[0:00] you for the scriptures. I thank you for fellow believers and those who are willing to walk alongside of us. May we be an encouragement. And Lord, just teach us to honour and to glorify you and to praise you, because we know we cannot lift you high enough. So Lord, we need you.
[0:22] All right. So it's Mother's Day today. Today is the day that we recognise moms for everything that they have done for us, things that they have given up for us. And it's a Christian day, but I think it is a very good day. It's very good to recognise the moms for everything that they have done. When I was preparing this message, I pondered quite a bit on what is one of the main things that a mom does. And I couldn't believe how many things I came up with, with the list of things that they do. It is absolutely tremendous how much they do, how many different, how far widespread their workload is. It is just absolutely amazing.
[1:11] One of the things that really kind of just about every portion of her work is something that all of us do. But when a mom has her first child, this seems to take overdrive and it really starts to start to work. And that is to listen and then to react. You know, a mom would have her first child and within weeks she will listen and she will be able to hear the cry of her child, whether it is hungry, whether the child is just simply needing some attention, or if it's just simply fussing a little bit. And she will have that down pat fairly quickly. And that will determine her reaction. You then take on and you go another six to eight years later and there's now maybe a six-year-old, four-year-old, two-year-old, and a newborn. And so now this listening and reacting is all of a sudden happening very, very rapidly. You're listening and reacting to the six-year-old, to the four-year-old, to the two-year-old, and to the newborn. And all of a sudden she finds herself being very, very, very busy. And how she reacts sometimes is right and sometimes is wrong.
[2:31] And so how many of you moms have ever had a situation and reacted wrong? Lots of honest moms. Very good. How many times have you guys found yourself absolutely at a loss, where you just don't know where to turn? You've exercised every option and it's maybe middle of the night and you have these five, four, three, two, one, whatever children you have, and you're just at a loss and not knowing where to turn. You ever been in that situation?
[3:10] I think each one of you has, whether it is a mom, a grandmother, or somewhere in between. They've all come to a point where they just don't know where to turn. Our scripture today kind of deals with that too, even though Hannah is not a mom yet. But she does not know where to turn to. She's at the end of her wits. She's not sure what to do anymore. So we're going to look at that.
[3:34] I have a one-point message today. So one point, that's it. I'll hit the pulpit once and that's it. So it's simple. So quite a bit of background here. We have Israel is is at the onset of a change. And Israel up until this point has been governed or guided with judges.
[4:01] And the children of Israel have turned their back on God and they no longer want judges. They're looking at the world and they want kings. For still before Saul was even anointed as king, this is Samuel who is about to be born who is going to anoint Saul to be king. That is when the process already began to switch Israel from being led by judges to being led by kings. And it's interesting how in numerous occasions in scripture when a major shift happens in how God deals with his people that it starts with a woman. And in this case it does as well. So Israel is in a really dark place at this time. They have turned their back on God and they're even to the point where when they go to worship, the priests are defiling the whole worship process as well. We have Eli's two sons. Now I'll try to pronounce those names properly. Hapeni and Phinesa, is how I'll call them. You know, they're openly sinning. If we turn to 1 Samuel 2, verses 12-17, it says,
[5:20] Now the sons of Eli were corrupt. They did not know the Lord. And the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged flesh hook. And while the meat was boiling, then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. And the priest would take for himself all the flesh hook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Also, before they would burn the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw. And if the man said to him, they should really burn the fat first, then you may take as much as your heart desires. He would then answer him, no, but you must give it now. And if not, I will take it by force. Therefore, the sins, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord. So the way the children of
[6:43] Israel offered, and the way they worshipped, they abhorred it simply because the priests were openly sinning and doing it wrong. And so Israel was in a time of persecution from the Philistines, and they were also, you know, in worship, they were just, they were at a really, really dark place.
[7:03] And we'll start off here in verse 1. It says, Now there was a certain man of Ramathiah, Zephem, of the mountains of Firium, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elahu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, and Epheremite.
[7:27] So this Elkanah, or I shall first go to Ramathiah. It is the long word for where they were located, that is the town that they were in, that is Ramah, is the short version. It is located about six miles north of Jerusalem, is where this is. And that is in the, and he is a Levite, and he is located in Epherem, in the tribe of Epherem, which is just to the north of the tribe of Benjamin.
[7:59] So that is the area where they're from. And he had two wives, and the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Penina. Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. Now, polygamy is the thing that God intended for mankind at all. God put up with it, but he did not, he never intended for polygamy to take place. If we turn to Genesis chapter 2, verses 24, it says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, that is, one wife, to be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So nowhere does it ever say that there's going to be two wives. And yet here, Elkanah has two wives. And I did a little bit of searching into this, and it, scripture does not tell us, but they're saying that the reason he had two wives is because Hannah was barren, and he wanted to have children, and that's where Penina came in.
