Unfulfilled Desires

History

If we in our own strength did confide, and if the right man were not on our side the man of God’s own choosing, then our striving would be losing. Who is the right man, the man of God’s choosing? Jesus Christ, it is He.

Lord of Hosts is His name, age to age the same and it is He who wins the battle.

These are words paraphrased from a poem that Martin Luther wrote. In it we are reminded that the Lord of Hosts wins the battle. We have been going through a bit of the history of the people of Israel and in it we learn that and authority we have, we are just undershepherds under the divine rule of the great king. Israel lost sight of that.

The books of 1 and 2 Samuel contain some of the most beloved narratives of the Bible: the boy-prophet Samuel asleep in the tabernacle at Shiloh, the blasphemous Philistine giant Goliath, the beautiful but forbidden Bathsheba, and Absalom’s senseless rebellion. Perhaps less well-known to many readers are the contributions of these books to Israel’s concept of “messiah” and the emphasis on the Davidic covenant. All these and many more are combined with an occasional poetic section to relate the acts of God in Israel’s early monarchy.

for the next little while we are going to be going through the books of Samuel. As we go through the well known historical accounts of scripture I want to go through some of the Psalms as well that were written from the accounts David and Solomon went through as they where writing them. Because some of you love history, to help introduce the book we are going to go through some of the background about the book.

Timeline

Now one hing to remember is that dates are approximate as we have a good idea but do not know for sure.

In the book a Chronology of the Hebrew Kings we can get a timeline approximately of the time the books of Samuel happened.

Solomon reigned from 970 to 931 (forty years, 1 Kings 11:42) David from 1010 to 970 (forty years and six months, 2 Sam 5:5) Saul from 1052 to 1010 (forty-two years, 1 Sam 13:1) The Book of Judges covers about 300 years - 1380 - 1050 BC. The approximate dates would be from 1080 BC (birth of Samuel) to 970 BC (Death of David.)

If you are interested in this timeline, let me know.

Theology of Samuel

I wont go to deep into this, but this is something that I look into when I am writing a sermon series. That is what are some of the key truths about God, Humanit and salvation that we are going to see as we go through this.

Any Human King is just a deputy of God the real divine King.

We are just stewards of the role God has given us. “They have not rejected you but they have rejected me”.

We are just undershepherds under the one great shepherd.

The idea of the divine sovereign Lord God continues through the book of Samuel.

we see the use and abuse of power in the book as the human kings where not living up to this standard.

The central focus of 1 Samuel is the monarchy. Although Israel’s request for a king came from wrong desires, God worked through those desires to bring about a great good. He raised up David as a model king who loved God and ruled over God’s people in a way that foreshadowed the perfect rule of the Son of David, Jesus Christ.

Obedience to the word of God

God called Samuel, Saul, and David to be leaders in ways that demonstrated his meticulous control of events: getting people where he wanted them, when he wanted them there, and having them hear and say and do what he desired, yet without manipulating them like robots. God exhibited the same control of events in the Ark narrative and how he protected David from the murderous desires of Saul.

because God is who He said he is, then we must follow Him, and the instructions we are given is all written down in the word of God.

The Lord will grant victory in His own time and according to His will. We find out what his will is by being obedient to His word.

Repentance

Eli, his sons, and Saul are some of the most vivid examples in Scripture of how fallen human nature can be. Humans express their depravity in rebellion against the commands and words of God. We do what God tells us not to do, and we fail to do what he says we should. We try to hide, minimize, ignore, or rationalize our disobedience, but our sin finds us out.

When we fell to sin, the Lord called the nation to repentance. We see portraits of repentance.

God uses the weak

We can call this reversal of fortunes. We see consistently God uses the weak to shame the wise. God uses the unlikely.

These are all things that we need to keep in mind as we go through the book. They are things we are going to see as we run through these two books of the bible.

Significant motif running through the book.

1 Samuel 2:6–8 ESV

6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. 7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. 8 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world.

Purpose

To highlight 2 major events. The establishment of the monarchy and the establishment of David’s line to replace Saul.

The King is supposed to be subject to the prophet who proclaims the word of God. The King is to follow the divine word of God as proclaimed by the Godly prophet.

The people sought to exchange the protection and timing of the almighty God for the misguided reliance on the strength of men.

They were asking for a king to win their battles and lead them through the battles. When God is much more then that.

Book of transitions.

Samuel’s Birth

We move on to the first chapter in the book of 1 Samuel. We are going to see God using Obedience to Him and Using the weak and unlikely in this story. the good news of this passage begins with the righteous, everyday affairs of a faithful family.

Through her suffering and trials, Hannah was used as an instrument of God to initiate spiritual rebirth in Israel. Reversal of fortune - God uses the ordinary and humble to show His will and His glory.

in the first 7 chapters of the book f 1 Samuel we are going to see the decline of the Judges transitioning in leadership form The Judges to a king. And through it all we are going to see that God is sovereign, that He doesn't serve us we are to serve and glorify Him.

