CALL TO CONFESSION

Psalm 37:4-7

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Almighty Lord, we find great delight in your creation and the good things you have given us to enjoy, but we rarely spend time delighting in you. We tend to enjoy you when you give us what we want, but we become anxious, fretful, and angry when life is hard and you seem unwilling to rescue us from uncomfortable or painful circumstances. We spend many days haunted by guilty fears over the sins that we have committed, forgetting the wounds that will forever scar the hands of your Son, and that plead forgiveness for us every moment of our day. We fail to bear grief and shame patiently, forgetting that you are working all things together for our good. Father, forgive us.

We thank you for your radiant and beautiful Son, who delighted in you above all else and perfectly committed all his ways to your sovereign will. We praise you that his flawless obedience is ours through faith, and we are forever reconciled to you as your beloved children. Instead of trying to escape discomfort, Jesus chose the pathway of excruciating pain and death in order to purchase us. You delivered him from death; investing him with great honor and glory. Thank you for uniting us to Christ and for loving us.

Father, cause us to find overwhelming delight in the salvation you have given us through Christ. Stir our weak souls to arise and shake off the fearful guilt we cling to with stubborn pride. Open our eyes more and more to see our great High Priest who is now pleading for us before your throne. May we treasure his love and believe with all our hearts that nothing can separate us from it, not even the sin with which we continue to struggle. Give us such great confidence in the gospel that we run joyfully to you in the midst of our weakness, to hear your pardoning, and feel the great love you have for us as our true Father. Amen.

“Take a few moments to personally confess your sins to the Lord.”

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“Hear these words of comfort and assurance.” 

Hebrews 10:19-23

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

• Nearly every Christians knows what it feels like to pray from a place of desperation. 
• We cry out to the Lord with the ache of unmet desires, strained relationships, chronic pain, unfulfilled hopes, difficult loss, or burdens no one else can see. 
• Maybe you felt this way or even whispered it, “Lord, do you remember me?”

• We began last week looking at the massive leadership crisis in Israel. “There was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”  (Judges 21:25)
• The priesthood was corrupt, the Word of the Lord was rare, and the people were oppressed on multiple fronts. 
• This is a transition period in the history of Israel and a new chapter in the story of redemption.
• But he didn’t begin with military conquest or in a palace with a coronation. 
• He began in a quiet village, with an ordinary and unremarkable family.  
• He began with a barren woman whose life is overshadowed by disappointment, misunderstanding, and sorrow. 
• Shiloh was supposed to be a place of celebration, but for Hannah, Shiloh was the loneliest place on earth. 
• Yet, through her sorrow and tears, God will do something about her barrenness and the spiritual barrenness of Israel. 
• It’s the story about a baby, but not just about a baby, it’s a story about how God brings life into dead places, for a woman and for a nation. 

1 Samuel 1:3-20

3 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 Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 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. 8 And 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 more to you than ten sons?”

9 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. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 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.”

12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15 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. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 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.”

• Elkanah was a man of external piety.  He still observed the mandated feasts. He sacrificed to the Lord at the appointed place. 
• But there were severe relational problems in his household. 
• Elkanah had two wives, Hannah, his first wife, and Penninah, his second.  
• Hannah was unable to bear him any children, this brought her great shame in a culture where a woman’s significance and security was measured by her ability to have children. 
• There was social stigma and there was most certainly personal pain.
• It still is this way today. The barren woman feels overlooked by God. 

• This pilgrimage to Shiloh was an annual event in Hannah’s family life. 
• “…year by year…” the family would make the 15 mile trek to Shiloh. 
• They would offer sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts during the fellowship or peace offering.
• Portions of the meat would be distributed to his two wives.
• To Penninah and all her sons and daughters, he gave them their portions.
• To Hannah, she gets a double portion, “because he loved her.”

