Hannah – 1 Samuel 1:1-15
Hannah – 1 Samuel 1:1-15
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 9, 2010 AM
Do you ever struggle with prayer? What do you think is the nature of the struggle? One struggle is that we end up praying platitudes. How do we stop using the same old platitudes in our prayers? The Proverbist related, “Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread (Proverbs 30:7-8).” He had the right idea. Jesus said that part of our prayers should be, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:10-11).”
One wonderful mother from the pages of the Old Testament can teach us a lot about prayer. Her name is Hannah. In fact, Hannah can teach us bunches about how mothers and the rest of us ought to pray and since this is Mother’s Day, we are going to pause our study of Mark’s gospel and study Hannah and her prayer. Let’s see what Hannah has to teach us about prayer…
READ: 1 Samuel 1:1-15
We can read a section of Scripture and skip right over what God desires to teach us for the day, and so it is here with this story of a young woman named Hannah. We immediately learn something about Hannah that is very vital to understanding the tremendous miracle God was going to do through her for his people. We discover that…
I. Hannah had none! (Vv. 1-2)
1. Having nothing is the best place to start. Hannah had no children. Why is this so important for us to understand? It shows how God can work through one person to bring about the change a nation needs. God desired that Israel change its direction, and Hannah could help provide that change, because a person who has nothing, God can use. We have to pause for a moment and understand the enormity of her situation. For Hannah children would be everything. Her entire world was wrapped up in her ability to have a child, and not just any child, but a baby boy. Hannah had none because God allowed her to be barren. This is where God starts when he desires to do something great. He starts with one person who realizes they have nothing. We live in a day and age where we have everything. How can God begin to work in us when we have so much that distracts us? Perhaps we need to realize anew our utter poverty in him, because in reality we have nothing that matters to God. Nothing but ourselves, and until we come to the poverty of that situation in our faith, we will continue to look to God when in our heart of hearts we believe we need nothing from him at all. God cannot do the great things he desire with people who think they have everything. Hannah realized she needed God because “Hannah had none,” do you. Do you realize your utter poverty before the Lord this day? Until you do, God cannot do with you some great thing he desires.
EXAMPLE: Far too often, we are like a self-centered child who, when he gets some ice cream, immediately looks to see if the child next to him got more than he did. We are like this with every area of our lives. We forget that we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave it with nothing. Everything we acquire while here, including relationships, are on loan to us so-to-speak. Rich or poor, the famous or the inconsequential, the President to the peon will all be equal when they are dead. The only difference will be with those who realized their utter spiritual poverty before the Lord, will have a rich reward. Paul paraphrased an old Hebrew saying by relating that, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” Hannah had come to understand this, but she began with nothing and like Job Hannah learned, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21). She had nothing to offer God but herself and that is all God ever desires from his people.
Hannah shows us what many fail to realize today regarding their prayers before the Lord. We think, because of our relationship with Jesus, that we can have a rather cavalier attitude concerning our prayers. We can forget that God looks at the heart, not the outside of a person. We forget that God still judges the intent and therefore the contextual content can be very important. We discover that…
II. Hannah poured out her soul! (Vv. 10, 13, & 15)
1. A soul poured out, can be filled by God. Hannah’s prayer was not one of desperately wanting a child so she could have standing with the “in crowd” of her day. Hannah’s prayer was not so she could get Peninnah to shut up. And, Hannah’s prayer was not offered so she could get back that loving feeling of her husband. Hannah’s prayer was from the very depths of her being, her soul; all that was Hannah was being laid out before the Lord because all that was Hannah desired a child. We see that Hannah was literally “pouring out [her] soul” to God. We may earnestly pray for something, we may even vehemently ask God, but do we ever beseech God and lay it all out before him like Hannah did? I do not see folks doing that in our day and age. You see, this is literally a falling down, getting your knees dirty, kind of humiliation outpouring prayer before God. It is the deep inner gut-wrenching heart rendering crying before God’s throne because we not only desire God’s mercy, we desire him to act in spite of our selfish desires, needs, or wants. Now, when was the last time you earnestly prayed like that? This was no lifeline one-time occurrence with her either because evidently she had been doing this quite a while, because we see “This went on year after year” (1 Samuel 1:7). Hannah poured out her soul before the Lord for a child, when was the last time you poured out your soul for the lost? When was the last time you poured out your soul before the Lord for your ungodly nation? Sadly, we often pray such namby-pamby things in such wimpy uninspiring ways. I challenge you to record your prayer time just once and play it back and I believe you wouldn’t be inspired to listen to your own prayers either. Sure, I know God hears our prayers, but just because he hears us does not mean he will act, and I believe that God often does not act because our prayers are not from our very being. We need more pouring out of our soul in our prayers as Hannah did.