[9:07] And so naturally, those two were at odds with each other. And it says in verse 3, And this man went up from the city, that is his town, that is from Ramah, yearly to worship, sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh.
[9:25] Also, the two sons of Eli, Hapani and Penihas, the priests of the Lord, were there. So six miles north is where Ramah is at, and then he is traveling north to worship, that is in Shiloh, which is another, about 15 miles north of Ramah.
[9:45] So it would be from Jerusalem, if you know your locations well, it's about 20 miles or so, that it is north of Jerusalem. At this time, that was the capital where they worshipped.
[9:57] That was where the temple was, or the temple wasn't there, but that's where the Ark of the Covenant was located at, so that is where they went to worship. And whenever the time of, whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Penina, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.
[10:27] Now this peace offering was generally a joyous time for them. They would go there, and it was a time of joy, a time of celebration.
[10:39] And here, whenever Penina, or this time, would come for them to go and to worship, she would give Hannah a hard time.
[10:49] She would be persecuting her, and letting, and I'm not sure how she would have done it, however it would have worked, whether it would be giving her snarly looks, or just simply comments about not having children, but whatever it was, whenever this time came, she would start to persecute Hannah.
[11:06] And it is starting to boil up, and it's year after year that this is taking place, and she's starting, it's starting to get under her skin. And her rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb.
[11:26] So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her, therefore she wept and did not eat. It probably did not help any that Elkanah would give her a double portion, and Penina just got her regular portion.
[11:46] Even though Hannah would not eat the double portion all the way, but it was a sign that he loved her more. And this jealousy would have, that would have simply increased jealousy.
[11:57] We as men have a hard enough time understanding and pleasing our one singular wife. You can only imagine how much more difficult it would be with two, and how much trouble we would get into, because I find myself getting into a lot of trouble with my wife when I simply speak before I think.
[12:14] And I think when you have two of them, well, that only compounds that problem. So, and I think that's what Elkanah is starting to have some issues with here as well. And so he's not helping.
[12:24] By giving her a double portion, it's just not helping Hannah out at all. Verse 8 says, Then Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat?
[12:36] Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? So he's busy spoiling her, trying to make her feel better, and she just can't.
[12:48] She wants to have children. And when grieved here is actually an interchangeable word. It is, they use the word grieved, but actually it is interchangeable with anger.
[12:59] You could read it like this and say, And why is your heart angry? She was upset. And so it is a word that can be used either or in the translation.
[13:12] And so she was upset. She was quite angry already. So this had happened and happened and happened. And she was not happy. So Hannah arose after they had finished eating.
[13:27] So note this, it says, And Hannah arose after they had finished eating. Hannah did not eat. So they're at the peace offering, and the custom there is that everybody eats, takes part of the peace offering, and she chose not to eat.
[13:42] So that gave a signal very clearly to Elkanah and his other wife and their children that she was really upset. After they had finished eating and drinking, now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord.
[14:03] And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. And so here, this word can be used as grieved as well.
[14:14] It's interchangeable. So here, she comes before the Lord, and it's very likely that she did not notice that Eli was there and watching what she was doing.
[14:26] Because at this time, the place of worship was generally not closed, but there was not people there at that time. So it was very likely that she did not know that he was there. And there, she wept in bitterness, prayed to the Lord in anguish.
[14:44] Let's turn to Matthew 11, verse 28. It says, So, mums, when you find yourself in a point where you're not sure where to turn, whether it is you're a young mum or a middle-aged mum or a grandmother, he says, come to me and I will give you rest.
[15:29] He does not say, come to me and I will fix the problem. He says, I will give you rest. But it is, come to me. So he's saying, come to the Lord. And that is what Hannah was doing there.
[15:39] She was coming before the Lord and she was pouring herself out. How often do we come to the Lord and we pray and we pray in a specific way, but we don't actually pour out our heart to the Lord?
[15:52] I think we do that quite regularly, where we will just pray and say certain words, but we will not actually tell God exactly how we feel. And the reality is, it's okay to tell God exactly how you feel.
[16:04] That's what Hannah was doing there. She was pouring herself out, telling him exactly how she felt. She wasn't holding back. Let's go back to 1 Samuel there.
[16:20] So she was in there pouring herself out to the Lord. And then in verse 11, she does some interesting things, or she says some interesting things or does them.
[16:31] Then she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on her maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.
[16:53] So it is a vow in those days was something that you would promise for the Lord. And a vow could be overwritten by either the father of a woman or a young woman or her husband.
