Prayer: Greatest Hits Tour- A Bitter Hannah
Prayer: Greatest Hits Tour • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Turn to 1 Samuel 1
Do you ever have a radio that you have to tune/turn the know to get the station you want. We used have to turn the know just right and then get past the static sound. Sometimes do we think we hit static when we are praying? Seems like it gets no where.
A little background on this situation
There was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah
This man had two wives which in general is not a good idea and it goes against God’s plan.
Genesis 2:24 — “A man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Matthew 19:4-6 — Jesus points back to creation: “What God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Mark 10:6-9 — “From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’... ‘the two shall become one flesh.’”
One of the wives is Peninnah, She had two children.
Hannah did not have no children
It says that Elkanah love Hannah
Thus the reason Peninnah gave Hannah grief about having not children.
Which brings us to - Why Hannah was bitter and how God responded to her prayer.
Stand as we read 1 Samuel 1:8-18
Let us pray
Bitterness at the altar - 1 Samuel 1:8-10
Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.
Hannah’s Bitterness
Her bitterness is real, she was heartbroken
Consider dead by the people around her because she did not have children
It was a legitimate reason for divorce back in the day
The more children they have the more honored they were
She felt shame and useless
We can feel that way sometimes because of the situation we are in
We may take it to God, but then we are still dealing with the shame.
It drives her to God instead of away from Him.
Your pain doesn’t have to push you from God; it can pull you closer.
When our life feels bitter (friend drama, family stress, loneliness) -
Or have you ever been heartbroken ...
Do you tend to hide it
Lash out,
Do you take it to God?”
The running away from God instead of too God
She was laying it all out to the Lord
Actions at the Alter 1 Sam 1:11-16
Then she made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”
And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!”
But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.”
Hannah was so heartbroken when she went to the altar that she made a vow she was praying silently Eli thought she was drunk when she poured out her soul before the Lord so the actions :
She made the Lord a promise -
the vow: “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”
She was calling the whole hosts of the army of God, her plea was desperate
The promise of giving him to the Lord was huge
The silent prayer - And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
There’s nothing wrong with praying out loud but sometimes praying silently in our heart what we need to do.
What Eli thought:
That this was a mad women
Asking if she was drunk
The reason of this is probably the action of others around the tabernacle
Hannah explained that she has pour out her spirit before the Lord.
I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief” (1:15–16, paraphrased).
God is not offended by her raw emotion; He meets her right there.
God wants to hear our heart
Up front I want to say - I never want to see the Holy Spirit quench!!!
Why come and respond at the Altar?
Remember in the Old Testament when the priest would go into the Holy of Holies
And the sacrifice was made there in the holy of Holies or the sins of the people
And then when Jesus died on the cross he died for our sins that veil was torn
So now we can go to Jesus directly - any time any place, also when we have a response time here or on Sunday’s
So when we respond and go to the altar are we treating it as a holy of holies of where God is and our cry out to him .
We should always respond to the conviction of the holy spirit, do not be the white knuckle person - when the holy spirt is pressing on you - respond
So are you responding to going up to the altar crying out to God for whatever’s going on in your life or are you going just going to go .
Remember when I set up front about this I never want to see the Holy Spirit quenched and I know a decision to go up to the altars between you and the Lord.
Results at the Altar 1 Samuel 1:17-18
Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.”
She said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
She shared her burden
Then she left relieved that the Lord heard her prayer
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
The author pictured these previous champions of faith as spectators from the heavens, cheering us as we press on to overcome present discouragement as in an athletic competition.
Sin can hold us back.
But there are also things that may not be sin (every weight) but are merely hindrances that can keep us from running effectively the race God has for us.
When we go to the altar we need to lay aside every weight! -
Leave it there do not pick it up
Leave the situation
Leave the guilt
Leave the shame
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Leave it at the altar
Answers at the Altar
Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him.”
And she said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”
Now the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.”
Hannah’s prayer is specific and costly.
She prayed for a male child
She said no razor will come upon his head / Nazarite Vow
She vows that if God gives her a son, she will give him back to the Lord for life (1:11).
She doesn’t pray a short, polite prayer; she “prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly,” pouring out her longing and her surrender.
The story doesn’t end with tears.
God “remembered” Hannah; she conceives and gives birth to Samuel (1:19–20).
Later, she keeps her vow and brings Samuel to the temple so he can serve the Lord (1:24–28).
This was not a foxhole prayer - only when in dire needs we say Lord whatever you want but then when situation is over we forget the promise we made.
Her bitterness becomes the soil where gratitude grows.
In 2:1–2 she says, “My heart rejoices in the Lord… there is no Rock like our God.” She moves from weeping to worship, from “I have nothing” to “God lifts up the humble.”
We need to look for “hidden blessings” in current struggles and to thank God for them, even in small ways.
Through out this passage we see Hannah go from being bitter to crying out to the Lord to seeing God answering prayer. The best prayer is the one of salvation.
Going back and talking about when Jesus died on the cross and the veil was torn.
He died for us, He gave his life for us, because of our sin, because of our separation from God.
But the fact that He did it does not stop there -
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
Because Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave - we can now have a relationship with Him
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
The best ongoing conversation with God is praying and asking for forgiveness of our sin, repenting of our sin and trusting in Him, then we can have ongoing and conversations with God.
God answers prayers of those who fervently cry out to God
Response Time:
Remember our response time is crying out to the Lord
Do you have an unconfessed sin
Do you have a situation in your life that you need to pray about
Do you need to swallow your pride and give your life to Christ.