EXAMPLE: In the movie “Faith Like Potatoes,” Angus is stricken when with his tractor he runs over and accidently kills his favorite nephew. There is a heart-wrenching scene in the movie where he is in the hospital weeping uncontrollably over the child’s death. When I was a fire department chaplain, I experienced this many times when folks lost a loved one. It is a place of utter hopelessness and helplessness. That is where Hannah dwelt. And that is where we should remind ourselves where we reside as well. I am reminded of the old pastor who when entering his prayer closet would repeat, “I am nothing, and you are everything,” repeatedly to remind himself of who he was and whom God was. I am often shocked at the almost contemptuous attitude some Christians display not only in their prayerlessness, but also in their actual prayers! It is as if they demand from God an answer because of Jesus. While we enjoy a new relationship with God that is unfettered by continual animal sacrifice and works, we would do well to remember we still are addressing a holy and righteous God. Like Hannah, we need to spend more time in pouring out our soul before the Lord and less time focusing on ourselves.
After she has “wept much and prayed to the LORD,” Hannah then “made a vow.” Through her prayer, Hannah gave herself completely over to the will of God. You find neither poetic phrasing here nor any pat prayer pattern. She does not utter the spiritual mantra many of us use in our prayer of, “If it be your will, Lord.” It was through her sacrifice of prayer whereby she completely gave herself and her will over to God, that Hannah came to know the truth of what God’s will would be. Hannah would have to give up that which she longed for the most: her firstborn son. We discover that…
III. Hannah sacrificed everything that mattered! Vv. 10-11, 18)
1. Sacrifice costs. There is no desperate bargaining here, as some might have you believe, with Hannah’s prayer. She had been about this way too long. If only God would “look upon” his “servant’s misery,” see her heart as it was and “not forget” his “servant but give her a son.” She would then be willing to do what God required of her all along. And this, I believe, is the heart of the truth of this passage. God had been working with Hannah over the years in order for her to understand what true sacrifice means. Sacrifice costs the believer dearly. It is not something you would have discarded anyway, it is not your second best, it is not your leftovers, nor is it anything that does not cost the person. Sacrifice is never done in haste and it is never easy. And here it cost Hannah everything. Hannah had finally reached a point whereby she was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered. This is where God could use Hannah. It is where he can use you as well. Serving God, costs us dearly because it cost God his one and only son. Serving God costs us all that we are. It costs us our mind, will, and emotions. It costs us our time, talent, and treasurer. Sacrifice comes when we realize that we will be impoverished in some way by our conscious choice to follow God in complete trust. Hannah had come to understand this, and God answered her prayer. We see that “she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” When was the last time you were sincerely willing to sacrifice it all for the Lord? This includes everything you have including your family – which all are required of the Lord in order to follow him (Matthew 4:21-22; 16:24; 19:21, 29; Luke 9:62; John 12:25-26). When was the last time you totally trusted God, did not flinch, and remained steady on the course he gave you until you were certain he had given you new marching orders? Hannah was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered, are you?
EXAMPLE: When one enters the ministry, you are no longer your own person. In fact, when one comes to Christ, you are now bought with a price and you belong completely to God. If we truly have the mind of Christ, we understand that we are now living sacrifices for the Lord. Many will sing the words, “Take my life lead me Lord. Take my life lead me Lord. Make my life useful for Thee,” and walk fifty feet out the front door of the church and completely forget what we just sang. Our life was only useful for the Lord for all of fifty feet, I guess. Day after day, and year after year, Hannah asked God to look upon his servant’s misery. To see her heart as it was completely exposed. As she did, she began to hear God tell her that her request would be given at a cost. God would not forget, but she would have to honor him because of his great mercy extended toward her. We see what it meant for her because “After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh” (1Samuel 1:24). Can you imagine doing that with the child you love and sacrifice so much for in life? Hannah did, and we learn that “the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters” (1Samuel 2:21). Hannah was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered, are you?
Conclusion:
On this Mother’s Day we have learned a lot from one little mother, Hannah. Hannah had none. Hannah poured out her soul. Hannah was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered.
