1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:02,210 Good morning everybody. Once you turn in your Bibles 2 00:00:02,220 --> 00:00:06,870 with me to First Samuel. First Samuel, we are beginning a 3 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:12,510 new series today and and it's going to extend over the next 40 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:16,210 days. And I've been so looking forward 5 00:00:16,219 --> 00:00:18,620 to this one. I've been reading through First 6 00:00:18,630 --> 00:00:22,350 Samuel every year and every year God does. 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,360 You know, there's some, there's some, I mean, this was a 8 00:00:26,370 --> 00:00:29,280 historical account, but there are some stories even when we 9 00:00:29,290 --> 00:00:31,730 know the ending. I wanna read that again. 10 00:00:31,740 --> 00:00:34,260 I wanna read that again. And First Samuel has been one of 11 00:00:34,270 --> 00:00:36,880 those stories for me. There's so many life lessons 12 00:00:36,890 --> 00:00:40,940 that God is I've, I've seen myself in every one of the 13 00:00:40,950 --> 00:00:44,720 characters in this, in this book. 14 00:00:44,950 --> 00:00:50,620 And God has shown me my heart and directed my affections in 15 00:00:50,630 --> 00:00:53,550 ways that I and, and freshly every year. 16 00:00:53,630 --> 00:00:56,400 And so I've been wanting to preach on this book for some 17 00:00:56,410 --> 00:01:00,480 time for, for many years. And guys, the day has come. 18 00:01:00,490 --> 00:01:04,470 It's been great. There's so much rich theology in 19 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,310 the book of First Samuel, but it's not like, hey, I'm going to 20 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:09,980 give you a bunch of textbook definitions of these theological 21 00:01:09,990 --> 00:01:12,420 terms. It's this theology is taught 22 00:01:12,430 --> 00:01:15,020 through the life of ordinary people. 23 00:01:15,110 --> 00:01:20,030 And so it's really easy for us to identify with the truths of 24 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,410 God in how that has worked out in our lives. 25 00:01:22,460 --> 00:01:25,680 If you have never read the book of her Samuel, I believe you're 26 00:01:25,690 --> 00:01:27,330 in for a real treat. I think you're going to love it. 27 00:01:27,340 --> 00:01:30,730 If you have read the book of her Samuel, I think that this study 28 00:01:30,740 --> 00:01:33,590 that we're going to be working through is going to help you to 29 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,070 appreciate it more and more in a, in a, in a much deeper level. 30 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:39,680 There's something here for everybody. 31 00:01:40,530 --> 00:01:44,420 So 40 days, I believe that this is gonna be a, a, this is an 32 00:01:44,430 --> 00:01:49,880 opportunity for some extensive spiritual growth in each one of 33 00:01:49,890 --> 00:01:51,960 our lives, if we're, if we're ready to receive it. 34 00:01:51,970 --> 00:01:54,840 And we have, you know, Stan has referred to and I said last 35 00:01:54,850 --> 00:01:59,320 week, these journals are here to help us to do that, to process 36 00:01:59,330 --> 00:02:03,120 the word of God, to walk through the book of First Samuel just a 37 00:02:03,130 --> 00:02:06,100 little bit every day, a little bit every day, just a, just a 38 00:02:06,110 --> 00:02:08,840 few minutes every day. And there's some space in this 39 00:02:08,850 --> 00:02:11,670 journal to reflect on what we've heard. 40 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,090 There is no spiritual discipline more effective in bringing 41 00:02:15,100 --> 00:02:17,530 spiritual growth to your life than reflecting on Scripture. 42 00:02:17,540 --> 00:02:19,710 Not just reading it, but reflecting on it. 43 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,290 And this tool will help us to do that together. 44 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:29,120 But, and here's the big but we cannot approach spiritual growth 45 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,470 casually. There is no middle ground when 46 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:37,440 we're seeking God for spiritual refreshment in in spiritual, 47 00:02:37,450 --> 00:02:38,630 there's no middle ground for that. 48 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:42,750 I remember years ago, actually, it's just very shortly after 49 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,150 Gill and I became Christians, we were at this conference, massive 50 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,770 conference, thousands of people. And it was called the conference 51 00:02:49,780 --> 00:02:52,750 was called Light the Fire. And it was really a, a 52 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,450 conference on, you know, renewing your spiritual passion 53 00:02:56,460 --> 00:03:00,230 in Jesus from Jesus Christ. So we're at this conference in 54 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,710 the conference. Speaker, it's finished speaking. 55 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,260 And he was inviting people to come up front to be prayed for. 56 00:03:06,340 --> 00:03:08,710 And the, the, the, the length of the line. 57 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:13,110 It was it was super long and we were sort of out in the back 58 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,930 somewhere and it was standing, standing around. 59 00:03:15,940 --> 00:03:18,700 And this guy came up to me and says, see, are you in line? 60 00:03:19,870 --> 00:03:22,040 And I didn't know if I was on line. 61 00:03:22,050 --> 00:03:24,380 I was kind of unsure about it, said, yeah, I'm I'm not sure. 62 00:03:24,390 --> 00:03:26,450 And he looked at me. It's funny looking. 63 00:03:26,460 --> 00:03:29,310 Said you're either in the line or you're not in the line. 64 00:03:29,410 --> 00:03:32,180 Like, what is it? And I thought, OK, I guess I'm 65 00:03:32,190 --> 00:03:34,160 in the line, right? And so we're both inching 66 00:03:34,170 --> 00:03:38,670 forward and all of a sudden this guy begins to shake any, any, 67 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,130 any falls in a I catch him as he's falling to the ground and 68 00:03:42,140 --> 00:03:45,790 he's shaking on the ground. And I'm thinking, what on earth 69 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,570 is going on? And right in this moment, you 70 00:03:48,580 --> 00:03:51,490 got to picture it, massive auditorium, thousands of people. 71 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,610 The conference speaker who's praying for people stops and 72 00:03:54,620 --> 00:03:58,670 looks directly at me like, how would he see me? 73 00:03:58,740 --> 00:04:00,940 And says, you know, in his microphone, you got to pray for 74 00:04:00,950 --> 00:04:03,560 that guy. It's like, whoop me like pray 75 00:04:03,570 --> 00:04:04,660 for this guy. Like what do you talk? 76 00:04:04,670 --> 00:04:07,190 Like poor guy to have me pray for him, right. 77 00:04:07,350 --> 00:04:10,140 And so I just started praying for him. 78 00:04:10,450 --> 00:04:15,780 And it was obvious that God was touching this man like filling 79 00:04:15,790 --> 00:04:19,640 him with his love and, and, and, and with his Holy Spirit. 80 00:04:19,730 --> 00:04:23,700 And for about 1/2 an hour this guy was on the ground just 81 00:04:23,710 --> 00:04:26,460 basking in the love of God and God up after. 