The Worship of the Giver of Good Things

Intro:

Our God is a benevolent God. He gives good gifts the good and the evil of this world. He does not destroy all evil and rebellious people at the jump. Instead, he is patient and they receive good things that they do not deserve.

I saw a video this week of a woman bragging about multiple abortions she has had and plans to have. I watch such evil and wonder why this person is still being given breathe in her lungs, food in her belly. It is clearly a declaration for all of us that God is a gracious God to all people.

Matthew 5:45 NASB95

45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

He particularly give good gifts to his people. While he blesses all people, His people are promised blessings from the Lord.

Psalm 103:2–5 “2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”

When we consider our faith in God, we come to understand that trusting God should never be a result of expecting God to bless. He is not an ATM that when we enter our membership account, God spits out a blessing. Instead, we love God because He first loved us and sent his Son to die for sinners.

We trust because of the Son he gave not because of the blessing he gives.

Story of Brandon: I believed in a God who owed me something.

I. God Answers Our Steadfast Prayers

1 Samuel 1:19 “19 Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.”

A. See God’s Providence

When we consider how God answers our prayers, we draw should draw our attention to the doctrine of providence. Providence is the vehicle by which our prayers find their realization in God’s timing and in his purposes.

The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith states,

“God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things,1 from the greatest even to the least,2 by His most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will; to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.”

Therefore, when we see our prayers come to fulfillment by God’s mercy and his purposes, we know that they were directed a this reality by the providential hand of God.

Look with me for a moment in 1 Samuel 1:5 “5 but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb.”

Why was Hannah barren? A medical professional could give many scientifically reasons for a woman to be unable to have children. After examinatinon by a medical doctor, Hannah could have explained to her to all the reasons that she was not able to have children. But the real reason that we are given, that we believe as God’s people is that all those scientific explanation lead us to the fact that “the Lord closed her womb.”

Now from here we get to the why? Skeptics clinch their teeth in angst in considering a God who makes women barren and who withholds from her the opportunity to have children. I understand the frustration that comes with that for God also gives women the desire to have and raise children. It seems to the finite mind a hypocritical intersection.

But this is where we might go back to what Hannah called the Lord…Lord of Hosts which again identifies her position before the Almighty God who leads and governs the hosts of heaven and earth.

We are not meant to know the answer to all of life’s questions under the rule and reign of an Almighty God. It is good that we seek out the questions to our answers regarding God as long as we do not forget our place that we will NOT and do NOT DESERVE every answer.

In this regard I love Paul’s thoughts here,

Romans 9:18–21 “18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?”

Paul is not condemning the questions to God as much as he is rebuking the attitude behind the question of providence. Verse 21 of Romans 9 makes it very clear that God has the right over all of creation to do “all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3.)

Now in God’s providence, we are given a merciful look at the answers to our questions through answers to prayer. When we open up our soul to the Lord in prayer and pleading before God, He might but not always answer our prayers though his providence. His answers to our prayers are revealed in his good and holy acts of providence if we are wise to see them and patient to wait for them.

Now back to 1 Sam 1.

1:5- the Lord closed her womb

1:19- the Lord remembered Hannah.

Now remembering Hannah does not mean that God forgets or that God is absentminded. This term is used throughout Scripture as a covenant keeping language.

Genesis 8:1 “1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.”

God surely didn’t forget the flood and that Noah and the animals floating around in a boat on the earth like a parent forgets to make their kids lunch for school. God Remembering is God acting on the covenant promises to do good for His people.

Genesis 30:22 “22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb.”

This is God acting on the promises he made to Abraham that you will have descendants that will number the stars of heaven.

Therefore friends, when we pray, we can trust that God’s providence is acting not only according to his sovereign and wise plans, but he is acting on behalf of his covenant with His Son. In the New Covenant we understand that when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are grafted to Him in relationship.

God the Father seeks to honor the Son; to bless the Son. With this, God’s people, who are the church, the bride of Christ, will be blessed through their union with Christ. That blessing is ratified by the blood of the New Covenant that Jesus bled and died for. That promise is this…

Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Ecclesiastes 8:12 “12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may lengthen his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly.”