SOVEREIGN IN SUFFERING

• Notice, the phrase, “though the Lord had closed her womb.” 
• This is a troubling phrase to many. 
• We need to understand that God is Sovereign. 
• To say God is sovereign, means that God is the absolute and omnipotent Ruler of the universe and that there is nothing outside of his active rule.  He has absolute authority to govern all creatures, actions, and things, according to his own eternal counsel and for his glory. 
• He is sovereign over suffering, he is sovereign over whether or not a woman is able to conceive or not.
• The closure of the womb is attributed to the Lord. 
• This is offensive to many, but this is the foundation of Hannah’s hope and comfort.  
• If God is the one who closed her womb, he is the only one who can open it. 

• Notice also, that this is Elkanah’s perspective of the situation.
• He loved his wife, but he knew that the circumstances were given to them by the Lord whom he worshipped. 
• He didn’t blame Hannah for her inability to bear him any children. 
• He didn’t resent her—He loved her! 

• How do you see the difficult circumstances in your life? Do you see God as sovereign over every circumstance? 
• We need to have a biblical perspective of God’s sovereignty. 
• If God isn’t sovereign over your ‘closed’ seasons, then your suffering is a tragedy without a trajectory. 
• But that’s not what Scripture teaches. 
• Paul would write that "our present suffering, this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." ( 2 Cor 4:17)
• In Romans, he wrote, that our present sufferings "are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us... and that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."(Romans 8)
• None of that would be true if God were not absolutely sovereign. 
• But because he is sovereign, your pain has a purpose. 

HANNAH’S RIVAL

• Another difficulty Hannah faced was in her relationship with Peninnah. 
• Peninnah is described as Hannah’s rival. 
• She provoked Hannah grievously, with the intent of irritating her. 
• Here we see why polygamy brings all sorts of problems into a family dynamic. 
• Hannah’s deep sorrow over her barrenness is compounded by her rival who would taunt her. 
• Notice the phrase again, she provoked Hannah, “because the Lord had closed her womb.”
• Peninnah is the opposite of Elkanah.
• Both expressed the same theological truth, it was the Lord who had closed Hannah’s womb. 
• One is moved to compassion.  
• The other is moved to unrighteous conduct.
• The same theological understanding, God’s sovereign determination, yet it led to two different conducts. 
• Theology should soften the heart, move us to love and compassion, and never be used to beat people down spiritually. 
• Peninnah taunted Hannah relentlessly.
• Hannah’s pain is threefold:
• Infertility
• humiliation
• Spiritual discouragement. 
• Some of you know this kind of pain intimately, maybe through infertility, disappointment, immense family tension, or longings yet unfulfilled.  
• The pain is real. 
• The one place Hannah should have found the most grace was at the house of the Lord.
• But there she found the most grief and hurt. 

ELKANAH THE FIXER

• Now, this was Hannah’s experience, year by year, another reminder that she was barren and another opportunity for Peninnah to remind her that she was barren.
• On one particular occasion, Elkanah noticed that Hannah was weeping and would not eat the portion given to her. 
• So he tries to do what every husband tries to do, he tries to fix her problem. 
• “Hannah what’s wrong? Why are you crying? Why are you so sad?”
• Elkanah wants to fix her problem, but he’s insensitive with the question, “Hannah, aren’t I worth more to you than ten sons?”
• In her grief and longing and heartache, this is not consolation. 
• She desires to carry and nurture a child. 

• If you are in a season of barrenness, know that your circumstances are not outside the scope of God’s sovereignty and providence.
• God is intimately aware of your pain and difficulty. He’s not insensitive to it, He is near to the broken-hearted. 
• Charles Spurgeon said in a sermon, “The [worldly person] blesses God while he gives him plenty, but the Christian blesses him when he smites him: he believes him to be too wise to err and too good to be unkind; he trusts him where he cannot trace him, looks up to him in the darkest hour, and believes that all is well.” 
• This quote was later popularized in an old song like this, “When you can’t trace his hand, trust His heart.” 
• God is good and he does good. It is human to want to know WHY something is happening to you, but faith declares, “I know WHO is doing it, and I know he loves me in Christ and He is for me and for my ultimate good.” 