82 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:30,200 And he was, he was encouraging me like he was on fire for Jesus 83 00:04:30,210 --> 00:04:33,190 Christ. I took no, I I look at that and 84 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:35,660 I think, man, I did a poor job of ministry, you know, as a 85 00:04:35,670 --> 00:04:38,760 brand new Christian to this guy. But I took away something that 86 00:04:38,770 --> 00:04:42,600 has lasted and is I've been, I've been held on as a precious 87 00:04:42,670 --> 00:04:48,600 experience that has changed my life and that is I can never be 88 00:04:48,780 --> 00:04:50,960 I. The question is, John, are you 89 00:04:50,970 --> 00:04:55,770 in line or not? Are you anticipating meeting 90 00:04:55,780 --> 00:04:57,810 with God or not? Are you taking your spiritual 91 00:04:57,820 --> 00:05:02,560 life casually or are you serious about this, about seeking the 92 00:05:02,570 --> 00:05:04,220 Lord? There is no middle ground. 93 00:05:04,230 --> 00:05:06,940 Either we are or we not. And so my encouragement to each 94 00:05:06,950 --> 00:05:14,360 one of us as we hop into, hop into, as we dive into Lent is 95 00:05:14,370 --> 00:05:18,300 that we take this as an opportunity to meet with the 96 00:05:18,310 --> 00:05:24,130 living God and to seek him, immerse ourselves in His Word 97 00:05:25,030 --> 00:05:28,900 and allow him to bring about the changes, reveal himself and 98 00:05:28,910 --> 00:05:31,580 bring about the changes in her life that we really needed. 99 00:05:31,590 --> 00:05:35,940 Now many Christians approach it was listening to some statistics 100 00:05:35,950 --> 00:05:37,660 last week. They're kind of dismal on 101 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,080 regular, daily Bible reading among Christians. 102 00:05:40,750 --> 00:05:44,870 Very often as Christians, what we do is we look at the Bible as 103 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:47,050 something that's a difficult book to read. 104 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:49,650 First Samuel, you're gonna love it. 105 00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:51,290 You're gonna love it. It's a great inter. 106 00:05:51,300 --> 00:05:53,790 There are some books that are more difficult than others, but 107 00:05:54,420 --> 00:05:56,170 this is a great, great one to start in. 108 00:05:56,500 --> 00:05:59,900 But we often think of the Bible as, you know, it's the 109 00:05:59,910 --> 00:06:01,580 foundation of our faith, and that's great. 110 00:06:02,290 --> 00:06:05,420 But it's sort of like a reference textbook that's on the 111 00:06:05,430 --> 00:06:07,440 side. And we can go to it if we have 112 00:06:07,450 --> 00:06:08,820 to. If we really have to, we can go 113 00:06:08,830 --> 00:06:10,400 to it. But we just know it's there. 114 00:06:10,410 --> 00:06:12,110 And it's very comforting that the Bible is there. 115 00:06:13,010 --> 00:06:16,440 The Scriptures themselves teach us a very different way to look 116 00:06:16,450 --> 00:06:21,380 at the Bible, that we were to meditate on it day and night, 117 00:06:21,470 --> 00:06:24,820 that we're to hide the word in our heart that we were to look 118 00:06:24,830 --> 00:06:27,340 to it daily in order to, for God to encourage us. 119 00:06:27,410 --> 00:06:30,520 Because as we read the scriptures, all scripture is God 120 00:06:30,530 --> 00:06:32,980 breathed. God is speaking to us. 121 00:06:33,190 --> 00:06:36,720 His word is alive and active and it's moving in our hearts. 122 00:06:36,730 --> 00:06:40,720 And so we need to open ourselves up to that to, to allow him to 123 00:06:40,730 --> 00:06:43,500 encourage us on a daily basis and give us the perspective that 124 00:06:43,510 --> 00:06:45,680 we need. So I'm calling each one of us to 125 00:06:45,690 --> 00:06:50,470 an act of faith to step into this these next 40 days, which 126 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,560 are starting on Wednesday. OK, so Wednesday is sort of the 127 00:06:53,570 --> 00:06:56,970 official beginning of Lent this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. 128 00:06:57,100 --> 00:07:01,680 In fact, you know, as a staff, every morning we we pray before 129 00:07:01,690 --> 00:07:04,030 we start our day. And on Wednesday we want to 130 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,530 invite everybody, anybody that wants to come to join us from 131 00:07:07,580 --> 00:07:10,350 between 9:00 and 10:00. And we're just going to dedicate 132 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:12,670 ourselves for these next 40 days. 133 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,270 So if you want it, I know many of us are working, you can't 134 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,490 make it. But if you are available between 135 00:07:17,500 --> 00:07:19,260 9:00 and 10:00, come and join us. 136 00:07:19,270 --> 00:07:21,820 And we're gonna, we're gonna pray, we're gonna worship and, 137 00:07:21,830 --> 00:07:23,460 and dedicate ourselves to the Lord. 138 00:07:23,550 --> 00:07:29,890 But right now, as we start into this message series, let's 139 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,350 dedicate ourselves to the Lord, shall we? 140 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:35,650 Father in heaven, thank you for the gift of this day. 141 00:07:35,660 --> 00:07:39,190 Thank you for blue Sky in the midst of the winter. 142 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,180 What a gift. But Lord, you are the greatest 143 00:07:42,190 --> 00:07:45,890 gift and we pray that you would visit us this morning through 144 00:07:45,900 --> 00:07:49,780 the reading of the Word. Thank you for the book of First 145 00:07:49,790 --> 00:07:53,160 Sam and we pray Lord, that we would receive all that you would 146 00:07:53,170 --> 00:07:56,850 have for us to receive through it in this season of our life. 147 00:07:56,940 --> 00:08:03,350 In Jesus name we pray, Amen. I'm so eager to just jump right 148 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:04,700 in. But just a few introductory 149 00:08:04,710 --> 00:08:07,770 remarks. First of all, time frame, like 150 00:08:07,820 --> 00:08:10,890 human history time frame. This is about these events are 151 00:08:10,900 --> 00:08:14,890 being described about 1000 BC, thousand years before before 152 00:08:14,900 --> 00:08:19,960 Christ. And the context is the book of 153 00:08:19,970 --> 00:08:22,630 the end of the book of Judges. Anybody remember we went through 154 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:24,880 the book of judges? It was such an uplifting series, 155 00:08:25,740 --> 00:08:30,050 but it ends with this verse. Verse 21, Chapter 21, Verse 25. 156 00:08:30,060 --> 00:08:31,990 In those days, Israel had no king. 157 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:39,289 Everyone did as they saw fit. It was a dark era in Israel's 158 00:08:39,299 --> 00:08:41,740 history. It was like the Wild West. 159 00:08:41,809 --> 00:08:44,760 People were just doing what they wanted to do, right? 160 00:08:44,870 --> 00:08:49,600 No king, no, no, no one leader to kind of unify the nation. 161 00:08:50,580 --> 00:08:55,520 And so three main characters in this in the book of first 162 00:08:55,530 --> 00:08:59,830 Samuel, Samuel himself who's a prophet, Saul who was the first 163 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:04,910 king and then David right after and David will carry into a 164 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,650 second Samuel. Now the in the Hebrew Bible when 165 00:09:07,660 --> 00:09:09,770 it was originally written, this was all one book. 166 00:09:09,780 --> 00:09:11,710 First and second Samuel were all one book. 167 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,110 In fact, kings and 1st and 2nd kings were all one book all 168 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,400 originally, but it was split up afterwards. 