WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.400 Excellent. Well, thank you, Brenna. Wasn't sure whether we're getting verse 11 there or not, 00:00:05.459 --> 00:00:10.939 but we loved it. Folks, are we well? We're well. Great to see you tonight. Thank you so much for 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:16.120 coming. Let me invite you to turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 1. This is where we're going to be this 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:22.420 evening. And this quite magnificent book that I've loved studying over the last couple of weeks, 00:00:22.420 --> 00:00:27.460 that is so much to teach us about what it means to be God's people living by faith and trusting 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:31.080 in who he is. So shall we pray? And then we'll get stuck into this book together. 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:39.359 From this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:48.100 You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the 12. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, 00:00:48.100 --> 00:00:54.100 to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:01:04.400 And so it's to you, the truth speaking and life giving God that we look to tonight for words of 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:11.240 eternal life. And heavenly father, our good, good father, we ask you would come this evening and 00:01:11.240 --> 00:01:17.560 guide us by your spirit. May we leave here with just a grander picture of who you are. And this is 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:24.560 our prayer made in Jesus's name. Amen. Amen. So the man on the screen, I've enjoyed reading about him 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:32.100 this week. John Swigert is his name. Anyone heard of John Swigert? A couple of people to my left here. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:37.439 Okay, so you may not have heard, you may not know who he is, but you've definitely heard what he said. 00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:43.520 Okay, so John Swigert is one of NASA's most celebrated astronauts. He's famous for two reasons. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:47.959 Firstly, he was one of the three astronauts that made it back to Earth on Apollo 13. 00:01:49.119 --> 00:01:56.179 Second of all, he was that astronaut that looked out of Apollo 13. He first spotted the burst oxygen 00:01:56.179 --> 00:02:02.099 tank, which had made such a mess upon their service module. And he was the one that uttered the words, 00:02:02.539 --> 00:02:08.819 Houston, we have a problem. That was Jack. I think for the purists out there, I think it was actually 00:02:08.819 --> 00:02:12.900 Houston, we've had a problem, but Tom Hanks turned it around and Hollywood are always right, 00:02:12.900 --> 00:02:18.400 aren't they? There we go. John Swigert. Houston, we have a problem. Words you've probably heard 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:24.620 in your life before. Words you've probably used in your life before. I think when I was a young 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:30.300 solicitor, I had a secretary whose surname was Houston. You can imagine my favorite joke when I 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:36.659 went to her with a bit of work that needed amended. Houston, we've got a problem. It's one of those 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:42.599 phrases, isn't it, that people use on a daily basis. And I was thinking about it this week. Why is that 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:48.199 one of the phrases that's made its way to our popular culture? Well, I wonder whether it's 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:54.639 because it captures something that we all know to be true. And it's that life is full of problems. 00:02:55.579 --> 00:03:00.560 Full of problems. I think when I first became a Christian, this was one of the things that 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:07.439 so attracted me to Christianity that I read in the Bible and all I saw was people full of problems. 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:14.579 Right? Just people full of problems. Fill these pages of scripture. And we step in tonight to a 00:03:14.579 --> 00:03:22.919 book that's full of problems. Begins roughly 1100 BC in Israel and it's full of problems. 00:03:23.860 --> 00:03:29.020 Now, before we dive in tonight, if we're going to fully appreciate the context here, it's going to be 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:34.400 worth our while getting our heads and our hearts around the story so far in the Bible. This is God's 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:40.719 story of rescue. This looks something like this so far. We'll pick it up at Abraham. If you want to 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.520 go further back to creation, you're welcome to do that. He's a wee bit before. God has spoken to 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:49.020 Abraham. He declared to him that through him and through his offspring that God was going to bless 00:03:49.020 --> 00:03:55.780 the nations. And God had said, Abraham, I want you to live by faith and not by sight. I want you to 00:03:55.780 --> 00:04:01.939 go to the land that I will show you. That was Abraham. The story proceeds. We get his son, Isaac, 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:09.780 who fathers Jacob, who's got his 12 sons, one of which is Joseph. Joseph sold by his brothers into 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:16.240 slavery and who ends up in Egypt. And quite miraculously, they meant it for harm. God meant 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:22.899 it for goods. God raises up Joseph to be the top of Pharaoh's courts, to be the man who's in the right 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:28.980 place at the right time to rescue his people from famine and they make their way to Egypt for food. 00:04:28.980 --> 00:04:36.819 So the people are in Egypt. A new Pharaoh arises in Egypt, doesn't know Joseph, doesn't care for 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:42.180 Joseph. And he sees the Israelites growing in number. And what he does is he turns them into 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:49.720 slaves. What does God do? He raises