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission…
By Pastor Lee Hemen
May 9, 2010 AM
Do you ever struggle with prayer? What do you think is the nature of the struggle? One struggle is that we end up praying platitudes. How do we stop using the same old platitudes in our prayers? The Proverbist related, “Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread (Proverbs 30:7-8).” He had the right idea. Jesus said that part of our prayers should be, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:10-11).”
One wonderful mother from the pages of the Old Testament can teach us a lot about prayer. Her name is Hannah. In fact, Hannah can teach us bunches about how mothers and the rest of us ought to pray and since this is Mother’s Day, we are going to pause our study of Mark’s gospel and study Hannah and her prayer. Let’s see what Hannah has to teach us about prayer…
READ: 1 Samuel 1:1-15
We can read a section of Scripture and skip right over what God desires to teach us for the day, and so it is here with this story of a young woman named Hannah. We immediately learn something about Hannah that is very vital to understanding the tremendous miracle God was going to do through her for his people. We discover that…
I. Hannah had none! (Vv. 1-2)
1. Having nothing is the best place to start. Hannah had no children. Why is this so important for us to understand? It shows how God can work through one person to bring about the change a nation needs. God desired that Israel change its direction, and Hannah could help provide that change, because a person who has nothing, God can use. We have to pause for a moment and understand the enormity of her situation. For Hannah children would be everything. Her entire world was wrapped up in her ability to have a child, and not just any child, but a baby boy. Hannah had none because God allowed her to be barren. This is where God starts when he desires to do something great. He starts with one person who realizes they have nothing. We live in a day and age where we have everything. How can God begin to work in us when we have so much that distracts us? Perhaps we need to realize anew our utter poverty in him, because in reality we have nothing that matters to God. Nothing but ourselves, and until we come to the poverty of that situation in our faith, we will continue to look to God when in our heart of hearts we believe we need nothing from him at all. God cannot do the great things he desire with people who think they have everything. Hannah realized she needed God because “Hannah had none,” do you. Do you realize your utter poverty before the Lord this day? Until you do, God cannot do with you some great thing he desires.
EXAMPLE: Far too often, we are like a self-centered child who, when he gets some ice cream, immediately looks to see if the child next to him got more than he did. We are like this with every area of our lives. We forget that we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave it with nothing. Everything we acquire while here, including relationships, are on loan to us so-to-speak. Rich or poor, the famous or the inconsequential, the President to the peon will all be equal when they are dead. The only difference will be with those who realized their utter spiritual poverty before the Lord, will have a rich reward. Paul paraphrased an old Hebrew saying by relating that, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” Hannah had come to understand this, but she began with nothing and like Job Hannah learned, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” (Job 1:21). She had nothing to offer God but herself and that is all God ever desires from his people.
Hannah shows us what many fail to realize today regarding their prayers before the Lord. We think, because of our relationship with Jesus, that we can have a rather cavalier attitude concerning our prayers. We can forget that God looks at the heart, not the outside of a person. We forget that God still judges the intent and therefore the contextual content can be very important. We discover that…
II. Hannah poured out her soul! (Vv. 10, 13, & 15)
1. A soul poured out, can be filled by God. Hannah’s prayer was not one of desperately wanting a child so she could have standing with the “in crowd” of her day. Hannah’s prayer was not so she could get Peninnah to shut up. And, Hannah’s prayer was not offered so she could get back that loving feeling of her husband. Hannah’s prayer was from the very depths of her being, her soul; all that was Hannah was being laid out before the Lord because all that was Hannah desired a child. We see that Hannah was literally “pouring out [her] soul” to God. We may earnestly pray for something, we may even vehemently ask God, but do we ever beseech God and lay it all out before him like Hannah did? I do not see folks doing that in our day and age. You see, this is literally a falling down, getting your knees dirty, kind of humiliation outpouring prayer before God. It is the deep inner gut-wrenching heart rendering crying before God’s throne because we not only desire God’s mercy, we desire him to act in spite of our selfish desires, needs, or wants. Now, when was the last time you earnestly prayed like that? This was no lifeline one-time occurrence with her either because evidently she had been doing this quite a while, because we see “This went on year after year” (1 Samuel 1:7). Hannah poured out her soul before the Lord for a child, when was the last time you poured out your soul for the lost? When was the last time you poured out your soul before the Lord for your ungodly nation? Sadly, we often pray such namby-pamby things in such wimpy uninspiring ways. I challenge you to record your prayer time just once and play it back and I believe you wouldn’t be inspired to listen to your own prayers either. Sure, I know God hears our prayers, but just because he hears us does not mean he will act, and I believe that God often does not act because our prayers are not from our very being. We need more pouring out of our soul in our prayers as Hannah did.
