Mothers Day - God Blesses Mothers

Welcome

Please open your bible to 1st Samuel 1:1-2:2 .

This morning we are stepping away from the gospel of John

as our focus this morning will be on mothers

The Title of this weeks Message is “A Mothers Endurance”

Scripture tells us of many great mothers and there is no doubt their in scripture as well as today is significant

Lindsay out of town

Getting the boys dressed

This morning we will spend some time with Hannah, the mother of Samuel

So please stand as we read her story

Read the scripture

Let us Pray

Illustration

They say behind every great man, is a great woman

and in our case this morning that great man would be the profit Samual

and that great mother would be Hannah

See Samual would grow to into what the Judges should have been

He was a man dedicated to God

And his faithfulness was pivotal in the history of Israel

A little about Samual

Samuel was born in a turbulent time in Israel

They were under constant oppression and hostility from the Philistines

They were also in the middle of spiritual decline

Samuel was given to the Lord as we will soon see

and he was probably starting to serve in the tabernacle around the time of Samson

Samuel then grew into a great leader

and eventually took over the priesthood

he led Israel to victory during great battles

and helped win the people back to God

As we already mentioned he was a great judge

the last one

Samuel began to hear from the Lord at an early age

and he is cited along side Moses and Aaron as men who called upon God and was answered Psalm 99:6.

He was given the task by God to anoint the first king of Israel

Saul

then later anointed the great king David

Samuel was man that was highly respected and feared among the people

and he was a great man of God

A man so great, that he changed Israel’s History

all because, he was a great man of prayer and obedience

a trait he got no doubt from his mother

See without Samuels mothers

Endurance

her prayer life

her faith

and her worship

then the plan of salvation would have been profoundly differnant

So in honor of all of the mothers out there

lets look at Hannahs story

and and see how this can encourage us

Our points this morning as we make our way through the text I have actually already mentioned but we can also look at these at takeaways for all of us

Those are

Endurance

Prayer

Faith

Worship

Salvation

A Mothers Endurance

As we read through our first 9 verses or so

we see Hannah had it rough

V2 tell us

she was in Polygamous relationship

which while it occur in those days

it was never blessed by God

and it still isn’t

but we will see here in a minute that this polygamous relationship hurt

on so many different levels

See the other wife had a bunch of children

Yet Hannah was Barron

Just as Sara, Rebekah, and Rachel were unable to bear children initially

so was Hannah

See back then children meant a lot the Israelite culture

for good reason

A bigger family meant more hands to help in the fields

a bigger family meant there was someone to take care of you in the future

a bigger family meant the survival of the country as it was the boys that would grow to be ment that defended that country

So as we see baring children was extremely important to them

and Hannah couldn’t do it

she couldn’t provide the one thing her culture told her she needed to provide

women with many children were treated with honor respect

while those without were met with shame and pity

she felt as though she had no purpose, no life, no hope

Now to add fuel to this fire of emotion Hannah had

we see how she was treated by Peninnah (the other wife)

1 Samuel 1:6 “6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving.”

now that’s interesting, the Lord kept her from conceiving…

more on that later

But Peninnah she would provoke Hannah

she would pick at her failures

she would ensure that Hannah knew that she was a failure

she would rub it in lets just say

The CSB, the ESV, and the KJV all use the word provoke here

some of the other more thought for thought translations say taunt

but what is interesting is that if you go back to the Hebrew (OT HB, NT Greek)

you see this word means “to thunder” or “to roar”

it would literally be used to describe being caught up in a hurricane

and interestingly enough this is the only place this word is used in scripture to

describe anything other than a storm

so…to put in more plainly

Hannah’s emotions during this time were thundering and roaring like a hurricane

and this storm of emotion from the feelings of failure and constant harassment

were continual

V7 says, year after year her rival would taunt her in this way

It was so distressing that she would not eat and she would constantly weep

we can just imagine Hannah laying awake at night

in despair, heartbroken, hopeless, feeling like a failure

Now her husband Elkanah tried to help

1 Samuel 1:8 “8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband, Elkanah, would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?””