169 00:09:18,410 --> 00:09:21,200 So we're just going to look at First Samuel, but I'm hoping 170 00:09:21,210 --> 00:09:23,660 that through this series, you're gonna be inspired to keep 171 00:09:23,670 --> 00:09:25,920 reading because it's a continuation when we get into 172 00:09:25,930 --> 00:09:29,690 Second Samuel. But through these three main 173 00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:35,070 characters, Samuel, Saul and David, that sequence points to 174 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:40,100 sort of the theme of this book because there is the 175 00:09:40,150 --> 00:09:43,080 introduction. This is where we we see that the 176 00:09:43,310 --> 00:09:46,620 the introduction of a kingship kind of a monarchy moving from a 177 00:09:46,630 --> 00:09:51,340 theocracy to a monarchy where God had been up to this point 178 00:09:51,350 --> 00:09:54,960 raising up leaders by his spirit for a particular times and 179 00:09:54,970 --> 00:09:59,080 places where it was needed to Now a king who was going to be 180 00:09:59,250 --> 00:10:02,340 in so the King's sons would be would, would, would succeed. 181 00:10:02,350 --> 00:10:07,860 And so that seat would always be would always be occupied. 182 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,230 Now the people ask for a king, and we're going to get into that 183 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:18,400 in later chapters. God's people, people in general, 184 00:10:18,410 --> 00:10:21,270 we all need leaders. We all need a leader. 185 00:10:21,580 --> 00:10:25,110 So the request for someone to lead us is a good request. 186 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,120 But the fact that they asked for a king, the reason their 187 00:10:28,130 --> 00:10:30,550 motivation was we want to be like all the other nations. 188 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:33,870 We want to have a king, and that was problematic and we'll get 189 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,450 into that later. But this is that the 190 00:10:36,460 --> 00:10:41,170 establishment of kingship is what this book is all about and 191 00:10:41,180 --> 00:10:44,850 ultimately is going to point to. It's setting up the conditions 192 00:10:44,860 --> 00:10:49,650 for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to enter into this 193 00:10:49,660 --> 00:10:51,630 world. Jesus Christ, who is going to 194 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,570 bring the real leadership that we need and restoration. 195 00:10:56,550 --> 00:11:03,170 So super dark time in Israel's history, spiritual limbo. 196 00:11:03,220 --> 00:11:10,570 You can call it the priests at that time, these guys, Hoffman 197 00:11:10,580 --> 00:11:16,550 Phineas, who were the, the, the, the, the chief priests sons here 198 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:19,390 they are still as priests. They're stealing meat that was 199 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,210 supposed to be offered, offered to God and sacrifice. 200 00:11:22,260 --> 00:11:25,570 They're sleeping with women who are serving at the entrance to 201 00:11:25,580 --> 00:11:27,530 the tent of meeting to the church. 202 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:31,550 And it was pretty dark time. We're going to get into that 203 00:11:31,610 --> 00:11:36,610 next week, actually. But everyone at that time 204 00:11:36,620 --> 00:11:40,510 thought, OK, these are our leaders operating like this. 205 00:11:40,730 --> 00:11:43,600 And whenever your leaders are acting like that, it's very easy 206 00:11:43,610 --> 00:11:45,500 to say, well, maybe this is OK then. 207 00:11:46,010 --> 00:11:47,940 And that was the climate of the time. 208 00:11:47,950 --> 00:11:53,480 It was just a super dark time. God could be seen nowhere, but 209 00:11:54,130 --> 00:11:57,240 as we see in First Samuel, God is at work, right? 210 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,230 I'm still waiting. God is still working. 211 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:03,470 I heard that from somebody this morning. 212 00:12:06,140 --> 00:12:12,370 And so this first chapter that we're gonna look at today is all 213 00:12:12,380 --> 00:12:18,230 about the birth of Samuel. That's going to signal a change 214 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,240 in the climate. And the focus is on Hannah, 215 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:25,560 Samuel's mother. But the real focus is on Hannahs 216 00:12:25,570 --> 00:12:28,860 God, who is revealed in this. So let's take a look. 217 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:34,320 We're looking we're we're at First Samuel Chapter 1 and we'll 218 00:12:34,330 --> 00:12:36,330 start at verse one. Everybody with me. 219 00:12:36,460 --> 00:12:39,050 Are we good? Thank you, Lord, speak to us. 220 00:12:39,060 --> 00:12:46,180 We pray there was a certain man from Ramathaim in a zoophyte 221 00:12:46,190 --> 00:12:50,360 from the Hill Country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, 222 00:12:50,670 --> 00:12:56,840 son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tahu, the son 223 00:12:56,850 --> 00:13:02,610 of Zuf, an Ephraimite challenge just getting through the 1st we 224 00:13:02,620 --> 00:13:05,560 got this is the hardest, hardest part of the whole book is the 225 00:13:05,570 --> 00:13:08,540 first verse. What is significant about this? 226 00:13:08,910 --> 00:13:12,340 Very little is significant about this and and that's the point. 227 00:13:12,810 --> 00:13:16,800 There's a certain man who is he? No one really knows. 228 00:13:16,970 --> 00:13:20,560 He's he, he's he's, he's from a Levite tribe. 229 00:13:20,570 --> 00:13:23,420 So we know that there's priesthood in his background, 230 00:13:23,430 --> 00:13:25,960 but that's about it. And he's from the Hill Country 231 00:13:25,970 --> 00:13:27,820 of Ephraim. It's like the middle of nowhere 232 00:13:27,890 --> 00:13:29,740 and nobody in the middle of nowhere. 233 00:13:29,810 --> 00:13:32,790 But this is where God is going to work. 234 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:39,260 Verse 2 He had two wives, one was called Hannah and the other 235 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,110 Panina. Penina had children but Hannah 236 00:13:43,610 --> 00:13:47,200 had none. So interesting. 2 wives. 237 00:13:47,510 --> 00:13:49,600 It's in the Bible. Does that mean it's right to 238 00:13:49,610 --> 00:13:51,300 have two wives? To have multiple wives? 239 00:13:51,310 --> 00:13:56,720 No, the the Bible is very clear that it was a marriage has to be 240 00:13:56,730 --> 00:13:59,580 between a man and a woman exclusively. 241 00:14:00,260 --> 00:14:03,340 Now why were there? Why do we see examples like 242 00:14:03,350 --> 00:14:04,460 this? Well in the Bible? 243 00:14:04,470 --> 00:14:05,830 The Bible just tells us how it is. 244 00:14:06,470 --> 00:14:08,360 This is how life was at that time. 245 00:14:09,370 --> 00:14:12,820 It's not prescriptive saying this is how it should be. 246 00:14:12,830 --> 00:14:16,610 It's descriptive. It's just reporting what is OK. 247 00:14:16,790 --> 00:14:20,420 So this is this is how it is right now. 248 00:14:20,470 --> 00:14:27,960 Now, um, and I, I should just say this, every time polygamy is 249 00:14:27,970 --> 00:14:31,160 referred to, whenever there's multiple wives in a home 250 00:14:31,170 --> 00:14:34,440 situation in Scripture, you will never find one that's spoken of 251 00:14:34,450 --> 00:14:37,080 positively. It's always a nightmare and it's 252 00:14:37,090 --> 00:14:39,220 an absolute nightmare here as well. 253 00:14:39,230 --> 00:14:42,650 Hannah is the first wife and Hannah can't bear children. 