EXAMPLE: In the movie “Faith Like Potatoes,” Angus is stricken when with his tractor he runs over and accidently kills his favorite nephew. There is a heart-wrenching scene in the movie where he is in the hospital weeping uncontrollably over the child’s death. When I was a fire department chaplain, I experienced this many times when folks lost a loved one. It is a place of utter hopelessness and helplessness. That is where Hannah dwelt. And that is where we should remind ourselves where we reside as well. I am reminded of the old pastor who when entering his prayer closet would repeat, “I am nothing, and you are everything,” repeatedly to remind himself of who he was and whom God was. I am often shocked at the almost contemptuous attitude some Christians display not only in their prayerlessness, but also in their actual prayers! It is as if they demand from God an answer because of Jesus. While we enjoy a new relationship with God that is unfettered by continual animal sacrifice and works, we would do well to remember we still are addressing a holy and righteous God. Like Hannah, we need to spend more time in pouring out our soul before the Lord and less time focusing on ourselves.
After she has “wept much and prayed to the LORD,” Hannah then “made a vow.” Through her prayer, Hannah gave herself completely over to the will of God. You find neither poetic phrasing here nor any pat prayer pattern. She does not utter the spiritual mantra many of us use in our prayer of, “If it be your will, Lord.” It was through her sacrifice of prayer whereby she completely gave herself and her will over to God, that Hannah came to know the truth of what God’s will would be. Hannah would have to give up that which she longed for the most: her firstborn son. We discover that…
III. Hannah sacrificed everything that mattered! Vv. 10-11, 18)
1. Sacrifice costs. There is no desperate bargaining here, as some might have you believe, with Hannah’s prayer. She had been about this way too long. If only God would “look upon” his “servant’s misery,” see her heart as it was and “not forget” his “servant but give her a son.” She would then be willing to do what God required of her all along. And this, I believe, is the heart of the truth of this passage. God had been working with Hannah over the years in order for her to understand what true sacrifice means. Sacrifice costs the believer dearly. It is not something you would have discarded anyway, it is not your second best, it is not your leftovers, nor is it anything that does not cost the person. Sacrifice is never done in haste and it is never easy. And here it cost Hannah everything. Hannah had finally reached a point whereby she was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered. This is where God could use Hannah. It is where he can use you as well. Serving God, costs us dearly because it cost God his one and only son. Serving God costs us all that we are. It costs us our mind, will, and emotions. It costs us our time, talent, and treasurer. Sacrifice comes when we realize that we will be impoverished in some way by our conscious choice to follow God in complete trust. Hannah had come to understand this, and God answered her prayer. We see that “she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” When was the last time you were sincerely willing to sacrifice it all for the Lord? This includes everything you have including your family – which all are required of the Lord in order to follow him (Matthew 4:21-22; 16:24; 19:21, 29; Luke 9:62; John 12:25-26). When was the last time you totally trusted God, did not flinch, and remained steady on the course he gave you until you were certain he had given you new marching orders? Hannah was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered, are you?
EXAMPLE: When one enters the ministry, you are no longer your own person. In fact, when one comes to Christ, you are now bought with a price and you belong completely to God. If we truly have the mind of Christ, we understand that we are now living sacrifices for the Lord. Many will sing the words, “Take my life lead me Lord. Take my life lead me Lord. Make my life useful for Thee,” and walk fifty feet out the front door of the church and completely forget what we just sang. Our life was only useful for the Lord for all of fifty feet, I guess. Day after day, and year after year, Hannah asked God to look upon his servant’s misery. To see her heart as it was completely exposed. As she did, she began to hear God tell her that her request would be given at a cost. God would not forget, but she would have to honor him because of his great mercy extended toward her. We see what it meant for her because “After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh” (1Samuel 1:24). Can you imagine doing that with the child you love and sacrifice so much for in life? Hannah did, and we learn that “the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters” (1Samuel 2:21). Hannah was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered, are you?
Conclusion:
On this Mother’s Day we have learned a lot from one little mother, Hannah. Hannah had none. Hannah poured out her soul. Hannah was willing to sacrifice everything that mattered.
----
Pastor Lee Hemen has been the outspoken pastor of the same church for 25 years in Vancouver, WA. He writes regularly on spirituality and conservative causes and maintains several web blogs. This article is copyrighted © 2010 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission. You now have my permission…
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