've got a bunch of kids and things like that. [00:25:57] You know, sometimes in a busy household, you can find ways to get separate from people. [00:26:02] But when you're traveling together, it can be hard. We're in that same car for hours and hours, and she won't stop. And she keeps trying and she keeps pushing. [00:26:15] It's hard. [00:26:18] Hannah can't take it anymore. [00:26:21] So she prays. She pours out her soul before the Lord, just as psalm 62 eight advises, trust in him at all times, o people, pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. [00:26:38] Later we'll see God later in our service, in baptisms. We'll see God pour out his blessings on his children. [00:26:47] He does this so we can pour out our hearts to him. [00:26:51] So that we can say, this is my God. I'm going to pray to him. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to love him. I can seek him, and I can know that he will be found. [00:27:04] Well, how does God respond to Hannah? [00:27:08] Immediately? We can say immediately she's blessed by the Lord's priest. Go in peace, Eli says, not even knowing what she said. Go in peace. And the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. And what happens, what happens in Hannah's heart before anything happens inside her womb? The scriptures tell us that immediately Hannah felt better. Verse 18. Her face was no longer sad. Her face was no longer sad. The Lord's good news to her. Her promise was enough. The promise was enough. And even though she does not yet have a child, have the child of promise, what does she have? The promise of the child. And she felt better. [00:27:59] Jesus might as well have said to her what he said to the woman with the discharge of blood in Matthew nine. Take heart, daughter. Your faith has made you well. [00:28:10] She's well. [00:28:12] She's doing better. And the Lord kept his promise, of course. After arriving home, we read that Elkana knew Hannah, his wife. And the Lord remembered her. And in due time she conceived. And what did she say? [00:28:26] She makes the connection. [00:28:29] I have asked for him from the Lord. [00:28:32] And that's why she calls him Samuel. [00:28:35] Note how quick the Lord is to answer her prayer, how soon he responds. [00:28:40] Hannah makes the connection. She's learned the lesson. Ask and you shall receive. [00:28:47] So I ask the question again to you. Is God willing? Is he willing to answer prayers? We've seen that he's able. Is he willing? [00:28:56] He is willing. He's said it, he's proven it, and he's shown it with his own actions in the life of Hannah. And as I said, many, many, many more throughout the scriptures. [00:29:09] So now we know that God is able to answer our prayers. We know that God is willing to answer our prayers. He calls us to pour out our hearts to him. He promises to be a refuge. Hannah's example is clear proof of that. But perhaps you're still wondering, is this true for me? [00:29:27] Right? Clearly Hannah had something good going on there. But what about me? Is God willing to answer my prayers? The specific things and circumstances going on in my life? There's still part of us that resists the truth, right? That has been so clearly spoken in the scriptures. [00:29:48] Why is that? [00:29:50] There are lots and lots of reasons for that. But let me, let's think of just a few. [00:29:56] One thing I think that is inside of our hearts is we think we maybe believe that God doesn't answer big prayers anymore. Right? Maybe these amazing soul reviving acts of the Lord where something of the past, but not today. [00:30:14] Well, here's what you need to know. There is absolutely nothing in the scriptures that put a limit on God's ability. I made a new word. Ability or willingness. There we go. Ability or willingness to care for us. You're not going to find a verse where he says, after such and such a date, I don't care anymore. [00:30:35] After such and such a date, I get really tiny and I can't do anything. My hands are tied. What can I do? No. [00:30:44] God is just as able as he's always been. He's immutable. Remember, he's unchangeable. He will always be infinitely almighty and willing to care for us. In fact, the Bible tells us that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. [00:31:04] The prayers that God answered for Hannah, in fact, were partly answered in a way that guarantees our prayers will be answered today. [00:31:15] Think about this. Because of his perfect timing, because of his almighty power, the Lord drops a domino. If you've ever seen those, right? Stack a lot of dominoes. One after another, you hit the one. [00:31:30] A chain of reactions that happens here, right? The Lord sets in motion these things throughout history that ultimately will lead to the coming of his own son, to the death of that son who would rise up on the cross and then even further into heaven. [00:31:51] And the story of Hannah. You can look at this, this afternoon. There's