254 00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:48,110 And so it was very common for a husband to get to find a second 255 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:52,990 wife who would produce an error for him, for the family, for the 256 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,590 for his name to continue. So this was the kind of 257 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:57,090 situation. Now you can just picture the 258 00:14:57,100 --> 00:14:59,990 kind of tension that was going to be happening in the home 259 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,050 here. And we'll get into the beauty of 260 00:15:02,060 --> 00:15:05,590 it, the horror of it, in these verses. 261 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:11,520 Verse three-year after year this man went up from his town to 262 00:15:11,530 --> 00:15:15,600 worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where 263 00:15:15,610 --> 00:15:18,710 Hophni and Phineas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the 264 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,140 Lord. Whenever the day came for El 265 00:15:22,150 --> 00:15:27,240 Cana to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife 266 00:15:27,250 --> 00:15:29,560 Penina, and to all her sons and daughters. 267 00:15:29,570 --> 00:15:34,580 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her and 268 00:15:34,590 --> 00:15:38,900 the Lord had closed her womb because the Lord had closed her 269 00:15:38,910 --> 00:15:42,530 womb. Sorry, because the Lord had 270 00:15:42,540 --> 00:15:46,770 closed Hannahs room womb, her rival kept provoking her in 271 00:15:46,780 --> 00:15:50,470 order to irritate her. This went on year after year. 272 00:15:50,540 --> 00:15:53,010 Whenever Hannah went up to the House of the Lord, her rival 273 00:15:53,020 --> 00:15:55,810 provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 274 00:15:56,970 --> 00:16:01,440 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, Hannah, why are you 275 00:16:01,450 --> 00:16:03,450 weeping? Why don't you eat? 276 00:16:04,220 --> 00:16:07,770 Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than 277 00:16:07,780 --> 00:16:11,940 ten sons? Let's just pause there enough to 278 00:16:11,950 --> 00:16:15,100 talk about. So every year they go to Shiloh. 279 00:16:15,190 --> 00:16:17,820 This is where the House of the Lord was. 280 00:16:17,830 --> 00:16:20,520 No, it wasn't like a temple structure. 281 00:16:20,570 --> 00:16:23,060 This was that the House of Lord really was still the tent of 282 00:16:23,070 --> 00:16:24,540 meeting. It was it was a tent. 283 00:16:24,690 --> 00:16:26,960 Now there might have been a structure around it, but 284 00:16:27,630 --> 00:16:30,350 essentially it's the tent where the Ark of the Covenant, which 285 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,170 was a symbol of the presence of God, was, was kept. 286 00:16:35,060 --> 00:16:37,830 And so they would go up and they would offer sacrifices. 287 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,500 And these sacrifices weren't sacrifices for sin. 288 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,970 The animals that were sacrificed were called fellowship 289 00:16:43,980 --> 00:16:46,090 offerings, fellowship sacrifices. 290 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:49,090 So in other words, they would, they would, they would sacrifice 291 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:53,230 an animal and a third of the animal would be burnt as a, as a 292 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,150 burnt offering to God just as a sacrifice that way. 293 00:16:56,330 --> 00:17:01,670 And the other third is given to the priests to, to, to ensure 294 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,770 that the, that the, that the priests are supported and their 295 00:17:04,780 --> 00:17:06,930 ministry. And then the other third was the 296 00:17:06,940 --> 00:17:08,890 portion that they ate as a family. 297 00:17:09,020 --> 00:17:11,329 And it was like a having a BBQ, right? 298 00:17:11,339 --> 00:17:14,069 Like the, the, this is what the fellowship offering was. 299 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:19,540 And he gave a double portion to Hannah because he loved her. 300 00:17:20,290 --> 00:17:25,790 And he was moved with compassion because of the fact that the 301 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:30,490 Lord had closed her womb. But here we have Panina and 302 00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:32,640 verse 6. Because the Lord had closed 303 00:17:32,650 --> 00:17:36,500 Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to 304 00:17:36,510 --> 00:17:38,280 irritate her. Interesting response. 305 00:17:38,290 --> 00:17:43,870 One, it invoked compassion, but to the other, hey, I'm gonna lay 306 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:48,570 into this woman and make her life more miserable. 307 00:17:48,820 --> 00:17:54,980 That was Panini's role is an awful lot of shame and still 308 00:17:54,990 --> 00:17:59,030 today, but particularly in this period for someone who is every 309 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,840 woman who is barren, who's had had trouble burying, burying a 310 00:18:02,850 --> 00:18:05,840 child, incredible amount of shame. 311 00:18:05,850 --> 00:18:10,200 It was almost like this is God's judgment on me and Panina just 312 00:18:10,210 --> 00:18:14,800 dug in, dug in, dug in. Just rubbed it in Hannah's face. 313 00:18:15,410 --> 00:18:21,970 And I would imagine because of Ocanas affection for Hannah, 314 00:18:22,490 --> 00:18:24,920 that just stirred the pot for Panina as well. 315 00:18:24,990 --> 00:18:28,480 She was jealous, right? And so there's this war going on 316 00:18:28,950 --> 00:18:35,920 in the household. So Hannah, heavy spirit, she's 317 00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:38,420 distressed, she's weeping, she's not eating. 318 00:18:38,430 --> 00:18:42,760 All of these things are happening for Hannah and she's, 319 00:18:42,810 --> 00:18:44,070 you know, where's she going to turn? 320 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,680 She's got Paninos mocking her El Cana. 321 00:18:48,750 --> 00:18:53,960 You know, he's, he's trying to be sympathetic, but he just 322 00:18:53,970 --> 00:18:56,780 doesn't get it. Like, don't you have me? 323 00:18:56,870 --> 00:18:59,580 Aren't I better than ten sons? Is like, seriously, dude? 324 00:18:59,590 --> 00:19:01,590 Like, that is poor ministry there, right? 325 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,570 And then later on, we're going to find out that the clergy 326 00:19:06,580 --> 00:19:09,850 couldn't even understand what, what she was going through. 