[17:12] A vow that a woman would make would always be able to be overwritten if either the dad or the husband did not agree with it. And if we turn to, it's still in 1 Samuel 1, verses 21 to 23.
[17:29] It says, this is already after Samuel has been born. It says, So in verse 23, it shows that Elkanah supported her with a vow that she had made to give this son to the Lord.
[18:26] The second thing that's interesting in this verse is she calls herself a maidservant. So she's coming in to the Lord, and she calls herself a maidservant.
[18:38] That is not a slave. That is somebody who wants to be there. She wants to serve the Lord. She wants to be in commune with the Lord. Then the other interesting thing that she does is she says, And I will give him to the Lord.
[18:56] And my question is, has any of you guys ever prayed for a child and then promised to give him to the Lord? It would be a pretty tall order, eh?
[19:09] It would be hard to give them up at three years old. Or how do we pray? When we pray, do we pray always expecting to receive something?
[19:21] Always asking for something? Or do we ever pray like she was praying here, where she was asking for a child, for a male child, and then she said, and I will give him to you.
[19:34] So there was something in return for God. Now, I'm not saying that we can bargain with God, where I can say, well, I want it to be sunny tomorrow because I need to go to work, so I'll go to church and I'll pray all day today, but then it's got to be sunny tomorrow.
[19:49] Like, I'm not saying that we can bargain with him that way. But would it be a good idea to maybe do that, to maybe offer the Lord something? I had a, there was a young man a number of years ago, came into church and he shared his testimony, or shared a testimony.
[20:08] And he was a rather competitive young man, and him and two of his friends had gone off camping somewhere. Really, really steep hill. And there was no grass or rocks really, or trees on that hill.
[20:22] It was basically rocky and dirt is basically what it was, but it was super, super steep. And so they're at the bottom of the hill, these three young men, and they decide, you know, let's see how far we can make it up this hill. And yeah, sure enough, they take off and they start racing up this hill.
[20:35] Steep, steep climb. And he's just going, he doesn't look back. He's just go, go, go, crawling up as fast as he can until he's absolutely exhausted. And he looks down and like, it is steep.
[20:46] And he's kind of even sliding down a little bit already. And his friends had taken five or six or eight steps and they had stopped and said, you know, this is too far. Or this is too steep, I'm not going any further. And here, this young man was way up.
[20:58] And so then he's standing there kind of irking down a little bit and realizing, so if I start to go down, you know, I might just, my footing could give way and I'll just slide all the way down.
[21:08] And he was way up there. So he had prayed and said, Lord, if you help me out of this situation, I will share in church what you did for me. And I thought that was pretty good.
[21:20] You know, I think we could do that once in a while, where if the Lord helps us out of a situation, then we go and glorify God for that situation. And obviously he made it out of that situation without getting too much gravel stuck in places that it doesn't belong.
[21:36] And so, yeah, he's doing fine. But yeah, it's one of those situations where we can pray and we can promise that we will do things for the Lord. And the other thing that is interesting here is he says that in all the days of his life, no razor shall come upon his head.
[21:57] So in those days, a Nazarite vow was generally, it was either a month or a number of months or it could be up to a year is what a Nazarite vow would be.
[22:07] And that would be, would consist of no razor could come upon his head. There would be, the individual could not touch a dead body and no, and couldn't come into contact with anything off the vine.
[22:20] So wine or grape juice or pulp from grape juice or even the skin of grape juice, skins of grapes couldn't come into contact. That was, that was the conditions of it.
[22:32] But the idea behind it was that they would solely commit themselves to the Lord during that time. And so in here, she makes this, that he will commit his life to the Lord all the days of his life.
[22:48] And then from verse 12 to 16, Eli has things mixed up a little bit. It says, and it happened as she, and then it happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her, watched her mouth.
[23:07] Now Hannah spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but the voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk?
[23:20] Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.
[23:36] Do not consider your maid servant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief, I have spoken until now.
[23:52] So it was, in our culture today, it would not be strange that an individual would go and pray quietly. In some cases, it might even be that you just pray quietly.
[24:06] I've had debates with individuals who have said that you shouldn't pray out loud. You have to pray quietly by yourself in a closet. And in this case, in the way that they would worship, when they would come into the temple or into the tent to pray to the Lord, it was always done audibly.
[24:24] It was always done out loud. That way the priest could hear and would bless either whether it would be blessed or not. And in this case, it was done quietly. So that was the one reason why Eli thought that she was drunk.
[24:38] The other one was she showed up there when nobody really ever showed up there. And the other one was that drinking had become very rampant at that time.