Jeremiah 29:11 “11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Sometimes, the providence of God is closing the womb so that later the womb can be opened in God’s timing. Sometimes the interviewer says NO thanks only to later call back and offer you something better. Sometimes the boy or girl you thought you were gonna marry turns out to lead to temp heartache only to lead you later to a better man or woman that God has for you.

Back in the 90’s, Garth Brooks wrote the lyrics to Unanswered Prayers about a high school sweetheart that he thought he would marry but did not. He had the wisdom at least in those moments, although not in the rest of his music career, to acknowledge a gratitude towards God for not answering some of his prayers that he prayed.

What Brooks failed to see is that by providence, God did answer his prayers. God is always providentially says YES or NO to our prayers through what He allows us to see, what He will allow us to look back upon, or what he may never allow us to see in his divine wisdom.

B. See God’s Power

I also wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the second aspect of God’s answer to prayer. In his providence he works powerfully.

1 Samuel 1:20 “20 It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the Lord.””

God powerfully answers Hannah’s prayers when she conceives and gives birth to a son, Samuel. It is no small feat to create life inside the womb of a woman. I pray that we never lose the awe and wonder of God’s powerful answers to our prayers.

Isaiah 44:24 “24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself And spreading out the earth all alone,”

I will not spend much time of this, but with a focus on the gratitude of Hannah in chapter 2, we must see the power of God in all of creation.

The statistic that is astounding to us is that 4.3 children are born every second globally. How often are we consumed with the awe and worship of that fact. God is miraculously creating new human beings at an astonishing rate every second of history.

When we consider God’s power revealed us to in Psalm 139

13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Friends, simply put, Samuel’s birth is simply a cause of worship and graittiude for the power of God in answered prayers. Let our physical birth and our new birth in Christ be a reminder that God’s omnipotent work in this world should lead us to full confidence that God answers prayers in unspeakably mighty ways.

Mark 11:24 “24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

Now this passage is about the power of God to answer prayer and the unlimited nature of our prayers. We can pray for anything but we must always pray according to the will and purposes of God. Kids…this is where as you learn to pray, you do not think that I can pray for a new video gaming system just because a new one has come out on the market. Do you need a new one? Is that more about greed and discontentment? But instead pray that you can overcome sickness, that you will honor your parents. That the Lord will save your lost family and friends.

We all can be reminded that God’s power is unlimited and how we can believe that our prayers will be answered as we ask in accordance with the will of God.

II. God’s People Offer Steadfast Worship

The second truth from these verses is found regarding the faithfulness of worship in this family.

Notice with me first of all that the structure of the passage lends to the idea that worship is the theme. V 19 and v 28 serve as bookends to this passage, both involving the act of worship before the Lord. In v 19, it is Elkanah and his wife that are gathering together to worship.

After her interaction with Eli in the house of the Lord at Shiloh, she and her husband “rise in the morning to worship” before they are traveling home. As a matter of fact, three experiences of worship in this family’s faithful pilgrammage to Shiloh are highlighted here.

Elkanah and Hannah worship before they head home

Elkanah goes to worship the following year without Hannah, as she weans new born Samuel

Elkanah and Hannah go with Samuel to the temple, most likley around 2-3 years old, which was a standard in that culture to wean a child.

All three instances show us a Jewish family dedicated and faithful to worship the Lord. What we can learn is simply that their worship was not interrupted by their circumstances. Hannah did not stay back from her worship when she was barren and broken before the Lord. Instead, she knew that the BEST place for her to be in sorrow was in a place of humble worship before the Lord of hosts.

Now she stayed behind in the weaning process of Samuel but even in that instance, her husband Elkanah, knowing the vow that they made to the Lord states in v 22-23

1 Samuel 1:22–23 “22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever.” 23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the Lord confirm His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.”

These words of Hannah and Elkanah show the steadfast commitment to go before the Lord in worship. Her circumstances did not keep her from worship nor did her fear of the unknown regarding her son.