327 00:19:09,860 --> 00:19:11,770 It is such a difficult place to be in. 328 00:19:11,780 --> 00:19:18,590 I know like my mom, my mother, she had trouble having kids and 329 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,520 she miscarried many, many times. Now, she, that's something that 330 00:19:21,530 --> 00:19:25,410 she never spoke about very often, but I know because of her 331 00:19:25,420 --> 00:19:30,310 deep longing to have children, it was incredibly painful to 332 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,230 her. So she ended up adopting me and 333 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,510 after that ended up having a couple of children of, of, of 334 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:40,390 her own. I mean, I was her own, but by 335 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:45,310 natural means. And it's a, it's an, it's an. 336 00:19:45,370 --> 00:19:51,180 I mean, it's hard to identify if that hasn't been you, but there 337 00:19:51,190 --> 00:19:57,300 is so many emotions that will run through the heart of a woman 338 00:19:57,310 --> 00:20:01,220 who's having a challenge, challenges bearing children, 339 00:20:01,490 --> 00:20:05,880 feeling shame, feeling judged, feeling alone. 340 00:20:07,170 --> 00:20:10,650 All those longings not being met and I would just say if that's 341 00:20:10,660 --> 00:20:16,590 if that if that's you here today, the Lord loves you and 342 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:21,170 you are very dear to his heart and he is gonna draw near to you 343 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:26,380 in this particular season. And if you are walking alongside 344 00:20:26,390 --> 00:20:29,670 of someone who's having trouble hearing children, wants children 345 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:34,660 and is suffering that pain just though it's very difficult to 346 00:20:34,670 --> 00:20:37,990 identify, just realize that it's not just something that people 347 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,570 get over. It's easy gonna move forward. 348 00:20:40,580 --> 00:20:42,510 It's gonna move past this. This is something that just 349 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:47,040 sticks with and so have an incredible amount of compassion. 350 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,050 Love them, pray for them, encourage them. 351 00:20:52,540 --> 00:20:55,090 Hannah was getting none of that in her household. 352 00:20:55,140 --> 00:20:58,330 So we got an opportunity to do things differently here now. 353 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:03,630 Although Hannah could not draw comfort from this as we looked 354 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,670 through Scripture, she's not the only one who had trouble bearing 355 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:10,840 children. We look at Sarah and we look at 356 00:21:11,890 --> 00:21:17,620 Rebecca and Rachel and then Manoah's wife who bore Samson 357 00:21:17,890 --> 00:21:20,610 and then Elizabeth later on. There were a lot of women 358 00:21:20,620 --> 00:21:24,740 throughout Scripture who had trouble bearing children, and 359 00:21:24,750 --> 00:21:28,630 God used every single one of them for something powerful 360 00:21:29,820 --> 00:21:32,470 where he was starting a new beginning. 361 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,720 He was He was bringing a new chapter in redemptive history 362 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,570 through these women who are having trouble. 363 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:45,560 And so this is, you know, I, I think it, I think it tells us 364 00:21:45,570 --> 00:21:52,440 something. The God, the kind of God who 365 00:21:52,450 --> 00:21:57,400 made all this from nothing, is a God who starts with nothing. 366 00:21:57,690 --> 00:22:01,800 This is, this is how he operates in our lives when it feels like 367 00:22:01,810 --> 00:22:04,300 nothing is happening. This is where God does his 368 00:22:04,310 --> 00:22:08,690 finest work. When our inability, absolute 369 00:22:08,700 --> 00:22:10,810 incapacity to make something happen. 370 00:22:10,820 --> 00:22:12,780 When we realize that and we turn to the Lord, that's the 371 00:22:12,790 --> 00:22:14,990 beginning of when God works in powerful ways. 372 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,960 He wants to continue to show us that we can, we can trust Him. 373 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:23,710 And there's some bleak times in our lives, things that hey, man, 374 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,530 that there's that this problem is completely out of my control 375 00:22:27,540 --> 00:22:28,870 and I can't do anything about it. 376 00:22:29,230 --> 00:22:33,540 He wants us to turn to him and to find that he's the one that 377 00:22:33,550 --> 00:22:37,480 can bring in even as is Rob Preacher number of weeks ago New 378 00:22:37,490 --> 00:22:42,880 beginnings out of some very lament filled seasons. 379 00:22:43,190 --> 00:22:48,080 This is the God that we served. Now, when we're in the middle of 380 00:22:48,090 --> 00:22:51,250 all of this, when in the middle of it, it's really hard to get 381 00:22:51,260 --> 00:22:52,750 that perspective. It really is. 382 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,600 And that's why immersing ourselves in this book is so 383 00:22:55,610 --> 00:22:58,450 important, because it reminds us again and again and again this 384 00:22:58,460 --> 00:23:02,270 is the kind of God who got his, and I can trust him in this 385 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,610 particular season of my life. OK, we gotta keep going. 386 00:23:04,980 --> 00:23:07,310 Verse 9. Once, when they had finished 387 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,260 eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. 388 00:23:11,330 --> 00:23:14,380 Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of 389 00:23:14,390 --> 00:23:18,930 the Lord's house. In her deep anguish, Hannah 390 00:23:18,940 --> 00:23:21,530 prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 391 00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:24,450 And she made a vow. Seen. 392 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:28,630 Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servants misery and 393 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,280 Remember Me and not forget your servant, but give her a son, 394 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,630 then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, 395 00:23:36,690 --> 00:23:39,550 and no razor will ever be used on his head. 396 00:23:41,170 --> 00:23:44,760 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 397 00:23:45,270 --> 00:23:48,140 Hannah was praying in her heart and her lips were moving, but 398 00:23:48,150 --> 00:23:52,340 her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and 399 00:23:52,350 --> 00:23:55,100 said to her, How long are you going to stay drunk? 400 00:23:55,350 --> 00:24:02,140 Put away your wine. Not so, my Lord, Anna replied. 401 00:24:02,310 --> 00:24:04,320 I'm a woman who is deeply troubled. 