We also saw in the previous verses that he would give her double portions of food

He genuinely loved her

Sure, he tried to help. Like most of us men are wired to do. But sometimes

our wives don’t need our help

they need our support

and men we will soon see that some things we cant fix

but, if we guide our wives in their spiritual lives

we will see that that is the best solution

now, Elkanah didn’t do this

But we see that Hannah herself did

See Hannah suffered for many years,

She suffered the anguish of not having a child

she suffered the wrath of a terrible woman

she suffered this for years

but she endured

year after year she suffered

but year after year she continued to go to the house of the Lord

see Hannah endured all of this

by drawing her strength from the Lord

when she was feeling at her worst she drew nearer to God

we saw this also in V 7

1 Samuel 1:7 “7 Year after year, (not only was she taunted but) when she went up to the Lord’s house,

See her communion with God got her through yet another year

year after year

See, by being a woman of endurance with trust in God

she was able to endure these hardships

Endurance can be described or defined as “patience and waiting even while suffering trials”

Hannah was patient and waited while on the lord even while suffering tremendous trials

Let me read our definition again.. patience and waiting even while suffering trials

We cant have endurance unless we have trials

and trials are a part of everyone’s life, especially women

trials give us the opportunity to find out what we are really trusting in

Her husband tried to help by giving double portions

and telling her that his love was worth more than 10 sons

yet that wouldn’t solve anything

his double portions of love still wouldn’t calm the storms of her heart

Know your value, value is not found in things

and so many times even today we try to calm those storms

by filling them with romantic salvation

we find ourselves surrounded by Peninnahs telling us we aren't good enough

and we aren’t valuable

so we try to create value out of things such as

where we send our kids to school

our work

a house or a car

maybe we sink into cynicism or loathing

or drugs, or alcohol

and then when those things fail

and we fail to live up to those expectations we set for ourselves

and end up in this cycle of grief

we end up in tragedy

because no human relationship and no material thing

can bear the burden of endurance for us

see there is only one that could do that

Hannah’s problems were out of her hands

and out of her husbands as well

She could’t do anything on her own anymore to get out of this

and finally once she hit that point

1 Samuel 1:9 “9 On one occasion, Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh.

now, its easy to read over this but Hannah didn’t just get up from dinner like she did every other night and walk to the living room

no, the root or Hebrew word here means action - decisive action

what changed, see her endurance during the trials

and her dependance upon God led her to prayer

as seen in our second point this morning

A Mothers Prayer

See Hannah got up and went to the temple for prayer

1 Samuel 1:9–10 “The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple. 10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears.”

Hannah became proactive in her endurance

even while waiting on the Lord, Hannah didn’t stop seeking Him through prayer

and she didn’t approach her prayer lightly

she didn’t say some mechanical canned prayer

no, she poured out her heart to the Lord

it says she wept with many tears

see prayer is more than words, it’s an expression and attitude of the heart

its not only speaking to Him, it’s opening up to Him

confessing to him

seeking him

coming to him with your entire being

being a woman…. or man of prayer is realizing where your true strength comes from

Let’s walk through that some more

V 10 says She prayed as she was deeply hurt

But v 11 starts with “making a vow”

we see 2 things with this new resolution, this new vow she is making before the lord

first we see that she pleads with God to “remember her”

see God cares for us

when we feel small

when we feel broken

when we feel as though we are at the bottom of list

we should seek resolve in knowing that God

is compassionate and good

that just as he cared for hannah when she was weak and felt worthless

so he also cares for us

for in our weakness it is when he is the strongest

that is why she said “remember me”

Second, Hannah offered to give back to God the son he may give her

Now that’s interesting isn’t it

but it shows us that fulfilment is found in God

not in what he gives us

does that make sense?

the blessing isn’t necessarily what we get from our prayers

the blessing is found within the union with God during those times

see if given this child Hannah vowed to give him back to God by invoking the Nazarene vow

which means this son would be given to God to serve in the temple

this blessing that she prayed for

if granted would not be there to support her

or be there to provide care in later age

or tend the fields

no if provided she would give him for service to the Lord

How amazing is that!

and how thankful we should be that she did this

see through prayer and endurance hannah became a woman of faith

she had faith that whatever God had planned for her situation

and for her child, that it was bigger than she could imagine

and believe me it was

which leads us to our 3rd point of the morning

A Mothers Faith

Hannah prayed so fearcly, so honestly, so genuinely

that she caught the attention of the priest

Eli, the priest at the time thought Hannah was drunk

1 Samuel 1:12–18 “12 While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” 15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with a broken heart. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. 16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.” 17 Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.” 18 “May your servant find favor with you,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.”