• Additionally, we must learn to weep with those who weep. 
• We need to learn to sit with people in their grief and heartache, pray with them, be a shoulder to cry on if needed, and help them persevere in faith amidst their pain. 

• Now we have Hannah’s response to God’s action in closing her womb. 
• Where Peninnah used it as a reason to taunt Hannah and Elkanah used it as a reason to pity Hannah, now Hannah uses it as a reason to pray and hope in God. 
• God’s sovereign action motivates her to prayerful action. 
• That action would not only be life changing for her, but also for the nation of Israel.
• She stands up from the table and heads to the house of the Lord to pray.  
• V9 tells us that Eli the priest, was sitting by the entrance of the temple. 
• He is effectively the human leader of Israel at this time. But here he is portrayed passively, he is sitting in contrast to Hannah who stood up and took action.

HANNAH’S PRAYER

• V10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 
• She is in bitterness of soul. 
• But where does she take that bitterness and distress? 
• She doesn’t take it to her neighbors for gossip. 
• She doesn’t slander Peninnah to others. 
• She takes it to the Lord in prayer.

• If you’re in deep anguish, bitterness of soul and grief, you’re in a good place to pray and pour out your soul to the Lord. 
• Her deep sense of personal need caused her to cry out from her anguished soul. 
• She had a deep sense of God’s care for her. 

• She prays and vows a vow to “The Lord of hosts.” 
• Why would she use that title? Because she recognizes that the One who commands the stars and the angels, is the only One who has the authority to intervene in her situation and do something about it! 
• Though God is sovereign, he is the one who closed her womb, she’s not passively accepting her lot in life.
• She’s not resentful towards the Lord. 
• Her faith in the Lord leads her to pray to the God who is sovereign over all things. 

• Here is the content of her prayer and vow:
• “If you will look on the affliction of your servant…, remember me and not forget your servant…”
• She is asking God to act in the characteristic way he had behaved towards his people, and to do for her what he had done for Israel in her afflictions, as in the days of Moses. 
• Her faith was such that she had confidence based on knowledge of God’s character and prior action. 
• She knows who she is, she is a servant of the Lord, and she knows who he is, the Lord of hosts. So she speaks to God humbly. 
• She knows her need, she is afflicted, that is also the sorry condition of Israel. 
• She makes her request known to God, she asks for what she deeply desired. 
• “Give to your servant a son.” 
• Hannah’s only hope was that God in his goodness would attend to her sorrow and do for her now what he had previously not done, give her a son. 

• She also makes a vow to the Lord. 
• “Give me a son, I will give him in service to the Lord all the days of his life.” 
• If God gives her what she most desired and longed for, she would in turn give him back to the Lord in lifelong service. 
• “No razor shall touch his head.” That was a Nazarite vow, it meant a particular dedication to God, the vow was usually temporary, but here it would be lifelong. 
• Now she’s not bargaining with God. She is praying and vowing as an act of total consecration. 
• She is not asking for a son just for her own sake, so that she would no longer bear shame and disgrace; she is asking for a son for the service of God and his Kingdom. 

THE FAILURE OF THE PRIEST

• Hannah was praying silently, she was speaking from the heart and her lips were moving but she wasn’t praying out loud. 
• Now, Eli the priest, sees her and he thinks that she is muttering like a drunk person. 
• He completely misunderstands her. 
• This reflects on how spiritually dull and insensitive he was that he cannot distinguish between drunken rambling and the prayers of desperate saint. 
• This only highlights why Israel needs a new and better priest. 
• Her husband doesn’t understand her, her rival mocks her, and the priest misjudges her. 
• But God understands her perfectly. 