a lot of rising. Despite the downcast of her soul, despite the depression and the distress that's in her soul. There's a lot of going up. They go up to worship the Lord. They rise up. You can go look for that yourself. [00:32:09] There's a lot of getting up for worship, for prayer and faith, these kinds of things. [00:32:14] Because the Lord is saving her. [00:32:17] All the more so with us through faith in Christ. The scriptures tell us we ascend into the heavenly places. [00:32:25] We are seated where Christ is. We are seated on Mount Zion because of the Lord's conquering over sin and death. [00:32:36] Because Jesus not only did these things and was a perfect sacrifice and conquered death and all of these things, the scriptures tell us that he is interceding for you even now, at this moment, right now, now. [00:32:59] And what are the things that Jesus is praying about for you. [00:33:04] And do you think Jesus will have his prayers answered? [00:33:10] Do you think that God will answer the prayers of Goddesse? Do you think God will fulfill all his holy will as he says he will do? [00:33:20] Of course he will. God still answers our prayers today. That's why Hebrews 414 16 says this. Since we have such a great high priest who passed through the heavens, let us boldly go before the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in times of need. [00:33:48] Because of what Jesus did, because of God's answering Hannah's prayers and Samuel's prayers, and David's prayers and the prayers of all his saints throughout history, we today have a savior who is our high priest, who is in the heavens in such a way that we can have confidence and we can go boldly to receive mercy, find grace for help in time of need. [00:34:15] Yeah, God is still working and we can go boldly before him. [00:34:23] You might think, well, my faith isn't strong enough. My faith is not like Hannah's. [00:34:29] So it makes sense that God would answer her, but he wouldn't answer me. [00:34:34] There's a few problems with that, though. [00:34:36] First, Jesus directly addresses this issue in Matthew 19 when he says this, truly, I say to you, if you have faith like the grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. [00:34:53] He directly addresses this question of having a tiny faith. And he says, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed is capable of great things. [00:35:04] Now, this verse is not telling us to move mountains around. Right. He's not calling us to manifest superpowers. [00:35:14] Why do our minds go to these places? I don't know. Right. What is his point? It's really straightforward. He says, even small faith can do really, really big things. [00:35:25] Now, James warns us, of course, about being double minded in prayer. [00:35:30] He warns us about asking, but not really asking, a kind of jumping through hoops kind of prayer. Like, well, I said this because I guess I'm supposed to say something. [00:35:41] If you're faking prayer. Yeah. Don't expect God to respond. [00:35:46] God isn't tricked or fooled or cajoled by you putting words in a certain order. [00:35:53] But don't confuse small prayers with fake prayers. They're not the same. [00:35:58] A small, sincere prayer is mountain level, effective. [00:36:04] A small, sincere prayer to the Lord is a prayer to the Lord who is almighty. [00:36:14] All right, we're drawing towards the end here. We're going to reach the hardest. Objection. I think what about if you've prayed for something, perhaps for a long time, as Hannah did, but haven't received it, maybe you start to wonder in this case if God really is willing to deliver you from your distress because, well, he hasn't delivered you from your distress. That's a reasonable thing to ask and it's a hard thing. We all have experiences of this within our lives, and I won't list all the examples, but I'd venture to guess most of them deal with interpersonal family conflicts, like she's experiencing heavy, hard family things that weigh us down. And we say, why isn't the Lord working in this situation? [00:37:04] When we think about our distress in general and why God seems to not answer our prayers, there's a couple things we can say. [00:37:13] The first thing to say is that sometimes, if we're honest, we ask for some pretty awful stuff. [00:37:19] Our hearts desire bad things and God says no. Of course, Jesus says God will provide for his kids like an earthly father giving kids the good things they need. [00:37:32] He's not saying God will give you whatever you ask. God doesn't want to harm you. He protects you like any good parent. If a three year old wants to go swimming alone in the pool for 4 hours, you don't say yes and consider yourself a good parent. Right? A loving parent says no, not to make them distressed, although they may be really upset about not getting to go swimming, but to save them from distress, to save them from disaster. So sometimes we don't receive the things we ask