up Moses, this Hebrew boy from the rushes, brought into Pharaoh's 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:55.580 palace, brought up in Pharaoh's palace. And he is the one that God uses to lead his people through the 00:04:55.579 --> 00:05:03.000 Red Sea and out of Egypt. They're rescued from something, for something. They're rescued for a 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:08.240 life of worshipping and living in relationship with the God who rescued them. Moses takes them to the 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:13.639 cusp of Canaan, the promised land. But God declares that it wasn't going to be Moses that was going to 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:21.779 take them in. It would be his assistant, Joshua. Joshua takes the reins. He leads the people into the 00:05:21.779 --> 00:05:26.619 land. And although they don't drive entirely out their enemies, they have the land, they're in the 00:05:26.619 --> 00:05:38.059 land. But Joshua dies and the nation spiritually spirals downwards because they take their eyes off 00:05:38.059 --> 00:05:44.219 the God who had rescued them. And the problem is summed up in the very last sentence of the book of 00:05:44.220 --> 00:05:49.100 Judges at verse 25. If you want to have it there, maybe just turn to it. It's on the screen as well. 00:05:49.700 --> 00:05:54.300 This gets right to the heart of it. What's the problem? Verse 25. And this is where the author 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:59.320 leaves us at the end of the book of Judges. Of course, Samuel, the main character in this, he's the 00:05:59.320 --> 00:06:05.460 bridge between the time of the Judges and the time of the Kings. In those days, there was no king in 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:14.379 Israel. And everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Sounds very familiar to our world today, 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:20.959 doesn't it? Here we are, 1100 BC, and neither we have a problem. We've got a big problem. In fact, 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:25.299 we've got a problem that's got two aspects to it. We think about God's people here in the land. 00:06:25.659 --> 00:06:31.699 Internally, they are marked by hostility. They are marked by individuality. And they are marked by 00:06:31.699 --> 00:06:37.180 idolatry. Their hearts are a total mess. They are failing to be the people that God rescued them 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:43.579 for and called them to be. Internally, there's a problem. Externally, there's a problem because 00:06:43.579 --> 00:06:48.860 the land that's supposed to be their home was full of their enemies. It is full of their enemies, 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:54.500 in particular, the Philistines. We journey on through this book, we're going to meet Goliath. 00:06:54.579 --> 00:07:01.500 He's literally a big problem, isn't he? Constant thorn in the side for God's people throughout this book, 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:06.439 their enemies. And so the big question at this stage of God's rescue story is, 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:12.300 God's people look out and they survey the scene. The big question here is, where should they look? 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.639 Where should they look for a solution to their problem? 00:07:20.300 --> 00:07:28.079 Well, do you know what this book is about? It's about a big God with a big plan to deal with a big 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:36.759 problem. And God's solution to this problem starts right here in chapter one. And it starts in the 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:42.899 most surprising of places. So we're just going to gallop through the verses tonight, and we're going 00:07:42.899 --> 00:07:47.860 to try and draw some application from this. But more so, my prayer through all of this is that we 00:07:47.860 --> 00:07:53.620 would leave here with a bigger picture of who our God is. You up for this? Okay, journey with me. 00:07:53.620 --> 00:08:01.519 Verses one to eight. A desperate story. We're introduced to this man named Elkanah. Details in 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:08.100 the text. He's got two wives, which is not uncommon in this day. Probably Hannah was his first wife, and 00:08:08.100 --> 00:08:13.939 because she was unable to have children and to continue the family line for inheritance reasons, 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:20.439 he takes Peninnah to be his second wife. Now, Ian, I love the way you said that name there. 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:26.319 I can't remember how you said it, but I'm going for Peninnah. That's it. And it's funny because her 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:32.080 name means something like prolific. That's what her name means. And when it comes to having children, 00:08:32.179 --> 00:08:35.519 you can see it there in the text that she certainly seems to have lived up to that name. 00:08:36.779 --> 00:08:45.600 But on the other hand, Hannah remains childless. And that, and we can feel it as we read their story, 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:52.259 can't we? That is a heartbreaking truth for Hannah. I can imagine it's the kind of thing when, when 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:55.580 somebody asks Hannah every year, Hannah, what would you like for your birthday? What would you like for 00:08:55.580 --> 00:09:01.620 your birthday this year? Hannah sighs and says the same thing that she says every year. I would just 00:09:01.620 --> 00:09:09.180 love a child of my own. You have that saying about people, don't we? That, that such and such wears their 00:09:09.179 --> 00:09:17.919 heart on their sleeve. Hannah strikes me as a heart on sleeve kind of girl. One who wears her emotions 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:23.439 and leaves you in no doubt as to what she's thinking and feeling. This is Hannah. 00:09:25.779 --> 00:09:29.759 There's something quite endearing about her here as we read about her in these opening verses, isn't there? 