• Hannah’s response is beautiful. “I’m not drunk. Don’t think of me as a worthless woman, I’m a woman who’s deeply troubled in spirit and I’m pouring out my soul before the Lord.”
• Now Eli answered as he should have at first. “Go in peace. And the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” 
• Now, Eli doesn’t know this, but he has just endorsed a prayer that would lead to his own downfall. 

• Where do you feel most misunderstood? For Hannah it was the church. 
• Is there a spiritual place where you’ve felt misjudged like she was by Eli?
• Notice, she didn’t leave the tabernacle, she stayed and poured out her soul to the only One whose opinion mattered. 

HANNAH’S FACE LIFTED UP

• Hannah’s prayer before the Lord changed her. 
• She is no longer sad. Everyone could see it on her face. 
• She did exactly what we are encouraged to do in 1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 
• Notice, her face changed before her condition changed. 
• Her peace, her joy, was not based on a positive pregnancy test; it was based on her confidence in God’s goodness and character and the promise delivered through the priest. 
• We need to learn to praise God and be at peace and rest in his goodness before our problems are solved. 
• We need to worship before we receive the blessing, that is a mark of mature faith. 
• We need to encourage one another with this, God is faithful and able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” (Eph 3:20)

THE LORD REMEMBERED HANNAH

• This is the turning point in the story.
• The family heads back home to Ramah, but Hannah’s worship that morning was different. 
• And through the natural course of events, “The Lord remembered her.” Just as she had asked. 
• This is covenant language. God is acting according to His covenant promises. It isn’t about God’s memory, it’s about God’s actions. 
• And God is not only remembering Hannah, he is also remembering his people Israel. 
• She names her son, Samuel, whose name in Hebrew means, “heard of God.” 
• And this little baby boy will become a prophet the Lord raises up, moving Israel from chaos and anarchy towards kingship, which ultimately will lead to Jesus Christ, the Son of David. 
• Hannah’s private pain becomes part of God’s redemptive plan. 

CONCLUSION

• Why does this story matter to us today? 
• Because the birth of Samuel was the catalyst to the implementation of the monarchy. 
• Samuel would anoint David.  And from the line of David would come the True and Greater King, Jesus. 
• Hannah’s womb was closed by the Lord so that when he opened it, the child born to Hannah would be a gift to the entire nation. 

• Praise God that we serve a God who does his best work in “dead places.” 
• When a door is closed in your life, don’t become resentful or embittered toward God, rather trust that he is “closing” something in order for you to turn your heart to him and trust him. 
• Stop managing your grief and pain and pour out your soul to him. Bring to the Lord of hosts, your deepest anxieties and worries. He hears and he cares. 
• Hannah’s story ends with a baby. But many of yours haven’t. 
• The point is not to pray and you’ll get exactly what you want. 
• The point is to pray and you’ll find a God who is more than enough, even in the waiting. 
• Hannah went to Shiloh with hands clenched in grief, and she left with hands open in surrender. 
• She didn’t have the baby yet, but she had a promise. 
• Maybe you came here today with clenched fists, holding on to your pain, your longings, the taunts of your rivals, or your sin. 
• Maybe you feel spiritually dry, stagnant, or dead inside; stop trying to fix yourself. 
• The invitation of the gospel is to open your hands. 
• To trust the God who remembered Hannah, has remembered you in Christ. 
• Look to Christ. Samuel was God’s answer to the need of the hour, the spiritual barrenness of Israel. But Samuel was a sinful man who died. 
• We have a Greater Prophet, Priest, and King. 
• Jesus Christ was the ultimate Man of Sorrows, who faced the taunts of our greatest rivals, who poured out his soul unto death, so that we might be remembered by God forever. 
• If you don’t know him, I implore you today, to come to Christ. 
• To turn to him for life and salvation. 
• He is the only one who can breathe life into the spiritual barrenness of your soul and he calls you to come to Christ and find life.

APPLICATION AND REFLECTION

In light of today's message....

• What did I learn about the gospel?
• How can I apply what I learned about the gospel to my life?
• With whom can I share the gospel this week?