for because we ask for bad things and God is protecting us. [00:38:08] But another reason, and this is connected to the first another reason God doesn't seem to answer our prayers all the time right away isn't just because he's protecting us from bad things, but because he loves us so much that he wants to only give us the best things, the best thing in the best way at the best time. [00:38:34] And Hannah's a great example of this. She didn't just get a son, God gave her a son who would save Israel and usher in a long awaited kingdom. Hannah becomes an Old Testament Elizabeth Samuel, an Old Testament John the Baptist, all the way preparing for a king. First David and then Jesus, David's greater son. Hannah didn't ask for any of that. That wasn't on her mind. When Peninnah is needling her, irritating her, she doesn't say, I want to hold this honored place in redemptive history, right? She's just struggling in her family like you and me. [00:39:14] It's tough. [00:39:16] But the Lord had something better for her. Something really great. Something awesome. There was a reason he waited. [00:39:25] Here's another thing to think about. Really meditate on this. [00:39:29] Hannah didn't know all of this in her lifetime, did she? She didn't see how all this would play out, how the ripples would extend out into history. [00:39:40] And none of us do. [00:39:42] We don't see the full picture of what God is doing. But here's what you can trust. If you're a child of God and it seems like you're not getting what you're asked for, it's because God is preparing you for something even better. And the thing that he gives you is better than you even know. [00:40:05] So God is willing. [00:40:07] He is able. And he does answer our prayers. So let's draw things together. What have we learned? And the story of Hannah, which is not just the beginning of Samuel, but a new chapter in the life of God's people. We see God once again entering into the darkness and distress of our lives, answering the prayers of his people. [00:40:31] And in doing so, he's calling all of Israel and all of the Gentiles that would one day be grafted into that people to remember this thing that we have learned, that he is able and willing to answer our prayers, including your prayers and your prayers today. [00:40:47] The Lord we pray to is the Lord almighty. He is the Lord of Providence. He is the one who rules and governs all his creatures and all their actions. He can bring life out of nothing. He can bring blessing out of curse. [00:41:04] At some point, we have to realize the obstacles to our prayers are not in God, but they are in us. [00:41:12] Lack of faith, worldly mindedness, ignorance. At some point, we have to get over ourselves and trust him. [00:41:21] Isaiah bemoans the state of Israel in Isaiah 64 64 seven, when he says, there's no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you. [00:41:33] If you want God to answer your needs, you have to get up the gumption and ask him, the world will not save you. Idols will not save you. Your excuses about why you cannot pray will not save you, but God will save you. God will answer your cry. He will deliver you from your distress the next time. As I said, we'll get to think more about Hannah as she responds in prayer and song to the Lord and what he's done. I'm excited to think more about that. But for now, let's remember what Hebrews eleven six says. And it says, whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. [00:42:23] If you're a Christian, then at a fundamental level, you believe that he rewards those who, who seek him. [00:42:31] Indeed, you've already been rewarded with eternal life for putting your faith in Christ. It's time to trust the Lord not just with your eternal future, but with your present. Now let's be a praying people, a praying church. Let's pray. [00:42:50] Our heavenly Father, we thank you that we can call out to you in all of our needs, in all of our distress. We thank you for the example that you give to us in Hannah. And in the middle of her distress, her deep anxiety, her depression, Lord, which she was not, eating and crying and so a burden by these things she couldn't do anything about. You rescued her. You heard her, you helped her. And you did it in the perfect time, in a perfect way that bless us even today, Lord, we rejoice at being able to worship one day with Hannah and Samuel and the many, many, many other saints who have gone before us and those who will come after us, who know that you are God and that you reward those who seek you. [00:43:41] Thank you for giving to us the promise of the Son who has died and risen on our behalf, that we might have one who intercedes for us, who prays for us and perfects even our broken prayers. [00:43:57] Lord, we ask that you would do all of your holy will and that you would bring to completion the faith and the salvation that you have begun in us. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:44:09] I.