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:36.639 And Peninnah's clearly picked up on the fact that Hannah wears her heart on her sleeve. Peninnah sees 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:41.919 straight through to Hannah's weak spot and she's jealous of Hannah, most likely because it would 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:48.059 appear that her husband loves Hannah more than her. See, there's just problems everywhere here in this 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:54.500 book, isn't there? And that jealousy is echoed at verse six because she is referred to as Hannah's rival. 00:09:55.779 --> 00:10:02.240 What's she doing? Constantly irritating her, constantly targeting the one thing in Hannah's life that she 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:08.500 knows that if she goes after it will cut right to Hannah's core. And so it goes on, verse seven, 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:15.759 and feel the weight of these words. It goes on year after year. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.620 Year after year. 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:26.919 Here is this woman for whom the pain doesn't go away. 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:34.699 Here is this woman for whom the teasing doesn't stop. And here is this woman whose tears are her 00:10:34.699 --> 00:10:36.120 constant companion. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:43.579 And Elkanah's comforting words at verse eight, look what he says. I mean, the men do not come out well 00:10:43.579 --> 00:10:48.459 in this chapter, do they? What does he say? Do I not mean more to you than 10 sons? Which you have 00:10:48.459 --> 00:10:52.799 to say is genuine, but probably the least likely thing to help in this situation, is it not? 00:10:52.799 --> 00:11:00.120 But I guess at this point in the story, and like all of us here this evening and all of us here in 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:07.559 life, Hannah's got a choice. Is she not, if you think about it? How is she going to respond to her painful 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:14.159 situation? One that doesn't seem to be resolving itself anytime soon. Where's she going to go? 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:28.139 Will she run from God? Or will she run to God? Will she choose the path of bitterness and coil up 00:11:28.139 --> 00:11:36.360 inside? Or will she choose the narrow path of faith and trust in who her God is? 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:44.320 Well, as we move on to verses nine to 20, we see what Hannah does as we read the story of a 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:50.519 distressed servant. She's journeyed to the tabernacle at Shiloh, the very place where God's 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:57.580 presence was said to dwell. And what is she doing there? Look at it in the text. Is she doing a bit 00:11:57.580 --> 00:12:07.680 of sightseeing? No. What is she doing there? She's praying. And look at how this scene is described 00:12:07.680 --> 00:12:12.060 to us. And I hope this brings encouragement for you in your own prayer life tonight. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:18.280 How is Hannah praying? Is she praying loudly? Well, she's praying silently, isn't she? 00:12:19.560 --> 00:12:25.280 No voice, no sound, but her lips are moving. She's praying silently. She's not praying for show. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:30.559 She's not praying so that people will look at her. She's praying for an audience of one. 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:39.159 And look at verse 15, how Hannah describes to Eli, this priest who's working at the temple, 00:12:39.259 --> 00:12:45.159 who thinks that Hannah is drunk. What has she been doing? What does she describe herself as been doing? 00:12:45.939 --> 00:12:52.220 I am a woman troubled in spirit. And so what you've witnessed is not me losing the plot. 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:58.420 What you've witnessed is me pouring out my soul before the Lord. 00:13:00.560 --> 00:13:06.240 Friends, is that not just a wonderful little description right there of what true gritty prayer 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:11.720 is? Let me ask you, when was the last time that you poured your soul out before the Lord? 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:18.620 Here is this humble woman of faith. Here is one with a pure but broken heart. What is she doing? 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:24.460 She is running to the Lord. She is not running away from the Lord with her problems and her pain. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:29.019 Do you not just love moments like this in the Bible? Love moments like this in the Bible. 00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:33.759 Is it not incredible that our God would love us so much that he would give us this 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:39.379 in our own language to understand? Surely this is written here, not just as a description of what 00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:46.480 happened. Surely this is written by our loving Heavenly Father as an invitation. 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:53.580 An invitation. As if to say, do you read about Hannah? Do you see what Hannah did? 00:13:55.539 --> 00:14:00.439 To a people living in a world full of problems, do you see Hannah? Do you see what she felt? Do you see 00:14:00.439 --> 00:14:07.080 what she did? I want you to approach me like that. It's okay to approach me like that. 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:14.000 How good is this God? How good is this God that he would invite us to pray to him? We have no right to 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:23.220 his ear. And yet in his grace, he would hear us. Here is Hannah pouring out her soul before the Lord. 00:14:23.400 --> 00:14:31.400 And she prays to him as whom? The Lord of hosts. Interestingly, the first time this name of God is 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:37.860 used in the Bible. And it's the name of God that captures something of his unparalleled greatness. 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:45.379 The fact that he is the God of heaven's armies, the fact that he is the God of unending resources. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:51.600 Some of your translations might say they are the Lord Almighty. This is who Hannah runs to with her 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:58.019 big problem. Living in a world of big problems. She runs to this God because she knows that this God 00:14:58.019 --> 00:15:04.579 can do something about it. And with tears in her eyes, Hannah runs to this God because she knows 00:15:04.579 --> 00:15:12.639 that in this God, she has someone near enough to lovingly care about her problem. And in this God, 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:17.500 she has someone big enough to be in sovereign control of her problem. 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:25.159 And like any good Olympic gymnast taking to the rings, friends, it's so important in our Christian 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:32.980 walks that we know and we grasp both of those rings of truth. He's close enough, near enough to care 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:37.279 and love us. And he's big enough to hold our world and our lives in his hands. 00:15:38.940 --> 00:15:45.919 Hannah's gripping both rings. This is Hannah's God. And I think she's rightly held up here. Remember, 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:50.759 at this point in history, in the God's rescue story, she's held up here to every reader who would 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:56.399 read these words as a wonderful example of what it means to suffer well, to wait well on the Lord 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:04.059 and to live by faith and not by sight. Isn't it amazing that in this period of God's rescue story, 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:10.339 who are the two people that are held up to us mainly as examples? Ruth and Hannah. 00:16:10.340 --> 00:16:18.320 Hannah. Isn't it incredible? Ruth and Hannah. One, an outsider, seeing who God is, grafted in, 00:16:18.580 --> 00:16:24.200 puts their trust in him. And here is one of God's people here trusting in who he is. Ruth and Hannah. 00:16:27.280 --> 00:16:33.540 Trusting in the Lord because of who he is, not simply because it makes sense. As the children's 00:16:33.540 --> 00:16:38.180 song goes, and we sing it often with our girls, and believe you me, it speaks way more to me every 00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:44.839 night than it does to them, that our God is our great big God, and he holds our world and our lives 00:16:44.839 --> 00:16:50.500 in his hands. This is Hannah's God. And so as we read this tonight, we have to ask ourselves, 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:56.939 not just is this our God, but to remind ourselves that this is our God. This is him. 00:16:58.759 --> 00:17:03.279 Hannah's got nowhere else to run. Here she is on her knees because she's out of resources, 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:09.920 and she pours it out before the Lord. And friends, that doesn't always mean that if we 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:16.000 do that, everything is going to turn out the way that we want. I think we'll do well to remember here 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:22.000 that what's happened with Hannah here is happening at a very unique point in God's story of rescue. 00:17:23.619 --> 00:17:29.720 But how often is it the case in life that when we find ourselves on our knees declaring, 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:36.620 God, there's no solution on the horizon? God, I've looked and there is no hero in my heart. 00:17:37.100 --> 00:17:41.240 And I'm on my knees before you, God, saying I've got nothing left but you. 00:17:43.100 --> 00:17:49.480 How often is that the time when God moves and shows us who he is, and we're left declaring that, 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:57.680 God, you are enough for me? Because there's nothing to do with us. It's all to do with him. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:03.360 Dale Elf Davis, he's a wonderful Old Testament commentator. He puts it like this. 00:18:03.980 --> 00:18:08.360 God's tendency is to make our total inability his starting point. 00:18:09.340 --> 00:18:17.299 Our hopelessness and our helplessness are no barrier to his work. Indeed, our utter incapacity 00:18:17.299 --> 00:18:23.960 is often the prop that he delights to use for his next act. Hannah's got nothing. She's got 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:28.180 absolutely nothing. And she pours out her soul before the Lord. 00:18:30.740 --> 00:18:37.480 Eli the priest blesses her. And she returns home, comes together with her husband Elkanah. And 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:46.960 naturally, but miraculously, she conceives and Samuel is born. The boy whose name means, 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:51.840 and you might see it there in one of your footnotes, the Lord has heard. The Lord has heard. 00:18:53.620 --> 00:19:00.019 So there she is, pictured her. She's a new mum. The baby that she's wanted all her life is in her 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:05.779 arms. Samuel, I'm sure he had a lovely smile. There he is smiling at her. The question that 00:19:05.779 --> 00:19:10.160 I wonder whether we're supposed to ask it as we read this text is, what is Hannah going to do next? 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:14.920 With the thing she's wanted all her life in her hands, what's she going to do next? 00:19:15.560 --> 00:19:24.120 Well, verses 21 to 28 show us a dedicated soul. Now, some commentators reckon that Samuel, 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:30.360 little Samuel, he could have been anywhere between three and five years old when this episode at the 00:19:30.360 --> 00:19:36.279 tabernacle takes place. Now, when you did the maths there, and given that Hannah was pregnant for nine 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:42.099 months, this could be anything up to almost six years between the time when Hannah first vowed to 00:19:42.099 --> 00:19:48.639 God that if she was to have a child, then that child would be his between that moment and this 00:19:48.639 --> 00:19:56.000 moment at the tabernacle. That's a serious amount of time. And so after all these happy years, 00:19:56.779 --> 00:20:04.519 will Hannah stand by that vow and offer up to God with open arms the most precious thing to her in life? 