We cannot begin to understand the situation of Hannah giving up her son for adoption to the priest Eli. This is culturally outside of our understanding. But this was God’s plan for Samuel and in Hannah’s faith in the Lord’s plan, she did not let the fear she might experience in that moment keep her from worship.

I think we should consider all the ways our circumstances might keep us from worship. The busyness of life, the activities of our family, even the hard circumstances cannot and should not keep us away.

I have watched people I love struggle to be with God’s people in a united worship of the Lord because of a variety of reasons. But honestly, we understand the church and what we consist of as a community of broken sinners saved by grace, then gathering in the most difficult times before the Lord is exactly what we NEED to do. It is not just an issue of obedience, its an issue of necessity.

III. God’s People Have Steadfast Obedience

What we see from Hannah in this story is a commitment to fulfill all that the Lord had clearly led Hannah to do. Although an angel does not visit Hannah, much like the mother of Samson nor the mother of our Lord Jesus, the commitment of Samuel to serve the Lord was no doubt God’s call on his life.

When we consider all that God is doing in these verses, we are given a powerful demonstration of obedience in the most difficult circumstances.

How does a good mother give up her child in these circumstances?

A. Die to self

I am quite sure that parents have returned to this passage throughout the history of the church when considering the great faith that it takes for them when their grown children commit their lives to pastoral work or to mission work overseas.

As a youth minister for many years, I would have the opportunity to encourage the faith of parents in moments of promoting mission opportunities. I was blessed to see many humbly trust the Lord to provide financial resources for trips that they did not possess so thier student could go on mission. These were great acts of obedience from a parenting perspective.

No doubt we also come to our own callings from from the Lord where we must display obedience to that call with faith and not fear. How will we respond?

Hannah does the unthinkable. She as a loving mother, puts her devotion to the Lord above her role as a mother. She made vow to the Lord and she was intent to keep it.

Her obedience drives God’s people to consider our vows or commitments before a holy God.

Are we being faithful to our commitment before God and placing our worship and devotion to the Lord above our role as citizens, as parents, and above earthly committments?

Richard Phillips-

1 Samuel Hannah’s Vow Fulfilled

It turns out that God takes our vows most seriously. Vows made to God—including marriage vows, ordination vows, church membership vows, and oaths of office—should be made soberly and with mature judgment.- Phillips

Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 5:37 “

37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”

Ecclesiastes 5:4–6

“4 When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands?”

God calls us to an obedience to all of our commitments. That obedience often times comes with the mystery of the unknowns. Faith has a mystery to it where we do not have all the answers that we need. God expects our faith to consist of reason and logic but it also contains an element of faith beyond what God has revealed to us.

We must trust in Him in the areas we do not understand and we must be obedient in the callings on our lives regardless if all the steps are exactly in place as we see them.

B. Live by the Spirit

This last Sunday, the students looked at the story of Israel in the wilderness as God provided for the manna and meat for their survival. One powerful truth there is that God did not give them the weeks worth of food on the front end of the week. He gave them what they needed each day and a two days supply so that they could rest on the Sabbath day. I wonder how many of the TYPE A personalities in Israel really struggled with this. This is where our faith is rooted not in what we know or can see, but in the character of God to do what he promises.

Proverbs 3:5–6 “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”

As the church, God gives us His Spirit to guide us into straight paths. These paths are paths of faith not fearing the unknown. These paths are obedience based on the character of God and not our mere human knowledge of the situation. God desires you to use your reason and logic and supplant the rest in faith in what we cannot fully known and understand.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be mighty, even if he killed his only Son. Nothing about that makes sense in human reasoning but faith in God’s promises and his character carried Abraham to the point of sacrifice his own son, only to have a substitute sacrifice provided for him in the last moment.

Are you obedient to the Lord as an act of worship trusting in his promises and his character even when you do not have all the answers?

Are you resisting fear and replacing that with a faith that leads to obedience to what God commands and what you have vowed before the Lord?

In the end, God blessed Hannah as the giver of good things, and Hannah gave back to the Lord her very best, her only Son as a way of worship. We cannot escape the image of Samuel as a type of Christ who was the only son of God given to the point of death, even death on the cross.