402 00:24:05,210 --> 00:24:07,980 I have not been drinking wine or beer. 403 00:24:08,170 --> 00:24:10,460 I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 404 00:24:10,750 --> 00:24:12,880 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman. 405 00:24:13,170 --> 00:24:17,960 I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief. 406 00:24:19,940 --> 00:24:24,480 Great anguish and grief. I think this is worth just 407 00:24:24,490 --> 00:24:28,900 pausing for a minute in her great anguish and grief, in the 408 00:24:28,910 --> 00:24:31,920 midst of her frustration, in the midst of what seems to be 409 00:24:31,930 --> 00:24:33,280 unanswered. She was she. 410 00:24:33,350 --> 00:24:40,210 She was driven to God in prayer. There was no middle ground for 411 00:24:40,220 --> 00:24:42,700 Hannah. She was going for it for the 412 00:24:42,710 --> 00:24:45,990 Lord, right? Wasn't wasn't standing off. 413 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:52,540 She was moving close to God. In verse 15, she explains to to 414 00:24:52,550 --> 00:24:56,510 Eli the priest. I was pouring out my soul to the 415 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,700 Lord. Now the the the new 416 00:24:59,710 --> 00:25:01,970 international version is my soul to the Lord. 417 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,110 The word there penny is probably a better translation of it is 418 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,260 before the Lord and some of your translations will have maybe the 419 00:25:09,270 --> 00:25:14,330 ESV as before the Lord. I was pouring out my soul before 420 00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:16,490 the Lord. There's a difference between 421 00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:20,100 doing it point of her soul to the Lord and pouring out her 422 00:25:20,110 --> 00:25:26,830 soul before the Lord before is. This gives us this idea that I'm 423 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,910 doing it in front of him and he is here. 424 00:25:29,980 --> 00:25:33,990 This is a face to face interaction and and in fact, the 425 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:39,950 word literally means face when I'm praying too. 426 00:25:40,020 --> 00:25:41,670 There can be distance there. I'm praying. 427 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,470 God is up there somewhere and I'm praying to him and hopefully 428 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,490 my prayers are gonna get there. For Hannah was completely 429 00:25:46,500 --> 00:25:49,850 different. I am before the Lord. 430 00:25:50,260 --> 00:25:55,990 I am in His presence and I'm pouring out my heart before Him 431 00:25:56,040 --> 00:26:03,580 right now. Someone 42 verse 2. 432 00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:06,480 We see so many examples in the Psalms. 433 00:26:07,450 --> 00:26:10,240 But Salma says. I pour out before him my 434 00:26:10,250 --> 00:26:14,410 complaint. Before him, I tell my trouble. 435 00:26:15,410 --> 00:26:19,840 This is so instructive for us, and I think that we can learn so 436 00:26:19,850 --> 00:26:24,600 much from Hannah in the way that she approaches the the Lord, 437 00:26:24,610 --> 00:26:29,910 just completely unloading all of the heaviness of her heart onto 438 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:31,770 the Lord. You and I were meant for that. 439 00:26:33,530 --> 00:26:38,880 A song that GAIL introduced to me not long ago by Will Will 440 00:26:38,890 --> 00:26:40,280 Reagan. You heard that. 441 00:26:40,290 --> 00:26:42,480 Lay it all down. That's one to look up. 442 00:26:42,530 --> 00:26:44,700 Lay it all down. I'll sing a little bit to you 443 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,510 because you just can't just say it right. 444 00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:54,990 Bring you worry, grief and pain. Every cause you have for shame. 445 00:26:55,270 --> 00:27:02,530 Lay it all down. Lay it all down when you cares 446 00:27:02,540 --> 00:27:09,360 have buried you and there's nothing left to lay it all down. 447 00:27:10,370 --> 00:27:14,840 Lay it all down at the feet of Jesus. 448 00:27:14,930 --> 00:27:18,100 And there's this chorus. Just lay it all down. 449 00:27:18,110 --> 00:27:21,740 Lay it all down little. If you need to be laying down 450 00:27:21,750 --> 00:27:24,000 some stuff before the Lord, I encourage you. 451 00:27:24,050 --> 00:27:28,080 Even if you don't like the song, play it once just to inspire 452 00:27:28,130 --> 00:27:33,140 you. There is a burden bearer in the 453 00:27:33,150 --> 00:27:38,180 heart of God, and He wants to meet us at every single point. 454 00:27:38,190 --> 00:27:43,920 We can lay it all before Him. There is a habit that I learned 455 00:27:43,930 --> 00:27:49,330 way back in in well, some of my last years had been a painting 456 00:27:49,340 --> 00:27:53,100 contractor when things were getting big in the business in 457 00:27:53,110 --> 00:27:57,560 the sense of risky for my employees and I was a little bit 458 00:27:57,650 --> 00:28:00,640 stretched. I was, I was stressed and 459 00:28:00,650 --> 00:28:03,580 stretched thinking about what are all the possibilities, What 460 00:28:03,590 --> 00:28:04,870 if this happens? What if this happens? 461 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:11,500 What if this happens and I had my quiet times on site? 462 00:28:11,570 --> 00:28:16,430 I would get there early, sit on a paint barrel, open up my Bible 463 00:28:16,500 --> 00:28:20,010 and meet with the Lord. And it was in those moments 464 00:28:20,020 --> 00:28:22,350 where I could hear God. It was like God was asking me, 465 00:28:22,360 --> 00:28:26,250 John, how are you? And I would just pour out my 466 00:28:26,260 --> 00:28:29,550 heart, you know, a loving friend every once in a while will ask 467 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,900 you how are you right? Isn't that how are you and and 468 00:28:32,910 --> 00:28:34,360 leave. But you know, how are you 469 00:28:34,430 --> 00:28:35,340 really? How are you? 470 00:28:36,370 --> 00:28:41,800 God wants to hear us pour out our hearts to Him. 471 00:28:42,030 --> 00:28:43,900 How are you? How are you? 472 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,590 How are you? Check. 473 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,360 How are you, Ryan? How are you? 474 00:28:54,090 --> 00:28:59,490 How are you, John? Answering that question honestly 475 00:28:59,500 --> 00:29:03,790 before God is a powerful way to start the day because it makes 476 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,890 us aware of what we're going through and what we're bringing 477 00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:09,530 into our day. There's so much going on in the 478 00:29:09,540 --> 00:29:13,090 background of our lives, in the background of our minds and our 479 00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:17,620 hearts that we're bringing into our day that will affect the way 480 00:29:17,630 --> 00:29:21,930 that we treat other people, will affect the way that we plan our 481 00:29:21,940 --> 00:29:24,730 day and walk out our day. And in fact, we'll affect the 482 00:29:24,740 --> 00:29:28,000 way that we read this book and we don't even know it. 483 00:29:28,330 --> 00:29:31,590 And when we're aware of it, when we know what we're bringing into 484 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,190 the scriptures as we read, it's kind of like when we think was 485 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,680 David Paulson that said that when we bring our real life to 486 00:29:38,690 --> 00:29:42,080 scripture, Scripture comes to life for us. 487 00:29:43,270 --> 00:29:46,400 God wants to meet us where we are, not where we think we 488 00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:49,330 should be from a religious standpoint, but where we are. 489 00:29:51,380 --> 00:29:53,270 This this journal will help us to do that. 490 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:58,090 In fact, one of the there are spaces for writing and the first 491 00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,350 one is before you even start reading is get ready. 