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:09.720 Presumably, she could have quite easily tried to forget about that original vow. I mean, 00:20:09.740 --> 00:20:14.460 it happened quite a few years ago. Or even she might have even tried to negotiate terms with God. 00:20:15.639 --> 00:20:19.359 You know, you can have him on every second Wednesday or every third Friday. Do you know what I mean? 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:29.720 But Hannah does what Abraham did with Isaac before her, and she is willingly obedient. 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:34.680 And there are clues in the text there, if you look with me, to indicate to us that Hannah 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:40.940 goes, verse 25, to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, and she goes there not begrudgingly, she goes there 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:48.400 excitedly. Two potential clues in the text. Her sacrifice, if you do the maths, would appear to be 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:55.880 more than what she was required to give under the Old Testament law. And probably more so as she speaks 00:20:55.880 --> 00:21:01.940 to Eli, she exclaims, oh my Lord. Do you see it in the text there? Exclamation mark. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:08.860 My master, as if to indicate, I've been waiting forward to this moment for years. 00:21:11.320 --> 00:21:13.860 I had the privilege of marrying a couple in here yesterday, 00:21:14.860 --> 00:21:18.420 and it came to that part when I was reading them the vows, and I asked them the question, 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:21.340 Mark, will you take Erica to be your wife? 00:21:21.339 --> 00:21:27.439 And he took me aback. I don't know why he took me aback, but the volume that he said I will with. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:29.279 I will. Oof. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.500 I said to her, Erica, will you take Mark to be your husband? 00:21:33.959 --> 00:21:37.819 Yes. Yes, I will. She didn't say it. I will. I will. 00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:44.819 And it struck me at that moment, these are not words that this couple thought about the morning of 00:21:44.819 --> 00:21:49.879 the wedding. These are words that this couple have been wanting to say for years. 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:52.520 Probably even since they first met. 00:21:53.980 --> 00:21:56.300 Great anticipation with these words. 00:21:57.060 --> 00:21:58.100 Yes, I will. 00:21:58.360 --> 00:22:01.260 I think that's the kind of excited anticipation here with Hannah. 00:22:02.360 --> 00:22:07.240 Hannah's saying to Eli, do you remember that woman who was here all those years ago? 00:22:07.300 --> 00:22:09.100 Do you remember that woman that you thought was drunk? 00:22:09.380 --> 00:22:12.360 Do you remember that woman that you blessed the vow that she made? 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:13.840 Well, that woman was me. 00:22:14.820 --> 00:22:15.840 It was me. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:22.379 And let me tell you how good the Lord has been to me. 00:22:22.699 --> 00:22:25.980 I asked for this child and here he is. 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:32.899 And I'm here in this house of the Lord to say that Samuel is the Lord's. 00:22:33.619 --> 00:22:35.639 Now, Hannah's heart here is full. 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:41.259 It's brimming, isn't it, with thankfulness to what God has done for her. 00:22:41.259 --> 00:22:43.059 And brimming with thankfulness. 00:22:43.180 --> 00:22:49.599 But I think even more so, Hannah's heart is delighted in who this God is. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:23:01.839 You get the impression that Hannah dedicates Samuel in great anticipation of all that the Lord will do through this child. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:12.379 Not just for her, but for her people as God fulfills his good purposes to rescue them, judge their enemies and bless the nations. 00:23:12.500 --> 00:23:14.879 And how will we do it through somehow this child? 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:22.080 And so verses 1 to 10 of chapter 2, we hear the prayer of a delighted spirit. 00:23:22.420 --> 00:23:24.200 We're told that Hannah said these words. 00:23:24.320 --> 00:23:25.820 I love her translation sometimes. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.440 I don't imagine Hannah said these words monotone, do you? 00:23:29.140 --> 00:23:31.240 I think she probably sang these words. 00:23:31.580 --> 00:23:34.540 Here is a prayer that's full of volume and praise. 00:23:34.800 --> 00:23:39.080 And it's a prayer that reveals to us the God that Hannah knows. 00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:48.799 And I think it's one of these points in Scripture where we have to ask ourselves, as we see the contours of Hannah's God expanded, expanded, God is blowing our minds. 00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:52.980 The question we have to ask as a reader, is this the God that we know? 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:54.159 Is this our God? 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:55.799 Is this our God? 00:23:57.939 --> 00:23:59.980 And flip the question, this is our God. 00:24:01.079 --> 00:24:02.000 Who is this God? 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:05.619 She opens her prayer by declaring that he is the incomparable one. 00:24:05.619 --> 00:24:08.479 There's none beside him. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:11.559 No one is his match. 00:24:11.899 --> 00:24:13.000 No one is his equal. 00:24:13.259 --> 00:24:16.819 You'll notice she says it three times at verse 2 as if to underscore the point. 00:24:17.239 --> 00:24:18.399 There's none holy like him. 00:24:18.579 --> 00:24:19.779 There's none beside him. 00:24:20.059 --> 00:24:20.819 There's no rock. 00:24:21.159 --> 00:24:22.059 There's no sure defence. 00:24:22.179 --> 00:24:23.179 There's no place of safety. 00:24:23.379 --> 00:24:25.779 Like, and notice the poor noun, our God. 00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:32.559 He is the God, verse 6, who gives and holds life. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:38.559 At the end of verse 8, he is the God who sets and who holds the world in motion. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:41.440 Hannah's God is incomparable. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:42.579 There's none like him. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:44.200 Hannah's God is huge. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.519 Friends, how often is our view of God small? 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:54.079 I found myself updating a few apps on my computer this week. 00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:57.079 I'm sure you've had that joyful process at some point in your life. 00:24:58.139 --> 00:25:02.539 And you know how it is, don't you, that on your computer you've got these little icons on your desktop. 00:25:03.859 --> 00:25:06.720 And behind them you've got your kind of big panorama picture. 00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:10.099 And if you haven't changed it in a while, it's something like the Grand Canyon or something like that. 00:25:10.359 --> 00:25:13.019 But if you're like me, it's kind of a picture of me and my family. 00:25:13.220 --> 00:25:14.960 That's what the backdrop looks like. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:19.860 Like, I was reading these verses this week and it made me think that when it comes to my life, 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:22.380 how often is God just like another little icon in there? 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:25.319 Family. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:27.880 I'd like to click on the family one now and again. 00:25:28.700 --> 00:25:29.579 There's the church one. 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:31.620 There's the sports one. 00:25:32.059 --> 00:25:33.059 There's the friends one. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:35.740 And it's just a big picture of me and my family in the background. 00:25:37.620 --> 00:25:41.460 Do you see how Hannah's God here, this God, our God, 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:44.460 challenges us to make it the other way around? 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:48.579 It needs to be the other way around. 00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:52.720 That God is not just another icon in our lives that we click on now and again 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:54.860 and do our Sunday thing and maybe once during the week. 00:25:56.380 --> 00:25:59.340 We're challenged to make God the panorama, the background of our lives. 00:26:01.840 --> 00:26:03.740 Because knowing the truth about who God is, 00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:09.380 it really, really matters in the trenches of life. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:12.779 Remember early last year, a little girl, Grace, 00:26:12.860 --> 00:26:14.840 the doctors found a small hole in her heart. 00:26:14.839 --> 00:26:17.459 She had an operation to get it filled. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:20.059 And that is a scary moment for any parent. 00:26:21.579 --> 00:26:24.539 And we praise God that we live in a country that by his common grace, 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:27.419 we can have access to that level of health care at that speed. 00:26:28.199 --> 00:26:32.019 And we can have access to one of the country's best surgeons to operate on her. 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:35.119 I mean, that is God's common grace to all of us that live in this country. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.179 But the surgeon comes and he talks it out with me about what's going on. 00:26:39.239 --> 00:26:39.539 I love it. 00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:42.299 He speaks to Alex in medical terms and he speaks to me in layman's terms. 00:26:42.419 --> 00:26:42.919 I love that. 00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:49.359 But he's talking to me and in the back of my mind, having read verses like this, 00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:54.959 as good as he was, if he nailed it, that wasn't why grace survived. 00:26:55.779 --> 00:27:00.419 As bad as he was, I mean, if he had an off day, that wasn't the reason that grace was going to die. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:05.979 Her hands were in the Lord, her times rather, were in the hands of this God. 00:27:05.980 --> 00:27:12.220 Every heartbeat, every breath in her lungs is a gift from God. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:18.460 His, her times, her life is in the hands of this God. 00:27:18.819 --> 00:27:21.960 My times and my life are in the hands of this God. 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:24.000 Now, that doesn't make it easy. 00:27:24.099 --> 00:27:25.279 That doesn't make life smooth. 00:27:25.380 --> 00:27:32.380 But it does mean that there's an immense assurance and comfort in knowing how big this God is. 00:27:32.380 --> 00:27:39.140 And we might not be Hannah, but friends, we've got Hannah as God. 00:27:41.180 --> 00:27:42.420 And what is this God too? 00:27:42.540 --> 00:27:44.420 There's two big themes that jump out of our prayer. 00:27:44.560 --> 00:27:45.440 We'll rattle through these quickly. 00:27:45.580 --> 00:27:46.840 Two big truths about this God. 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:49.260 Firstly, he is the God who rescues. 00:27:50.620 --> 00:27:51.480 Follow with me. 00:27:51.560 --> 00:27:56.420 Just look at the topsy-turvy nature of God's kingdom here. 00:27:57.740 --> 00:27:59.520 Her God will strengthen the feeble. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:02.280 Her God will feed the hungry. 00:28:03.260 --> 00:28:05.140 Her God is the one who gives life. 00:28:06.040 --> 00:28:07.880 Her God is the one who raises up. 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:10.620 Her God is the one who will make rich. 00:28:11.340 --> 00:28:12.980 Her God is the one who will exalt. 00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:14.820 Her God is the one who will guard. 00:28:15.080 --> 00:28:17.780 And her God is the one who will win the battle for his people. 00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:25.980 Her God is the God who will one day act to completely reverse the fortunes of those who trust in him. 00:28:26.580 --> 00:28:28.800 He is the God who rescues his people. 00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:29.840 This is who he is. 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:34.159 And the flip side of that is that he is the God who judges. 