Hannah’s Sorrow - 1:1-8

We start out in a transition. We meet a man named Elkanah, he had two wives one of which had children and one didnt.

1 Samuel 1:2 ESV

2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

But we must remember something about this, The Bible does not condone Polygamy, though the nations at the time where doing it. Take Gen 2:24 for example.

Genesis 2:24 ESV

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

One wife, one husband, one flesh. That was the design. It shows That God uses us for His glory, even in our sin and wrongdoing God will accomplish His plan and His will for His glory. Our duty is to follow Him in repentance and obedience.

Bareness in ancient times was a tragedy, maybe more then it is now, at least culturally. The son was the one that perpetuated the family name and inherited the estate.

Elkanah loved Hannah more then his other wife, the dangers of Polygamy, but his other wife had gave Him kids and Hannah didn't.

Hannah’s Vow 1:9-18

So Hannah one day went to the temple of the Lord to pray.

At the time the Priest was Eli. He was supposed to essentially do the duties of a judge and a priest, the intercessor for the people to the Lord. She went to the temple, despondent and was praying to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:10–11 ESV

10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

It was not a rash vow like the other people we read about in Judges made, out of her sorrow she cried out to God. It was not so much a selfish prayer, but rather she asked the Lord for a son that would be dedicated to the Lord. Essentially, anything the Lord gave her she was going to give back to honor and glorify Him.

She was moving her lips while praying to the Lord and Eli came out and thouight that she was drunk. But she said, no I am not, 1 Sam 1:16

1 Samuel 1:16 CSB

16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”

Anguish and resentment caused her to turn to the Lord in obedience in prayer and bring her requests to God all the while asking that if the Lord answered her she would devote her sons life to God.

Samuel’s Birth - 1:19-28

The Lord listened to and answered her prayers and she gave birth to a son and named him “I requested Him from the Lord” or in English, Samuel.

she was still willing to follow her vow, she told her husband that she would bring Samuel to the temple when He was weaned. 1 Sam 1:26-28

1 Samuel 1:26–28 ESV

26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

This chapter begins a new stage in God’s plan of salvation for the world. ANd he used Hannah’s spiritual sensitivity and her sorrow to accomplish His will. He came to her after likely many years of crying out to Him. He used her in this for His will and His plan of Salvation for the Israelite's.

We left the Israelite's in the book of Judges fighting each other, horrible things where going on. It was when this was happening that the Lord was going to draw them back to Himself, and it was through the birth of a son to a barren women.

God continues to work and plan His will through the everyday affairs of righteous people who humble themselves before the will of God.

We are in Need of a Deliverer

Israel was in need of a deliverer, the deliverance came in the form of a weak and innocent child. It wasn't perfect yet, but God’s plan came through the many prayers of a women who could not have kids. God is a reversal of fortunes, God uses the weak to shame the strong. It is in our weakness that God’s strength is most seen.

And in our barrenness, in our sin, we where in need of a deliverer. This life story of Hannah and Samuel points to Jesus, born as a baby to become the deliverer of our sins. The birth of a child was the answer.

What does this tell us about God and His relationship with his people? Though we are barren and lost spiritually, though we are in need of a deliverer in the midst of our being lost God has offered a way, a way for us to find freedom in Him.

but we must remember that it is not based on anything we have done, but because God loved us enough to establish a way for us to have a relationship with Him. We are in need and God has given us a way to find freedom from our barrenness.

Our nation is in despair, it is spiraling out of control into the depths of Hell. And God wants to use righteous people for His glory. But through the scriptures we lear that though our righteousness draws us closer to God, it is our weakness that the Lord uses. For it is that that shows how strong the Lord is.

In our need for deliverance we cry out to God and we wonder why He sometimes doesnt answer our prayer like we think He should. Hannah had every reason to be bitter towards God, bitter towards everything. She was being ridiculed, she was not doing well. But rather rthen allow circumstances to pull her away from God she used her circumstances to drive her to prayer.

Prayer like this takes faith, Bonoeffer described it well.

1 & 2 Samuel Contemporary Significance

We are privileged to know that he knows our needs before we ask him. This is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty. It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use, what matters is the faith which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to him. Genuine prayer is never “good works,” an exercise or a pious attitude, but it is always the prayer of a child to a Father. Hence it is never given to self-display, whether before God, ourselves, or other people. If God were ignorant of our needs, we should have to think out beforehand how we should tell him about them, what we should tell him, and whether we should tell him or not. Thus faith, which is the mainspring of Christian prayer, excludes all reflection and premeditation.14

Life can be hard, we are in need of a deliverer and that deliverer is Jesus. When life starts getting hard and we do not know what to do, what we need to do is remember that It is God who is still in control, still on His throne and allow our circumstance to drive us to God.

Through her suffering and trials, Hannah was used as an instrument of God to initiate spiritual rebirth in Israel. Reversal of fortune - God uses the ordinary and humble to show His will and His glory.

Our duty is to show the glory of God to the people around us, and to allow God to use us, to allow God to deliver us. In our unfulfilled desires we need to come to God and come away trusting that His will is best.