Hannah had Faith!

When she left the temple she was no longer sad

it says she ate and she longer looked despondent

She had cried and prayed and now her face was no longer sad

She knew that she had come into the presence of the Lord and now her heart was calmed

She had placed her faith in the Lord and that was all that she could do

and God did not disappoint

Within a year,

through all of her endurance, prayer, and faith

God gave her a little boy

1 Samuel 1:19–20 “19 The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to worship before the Lord. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from the Lord.””

Now one thing I would like to point out is the order of events

see we don’t see

Hannah prayed

Hannah got pregnant

Hannah is joyful and the storms of her life dissipate

NO!

we see that

Hannah Prayed

Hannah was joyful

then hannah God pregnant

See Hannah found the joy in her faith

she found her deepest needs met in God

see her faith-filled self had found a source of joy

and security

greater that her hope in having a son

and that was found in God

if we just look over at the beginning of chapter 2

1 Samuel 2:1–2 “1 Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is lifted up by the Lord. My mouth boasts over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you! And there is no rock like our God.”

we see the joy she found in the Lord through

the trial,

that produced endurance,

that produced prayer,

that produced faith,

that produced joy

see..

Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel (Hannah’s Salvation (1 Samuel 1:9–11, 18))

Faith means rejoicing in God when our dreams are still unfulfilled and resting on God when life is still falling apart all around us.

She endured because she trusted the Lord

She prayed because she trusted the Lord

and Faith is the foundation of a relationship with the Lord

We have to believe He is who He says He is

and trust Him to do what He says He will do

Conclusion

So mama’s let me ensure you of your importance

Every single one of us in this room is here because of a mama

and a mama’s love is special

So let me encourage you

this world is hard right now

especially for moms

and when times get tough

when trials come

and trust me they will come

I pray you do as Hannah did

I pray you remain strong and endure as hannah did

I pray that your endurance leads you to prayer

And I pray that through that prayer your faith is built

because the joy is not found in what you get

it is found in the relationship with the ones who Gives

Now for the rest of us in the room

This story of Hannah and her faith

is but an foreshadow or a parrelell to the story of Israel during this time

as seen throughout all of the book of 1 and 2nd Samuel

Just as Hannah longed for a son

Israel now wanted a king, like everyone else around them

See Israel wanted a King for the same reason Hannah wanted a son

for prosperity, security, and stability

To Hannah God said these things are not found in a son,

To Israel he said these things are not found in a king

These things are only found in Me!

And if we look even deeper into the story

we see a parallel with that of Mary

the mother of Jesus

See Mary faced a similar situation

as found in an impossible birth

only Mary was not barren, she was a virgin

and by having a child it meant that she would lose everything

because this child would be born out of wedlock

which in those days meant the same

things that not having a son meant to Hannah

Yet Mary endured

she understood that God was more certain of her future

than her reputation, money, or security

and she surrendered herself to God in much of the

same way Hannah did

you can even compare their prayers or songs

as most agree Marys found in Luke 1.

is based off of Hannahs here in 1 Samuel 2

See Hannah gave birth to Samuel

who would be both priest and prophet

a man who would anoint the king of Israel

Mary gave birth to the one that would be

Prophet, Priest and King of Kings!

as she would carry God’s son

the Messiah!

These connections are important

they remind us that God answers the prayers of those that cry out to Him

They remind us that God looks out to even the “lowly” of people

that we don’t have to be

rich … give more examples

He loves us and He meets us right where we are

See God covered Hannahs

shame, brokenness, guilt, humiliation, and a hurricane of emotions with a son

Just as he covers our

shame, guilt, humiliation and sin

with HIS Son

see our shame and brokenness don’t come from the fact that we

cant have kids or that we aren’t successful

Our real shame comes from the fact that our relationship with God

is broken through our sin

we don’t need more money, more cars, more fame, more value

what we need is to be restored and reunited with God

and that is exactly what Jesus did for us

He took on the sins of all of us

bore them on the cross

was pierced for our transgressions

then rose again 3 days later to defeat death

and return to the father’s right hand

This story of Hannah should serve as an encouragement to not just the mamas in the room

But to all of us

because it is only through redemption in Jesus Christ

that we can endure and have faith

Let us Pray!