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:38.320 Her God will humble the proud. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:45.039 Her God will shut the mouths of those who have spoken arrogantly against him. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.279 Because her God knows the hearts and deeds of all. 00:28:49.539 --> 00:28:50.960 Her God will break the bow. 00:28:51.339 --> 00:28:53.859 Her God will make the fool go hungry. 00:28:54.059 --> 00:28:55.200 Her God will kill. 00:28:55.960 --> 00:28:57.680 Her God will bring down to shale. 00:28:58.200 --> 00:28:59.639 Her God will cut off the wicked. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:01.879 Her God will break his enemies to pieces. 00:29:02.259 --> 00:29:05.279 Her God will judge everyone in his holiness. 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:12.259 And his enemies will not be able to stand when this God comes to judge. 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:18.639 And hell will be as bad for his enemies as heaven will be good for his people. 00:29:19.819 --> 00:29:21.079 That's Hannah's God. 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:26.379 The God who rescues his people and judges his enemies. 00:29:26.500 --> 00:29:27.440 This is Hannah's God. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:30.680 Verse 10. 00:29:32.120 --> 00:29:33.140 God's big plan. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:36.460 To deal with the big problem. 00:29:37.539 --> 00:29:39.140 It centers on his king. 00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:42.720 Through his anointed. 00:29:43.340 --> 00:29:45.420 Or Messiah is the word means here. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.259 Again, that's the first time that word Messiah is used here in scripture. 00:29:48.259 --> 00:29:52.440 The king that God would give his people. 00:29:53.980 --> 00:29:57.259 Deuteronomy 17 is key for the rest of this book. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:29:59.759 But it's something you might want to go home and think about later. 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:04.779 The king that God had made provision for for his people when they would be in the land. 00:30:05.019 --> 00:30:07.160 Now, of course, God was meant to be the king of his people. 00:30:08.180 --> 00:30:10.920 But he knew the sinful hearts of his people. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:14.160 That when they were in the land, they would look around at the other nations that had kings and think, 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:15.200 We want a king as well. 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:16.680 So God made provision for that. 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:20.140 And he said, When you go into the land and when you go for a king, 00:30:20.279 --> 00:30:21.920 This is the kind of king that you want to go for. 00:30:21.980 --> 00:30:24.640 A God who's going to lead you in obedience to the word of the Lord. 00:30:24.740 --> 00:30:26.240 That's the kind of king you want to go for. 00:30:28.060 --> 00:30:29.779 And what happens, and we'll see it in a few weeks, 00:30:29.840 --> 00:30:32.240 Is the people look to appoint a king. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:33.660 They look in all the wrong places. 00:30:34.779 --> 00:30:36.100 Don't even consult God. 00:30:37.019 --> 00:30:39.519 And God will say, They've rejected me as their king. 00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:44.860 I was challenged this week as I read those verses to think about how 00:30:44.859 --> 00:30:50.619 Often do I just fail to neglect God when I'm making big decisions in life. 00:30:51.079 --> 00:30:52.199 To ask for his help. 00:30:52.319 --> 00:30:53.059 God, would you help me? 00:30:53.099 --> 00:30:55.259 Because I do not have the answers to these questions. 00:30:55.459 --> 00:30:56.859 And I do not trust my own judgment. 00:30:56.979 --> 00:30:57.779 I need your help. 00:30:59.439 --> 00:31:01.399 But here's the God who Hannah is praying for. 00:31:01.639 --> 00:31:04.539 Hannah is praying for God's king. 00:31:04.539 --> 00:31:10.720 She's praying that God will strengthen this king and give him success. 00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:13.700 Now surely the question has got to be at this point in the book, 00:31:13.779 --> 00:31:15.420 And the question that we'll carry all the way through. 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:16.639 Who is this king? 00:31:19.099 --> 00:31:23.460 There's a little set of hills in South Lanarkshire in Glasgow called the Lothar Hills. 00:31:23.460 --> 00:31:28.460 If you go there, you'll find a little, little trickle of water. 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:32.740 And if you follow that little trickle of water, 00:31:32.819 --> 00:31:36.500 After a while you'll see that trickle of water turn into a stream. 00:31:37.660 --> 00:31:40.259 And if you continue following that stream, 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:42.460 You'll watch it grow and grow and grow. 00:31:42.539 --> 00:31:44.400 And eventually you'll get to the River Clyde. 00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.360 And if you keep on following the River Clyde, 00:31:48.400 --> 00:31:51.559 After some time, eventually you're going to hit the Atlantic Ocean. 00:31:51.559 --> 00:31:55.179 Something small. 00:31:56.259 --> 00:31:57.579 Growing into something big. 00:31:58.500 --> 00:32:00.379 But when it comes to the story of God's king, 00:32:00.500 --> 00:32:01.980 With Hannah at the house of the Lord, 00:32:02.139 --> 00:32:03.440 Praying for God's king. 00:32:04.059 --> 00:32:05.859 Friends, right here we're at the Lothar Hills. 00:32:07.819 --> 00:32:10.039 At the end of this book, we'll get there. 00:32:11.179 --> 00:32:12.879 I'm not sure when we're getting there, but we'll get there. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:14.299 By the end of 2 Samuel, 00:32:14.379 --> 00:32:16.179 Remember the 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, the other one book. 00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:18.039 2 Samuel chapter 22. 00:32:18.220 --> 00:32:18.759 Who have we got? 00:32:18.819 --> 00:32:19.480 We've got David. 00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:24.279 Israel's second, Israel's most celebrated king. 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:27.880 The man who is described as being a man after God's own heart. 