492 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,950 What am I facing, What am I feeling and just jot down a few 493 00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,550 just to be aware. This is especially good for 494 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,390 guys. I don't know about you guys, but 495 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,770 I'm just totally out of touch with my feelings and my 496 00:30:10,780 --> 00:30:13,640 emotions. I need help in this in this way, 497 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,710 but just to think about that and to write those down and just 498 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,480 jotting those things down just to be aware of it to be bringing 499 00:30:20,490 --> 00:30:24,910 that before God and allowing him then to speak to us in his word. 500 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,010 Powerful exercise. Anyway, I leave that little 501 00:30:28,020 --> 00:30:32,140 habit with you. But but the Lord allowed Hanna 502 00:30:32,150 --> 00:30:35,680 to do this. He opened up this space for her. 503 00:30:36,410 --> 00:30:40,680 Come, I wanna bury your burdens. Pour it out to me. 504 00:30:40,980 --> 00:30:43,330 The Lord knew everything that she was going through and He was 505 00:30:43,340 --> 00:30:45,950 gonna minister to her. And so she makes this vow. 506 00:30:49,290 --> 00:30:54,360 Interesting Valley, Where are we here? 507 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:57,730 She means this well. So this is version 11. 508 00:30:57,740 --> 00:31:01,470 Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery 509 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,050 and Remember Me, and not forget your servant, but give me give 510 00:31:05,060 --> 00:31:07,710 her a son. Then I will give him to the Lord 511 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,880 for all the days of his life and no razor will ever be used on 512 00:31:10,890 --> 00:31:14,670 his head. I don't know. 513 00:31:14,940 --> 00:31:17,990 Probably a large portion of humanity have made vows to God, 514 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,600 like God. If you, if you were up there, 515 00:31:20,610 --> 00:31:24,520 you know, if you can Get Me Out of this, you know, this bind 516 00:31:24,530 --> 00:31:27,220 that I'm in, I will. I will then serve you all my 517 00:31:27,230 --> 00:31:29,030 days, right? And then we forget about it once 518 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:30,900 we're out of the bind, right? It's just the natural. 519 00:31:30,910 --> 00:31:34,630 So God has heard a lot of vowels that are spoken, but this one, 520 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,340 this one's a different. She's not just this, not just 521 00:31:37,350 --> 00:31:38,500 general thing. Yeah. 522 00:31:38,510 --> 00:31:40,740 If you do this for me, then yeah, I'm going to love you 523 00:31:40,750 --> 00:31:41,280 more. Whatever. 524 00:31:41,290 --> 00:31:42,740 No, I'm going to give you my son. 525 00:31:44,460 --> 00:31:50,600 She was serious, right? And, you know, no razor is ever 526 00:31:50,610 --> 00:31:53,440 going to be used on his head, which is kind of part of a 527 00:31:53,450 --> 00:31:58,760 Nazarite vow, which is kind of like if someone has this, the 528 00:31:58,770 --> 00:32:01,120 guy has this long hair, you know, OK, that that's a 529 00:32:01,130 --> 00:32:02,960 Nazarite. That guy's been consecrated. 530 00:32:02,970 --> 00:32:06,380 Like he has totally been given up his purposes for the Lord. 531 00:32:06,390 --> 00:32:10,110 So before, before before Sammy was born. 532 00:32:10,180 --> 00:32:12,530 Poor guy. His mom is determined his 533 00:32:12,540 --> 00:32:14,950 hairstyle for the rest of his life, right? 534 00:32:15,020 --> 00:32:19,390 So he would have had a lot of hair, but she was serious, so 535 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:23,990 serious. And so she's in this zone with 536 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,150 God at this point. And then Eli, the priest sees 537 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:31,110 her praying and she's not even aware that he's watching. 538 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,880 And she, he thinks she's drunk. She must have been a mess. 539 00:32:34,890 --> 00:32:38,610 I don't know what that would have looked like, but you know. 540 00:32:38,620 --> 00:32:42,840 And then she explains to him what was really going on and he 541 00:32:42,850 --> 00:32:56,100 realizes, OK, I'm I'm mistaken. So now where I'm here verse 17, 542 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:00,030 Eli answered after he's been after she explained it to him. 543 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,910 Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you've 544 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,500 asked him, she said. May your servant find favor in 545 00:33:07,510 --> 00:33:10,670 your eyes. Then she went her way and ate. 546 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,380 Something in her face was no longer downcast. 547 00:33:13,830 --> 00:33:16,580 Early in the morning they arose and worship before the Lord and 548 00:33:16,590 --> 00:33:19,010 then went back to their home in Rama. 549 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:24,030 El Cana made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered 550 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:27,630 her. So in the course of time, Hannah 551 00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:29,750 became pregnant and gave birth to a son. 552 00:33:30,430 --> 00:33:34,600 She named him Samuel, saying Because I asked the Lord for 553 00:33:34,610 --> 00:33:41,330 him, she receives a blessing from the priest and that was 554 00:33:41,340 --> 00:33:44,450 confirmation to her that God had heard her prayer and all of a 555 00:33:44,460 --> 00:33:46,360 sudden everything changed for her. 556 00:33:46,370 --> 00:33:50,550 The circumstances hadn't changed yet, but her approach to life, 557 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,860 it completely changed. No longer downcast, beginning to 558 00:33:54,870 --> 00:33:59,960 eat, she becomes pregnant. She has a boy and named him 559 00:33:59,970 --> 00:34:04,170 Samuel. No, we want to just be careful 560 00:34:04,220 --> 00:34:08,310 that we don't read this in a way that we take it as God's 561 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,710 promising that he is going to. Every time that we pray that, 562 00:34:11,780 --> 00:34:15,940 you know, a bearing woman is gonna be the things are gonna 563 00:34:15,949 --> 00:34:19,300 change that will suddenly bear or that any trouble that we 564 00:34:19,310 --> 00:34:21,679 might have that that's gonna be lifted. 565 00:34:22,610 --> 00:34:25,840 That's not what this is saying, but what it is telling us is 566 00:34:25,850 --> 00:34:31,989 that believing prayer is very important and that we need to 567 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:37,210 trust that no matter what. So in other words, we need to 568 00:34:37,219 --> 00:34:40,429 trust that God is always at work, that he's going to hear us 569 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:43,350 and it is going to respond. But it may not be in the way 570 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:48,150 that we anticipate. But He was completely in charge, 571 00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:54,070 ridiculously in charge. God is using every difficult 572 00:34:54,110 --> 00:34:57,050 circumstance to bring about something beautiful. 573 00:34:57,730 --> 00:35:00,240 Now, that's a tough thing to understand, right? 