[24:49] So at these feasts, people would come and they would indulge in alcohol and then they would go and worship. And so that was a very, very common thing at that time. So it was very, very easy for Eli to mistake and her to be drunk.
[25:07] But she answers in verse 16 and says, Do not consider your maidservant to be a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my heart, out of my complaint, and spoken until now.
[25:18] So was Hannah only upset or grieved because she was being persecuted by her other, by Penina? I don't believe so.
[25:30] What else do you think she was grieved about? It was the fact that she had no children. In those days, it was shameful for a woman not to bear children.
[25:43] It was an absolute shameful thing. Nowadays, we seem to have flopped all the way over to the other side. Nowadays, it seems like it is shameful when there's a woman who has, you know, eight or nine children.
[26:00] You know, it seems like, you know, you go to town and just the reaction that, you know, people wouldn't openly say things, but the reaction that people will give sometimes is just about like, you know, what do you do in having so many children?
[26:11] I remember when our children were all young, six years and down, we had five of them, and when Tina would go shopping, she would have one shopping cart full of babies and two boys on each side and then one shopping cart for the groceries, and she would walk through the grocery store that way, and if one of them back there fusses, then sometimes she would go back to the vehicle and straighten out whatever needed to get straightened out and come back and start going again.
[26:37] And sometimes there was comments written on our van as to what we should do and what we shouldn't do, and sometimes they were positive and sometimes negative. And so there's, it is opposite today than what it was in those days.
[26:50] And I don't think we're the only ones that have had comments on things like that. Generally, people with big families, you know, people will look at them a little bit differently. So then in verse 17 and 18, it says, Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked him.
[27:21] And she said, Let your maidservant find favour in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. So she went, she came before the Lord.
[27:35] She poured herself out. She asked for a request. She had no idea whether or not she was going to have a child yet at this time or not. 18, it says, And she went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
[27:50] So she poured herself out. She asked for something, and she had absolute peace with it. She left it right there. How many times do we pray and not leave it there?
[28:04] We pray for something, and then we feel that we need to make certain adjustments so that God can maybe fulfill our prayer. Or we need to continue to pray for something over and over again so that we get exactly what we want.
[28:17] In this case, Hannah simply prayed, asked for something, and left it there and had absolute peace with it. So then in verse 24 to the end of the chapter, it says, Now when she had weaned him, so this is after the child had been born, Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bulls, an ephah of flower, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, and the child was young.
[28:52] He was actually three years old at this time, give or take a couple of months. Then they slaughtered a bull and brought the child to Eli, and she said, Oh my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, Lord, here she is talking to Eli, I am the woman who stood before you here praying to the Lord.
[29:13] For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore, I also have lent him to the Lord.
[29:24] As long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord. So they worshipped the Lord there. So she now had asked for something, she received it, and fulfilled her end of the bargain as well.
[29:38] And in chapter 2, she has a rather lengthy prayer. I will just read the first verse of that prayer. It says, And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.
[29:59] So she has absolute peace with the fact that she has had, she had no children, she has, with the tension that was between her and Hannah, she has absolute peace with it.
[30:10] It has been 100% dealt with. And I think sometimes we can learn from that, and learn to come before the Lord, pray, and just leave it there.
[30:22] In closing, I found a nice story, that kind of, it's for Mother's Day, and it kind of, I thought it was rather interesting.
[30:36] The author says, known by God, so I'm not sure who the author is exactly, but the story is, a newborn's conversation with God.
[30:47] It says, A baby asked God, They tell me, you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there, being so small and helpless?
[31:00] God said, Your angel will be waiting for you, and will take good care of you. The child further inquired, But I tell you, here in heaven, I don't have to do anything, but sing, smile, and be happy.
[31:13] God said, Your angel will sing for you, and also, smile for you. You will feel your, and be very happy. Again, the small child asked, And how am I going to be able to understand, when people talk to me, if I don't know the language?
[31:33] God said, Your angel will tell you, the most beautiful and sweet words, you will ever hear. And with much patience, and care, your angel will teach you, to speak.
[31:44] And what am I going to do, when I want to talk to you? God said, Your angel will place your hands together, and will teach you, how to pray.
[32:00] Who will protect me? God said, Your angel will defend you, even if it means, risking its life. But I will always be, but I will always be, oh yeah, but I will always be sad, because I can't see you anymore.
[32:20] God said, Your angel will always talk about you, about me, to teach you the way, to come back to me, even though I will always be, right next to you.
[32:30] At that moment, at that moment, there was much peace in heaven, but voices from earth, could be heard, and the child hurriedly asked God, If I am to leave now, please tell me, my angel's name.
[32:47] God said, You will simply call her, Mum. With that, I can call on song leaders. Thank you.