00:32:27.940 --> 00:32:28.500 And where is he? 00:32:28.539 --> 00:32:29.759 He's at the house of the Lord. 00:32:30.019 --> 00:32:30.860 And what is he doing? 00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:31.440 He's praying. 00:32:32.579 --> 00:32:35.400 God's king praying in God's house. 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:38.360 Get to that point, we're at the Clyde. 00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:42.819 But as great as King David was, as a king, he wasn't perfect. 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:45.719 I mean, we'll see him fall in some spectacular ways. 00:32:46.199 --> 00:32:49.979 He's not the king who would bring this kind of lasting rescue and judgment 00:32:49.979 --> 00:32:51.959 That Hannah's praying for and talking about here. 00:32:52.199 --> 00:32:53.659 There's a greater king in view. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:56.219 Because you can't help but think, 00:32:56.279 --> 00:32:59.519 And I wonder if you thought of it as you read of Hannah's experience 00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:00.879 And Hannah's song. 00:33:01.219 --> 00:33:03.859 You can't help but compare it and think about Mary. 00:33:03.859 --> 00:33:09.099 And think about her magnificat, her experience, but also the magnificat, 00:33:09.159 --> 00:33:12.039 The song of praise that she offers to God in Luke chapter 1. 00:33:13.000 --> 00:33:15.679 If you compare the two, they are remarkably similar. 00:33:17.139 --> 00:33:21.059 Except where Hannah's was a miraculous yet natural conception, 00:33:21.319 --> 00:33:24.879 Mary's was a miraculous yet supernatural conception. 00:33:25.439 --> 00:33:27.939 Because no man was going to be the answer to this king. 00:33:27.940 --> 00:33:36.820 Jesus, the God-man, willing and able to be the king that God's people need. 00:33:37.140 --> 00:33:37.799 And what happens? 00:33:37.900 --> 00:33:41.059 We see Gabriel proclaim to Mary about the child to be born to her, 00:33:41.160 --> 00:33:44.799 He will be great and he will be called the son of the most high. 00:33:45.420 --> 00:33:49.720 The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:53.640 And he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. 00:33:54.140 --> 00:33:56.080 And his kingdom will never end. 00:33:57.940 --> 00:33:59.480 God's king. 00:34:00.620 --> 00:34:02.340 Friends, here is a book full of problems. 00:34:03.880 --> 00:34:05.460 Life's full of problems. 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:10.679 But whether in 1100 BC or whether in 2018 AD, 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:16.820 Friends, our biggest problem by far is the separation that we have from our creator God 00:34:16.820 --> 00:34:18.300 because of our sin against him. 00:34:19.639 --> 00:34:24.440 Well, God's got a big plan to deal with that big problem. 00:34:24.440 --> 00:34:27.400 And Hannah would say to us tonight, 00:34:27.760 --> 00:34:29.000 Don't look anywhere else. 00:34:30.099 --> 00:34:30.800 Look to God. 00:34:31.659 --> 00:34:32.619 Trust in him. 00:34:33.380 --> 00:34:35.760 And look to this big God. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.940 And particularly look to his exalted and risen King Jesus 00:34:38.940 --> 00:34:43.599 as the one who is the big answer to our big problem. 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:47.839 And so as we finish tonight and as we embark on the rest of this book together, 00:34:48.219 --> 00:34:50.079 it's to Jesus that we look. 00:34:51.259 --> 00:34:52.920 The king who grants forgiveness. 00:34:54.219 --> 00:34:55.940 The king who gives us life. 00:34:56.739 --> 00:34:58.699 The king who makes us right with God. 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:03.679 The king who turns orphans into sons and daughters of the living God. 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:05.359 The king who is ascended. 00:35:05.500 --> 00:35:08.779 The king who is speaking for us as we were singing earlier at the right hand of the father. 00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:11.239 And the king who will one day gloriously return. 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:13.960 And take us home to be with him. 00:35:14.759 --> 00:35:17.079 Where all wrongs will be righted. 00:35:17.219 --> 00:35:18.179 This is God's king. 00:35:19.899 --> 00:35:20.779 Why don't we pray? 00:35:20.780 --> 00:35:27.260 And perhaps just in the silence now, 00:35:28.220 --> 00:35:30.980 having seen who this God is, 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:34.060 why don't we just pause just for a minute, 00:35:34.540 --> 00:35:36.780 just as we embark on another busy week. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:39.660 And let's just leave just a minute or so 00:35:39.660 --> 00:35:44.080 for us to do what Hannah did at the beginning of this episode. 00:35:45.160 --> 00:35:47.340 And to pour our souls out before the Lord. 00:35:50.780 --> 00:35:54.480 Lord, we thank you so much for your word. 00:35:55.660 --> 00:35:59.380 Lord, we would be in the dark if you had not first revealed yourself to us. 00:36:00.220 --> 00:36:03.240 Father, thank you that you are the God who has first loved us. 00:36:03.500 --> 00:36:05.740 And thank you so much that you hear our prayers. 00:36:06.700 --> 00:36:08.920 Not because we're worthy of being heard, 00:36:09.580 --> 00:36:11.180 but because you are so gracious. 00:36:12.120 --> 00:36:14.220 And in the Lord Jesus, we have a king. 00:36:14.900 --> 00:36:15.720 And we have a brother. 00:36:16.220 --> 00:36:19.820 Who is at your right hand interceding for us, your people. 00:36:20.780 --> 00:36:23.580 Thank you tonight that we see in chapter one, 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:29.800 that you are a big God with a big plan to deal with a big problem. 00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:33.180 And so it's to you we look tonight. 00:36:33.900 --> 00:36:37.200 Father, would you help us to know that you are the God who isn't here enough 00:36:37.200 --> 00:36:39.960 to care and to love us in our problems. 00:36:40.340 --> 00:36:45.200 And that you are the God who is big enough to be in sovereign control of our problems. 00:36:45.720 --> 00:36:47.480 So Father, we thank you for this evening. 00:36:47.620 --> 00:36:49.019 We love you and we trust you. 00:36:49.019 --> 00:36:52.619 Help us to know you ever so close this week, we pray in Jesus name. 00:36:52.860 --> 00:36:53.179 Amen.