574 00:35:01,030 --> 00:35:04,800 But if you think about it with Hannah, right, If she had not 575 00:35:04,810 --> 00:35:09,440 been mocked by Penina if and provoked and irritated and 576 00:35:09,450 --> 00:35:13,400 shamed and all that stuff, would she really been driven to prayer 577 00:35:13,550 --> 00:35:16,870 to for the kind of fervent prayer that she prayed and would 578 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,570 she not make should have, would she have made that vow into 579 00:35:19,580 --> 00:35:24,210 release Samuel at a very young age to the Lord to minister that 580 00:35:24,220 --> 00:35:28,570 Samuel could be that figure in in in Israelite history and 581 00:35:28,580 --> 00:35:31,010 actually human history where everything would turn around. 582 00:35:31,380 --> 00:35:34,310 In the midst of these dark days, something beautiful will take 583 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:39,160 place. Probably not, but God used all 584 00:35:39,170 --> 00:35:44,590 those circumstances in Hannahs life to bring to to use her in a 585 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,770 way that would be good for her, very good for her, but so good 586 00:35:48,780 --> 00:35:57,460 for the nation. So she's gonna offer in verse 21 587 00:35:57,470 --> 00:36:00,000 to 28, you know, Samuel was weaned. 588 00:36:00,010 --> 00:36:06,360 So probably around age 3 or 4, Samuel was given over to 589 00:36:06,370 --> 00:36:08,360 minister at the House of the Lord and Shiloh. 590 00:36:08,690 --> 00:36:11,370 Like I've got a grandchild who's four years old. 591 00:36:14,610 --> 00:36:16,860 That doesn't sound like responsible parenting to me. 592 00:36:17,970 --> 00:36:20,190 We'll, we'll, we'll talk a bit more about that next week. 593 00:36:20,250 --> 00:36:25,620 But this was, this was the Lord in the midst, in the midst of it 594 00:36:25,630 --> 00:36:28,320 all. And so she breaks into song in 595 00:36:28,330 --> 00:36:29,880 verse 2. And we're not going to look at 596 00:36:29,890 --> 00:36:32,390 this in any great depth. But this is not a song of 597 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:36,760 Thanksgiving that God gave me a child as much as this is a song. 598 00:36:36,810 --> 00:36:39,860 This is a ham of praise and worship to the God who is 599 00:36:39,870 --> 00:36:43,060 sovereign, who doesn't just answer prayer, but he's got a 600 00:36:43,070 --> 00:36:46,480 plan and he's bringing about this incredible plan. 601 00:36:47,180 --> 00:36:50,730 Same thing a Luke chapter 1, Mary's Magnificat, her song that 602 00:36:50,740 --> 00:36:55,270 she breaks out in as well as is is very similar to this one. 603 00:36:56,190 --> 00:37:00,090 In the first few verses, she's just describing her situation 604 00:37:00,100 --> 00:37:01,780 and the relief that God gave to her. 605 00:37:01,950 --> 00:37:06,220 But in the next second part of the of this song, she's just 606 00:37:06,230 --> 00:37:09,220 talking about she, she just knows the big picture. 607 00:37:09,230 --> 00:37:10,280 She's just talking about the Lord. 608 00:37:10,290 --> 00:37:13,220 Just listen to this and starting in verse 6, he says the Lord. 609 00:37:13,270 --> 00:37:15,650 She says the Lord brings death and makes alive. 610 00:37:15,660 --> 00:37:19,820 He brings down to the grave and raises up the Lord sends poverty 611 00:37:19,830 --> 00:37:21,780 and wealth. He humbles and he exalts. 612 00:37:21,910 --> 00:37:24,940 He raises the poor from the dust, lifts the needy from the 613 00:37:24,950 --> 00:37:27,940 ash heap. He seats them with Princess, and 614 00:37:27,950 --> 00:37:31,680 has them inherit a thrown of honor for the foundations of the 615 00:37:31,690 --> 00:37:36,560 earth of the Lords. On them he has set the world. 616 00:37:36,930 --> 00:37:41,420 And then a few few lines down it says it is not by strength that 617 00:37:41,430 --> 00:37:45,700 one prevails. She she knew what happened to 618 00:37:45,710 --> 00:37:49,430 her is just the way that God works. 619 00:37:50,660 --> 00:37:55,430 He takes our are are horrible circumstances in the places 620 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,690 where we experience roadblocks and we're confused and we're 621 00:37:58,700 --> 00:38:01,690 completely have no control and we have we're completely 622 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,850 incapable of making a change. And he uses that as a starting 623 00:38:05,860 --> 00:38:11,240 place to do something powerful. This is the God that we serve. 624 00:38:11,980 --> 00:38:16,790 So we look at Chapter 1 and we think, OK, big deal, Hannah now 625 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:22,020 now has a child and Panina eats crow and Elkana finally has some 626 00:38:22,030 --> 00:38:24,810 peace in his household, Right? Big deal. 627 00:38:26,330 --> 00:38:30,800 No, it's a huge deal because this is a little microcosm of 628 00:38:30,810 --> 00:38:34,760 how God works. He brings His saving grace into 629 00:38:34,770 --> 00:38:36,840 our lives again and again and again. 630 00:38:36,850 --> 00:38:40,610 He lifts up the weary, the downtrodden. 631 00:38:41,260 --> 00:38:42,720 He lifts. This is what he does. 632 00:38:42,730 --> 00:38:45,430 This is, this is what he does. When we turn to Him, he lifts us 633 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,070 up. And every time that God gets us 634 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:54,020 out of a pickle, moves us through a very difficult season, 635 00:38:54,730 --> 00:38:57,640 that's a picture. It's a little sample of the big 636 00:38:57,650 --> 00:39:00,660 thing that he's doing in restoring this world. 637 00:39:00,770 --> 00:39:05,410 When he sent his son, the King of Kings, who's gonna truly 638 00:39:05,420 --> 00:39:08,250 accomplish this work? He's going to finish it all for 639 00:39:08,260 --> 00:39:11,030 us. And she actually refers to this, 640 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:14,720 I'm sure unknowingly at the end of the song when she says he 641 00:39:14,730 --> 00:39:18,120 will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his 642 00:39:18,130 --> 00:39:21,750 anointed. That a word anointed is Messiah 643 00:39:22,620 --> 00:39:27,130 is Christ the first time it enters into the scriptures. 644 00:39:27,140 --> 00:39:30,860 Looking forward to a king in the line of David. 645 00:39:31,490 --> 00:39:33,450 She doesn't even know what's going on here. 646 00:39:33,610 --> 00:39:38,700 Who is going to come to this earth and truly restore us all 647 00:39:38,710 --> 00:39:40,930 the brokenness in this world? And it's going to begin with 648 00:39:40,940 --> 00:39:45,100 each one of us, one step at a time, one life at a time, one 649 00:39:45,110 --> 00:39:49,070 year at a time. And it all starts with Samuel, 650 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:51,550 and that's we're going to be looking at picking up next week. 651 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:56,460 So Lord, we thank you for the feast that you give to us in 652 00:39:56,470 --> 00:39:58,620 your word. And Lord, there's just so much 653 00:39:58,630 --> 00:40:02,800 here. I I pray Lord, you being the 654 00:40:02,810 --> 00:40:05,620 great. You're the one who does the 655 00:40:05,630 --> 00:40:09,690 triage, Lord, that you would minister to each one of us where 656 00:40:09,700 --> 00:40:12,660 we need it the most. Encourage us in our faith, move 657 00:40:12,670 --> 00:40:16,880 us forward, and we commit ourselves to You over these next 658 00:40:16,950 --> 00:40:21,100 40 days. Speak Lord, your servants are 659 00:40:21,110 --> 00:40:24,130 listening in Jesus name, OK?