Hannah’s Prayer

Sermon Style Sheet

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Sermon Text

Sermon Text: Scripture

Call to Worship

Exodus 15:11 CSB

11 Lord, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

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Passage:

Formation Journal Page Number: 6:08-7:02 7:44-8:26

James 5:16 CSB

16 ... The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

1 Samuel 1:1–8 CSB

1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. 3 This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Armies at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s priests. 4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. 6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7 Year after year, when she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way. Hannah would weep and would not eat. 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?”

1 Samuel 1:10–18 CSB

10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.” 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.

1 Samuel 1:20 CSB

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.”

Opening Illustration:

Test the joy of the soda was because of the pain of the walk.

[The struggle makes the JOY sweeter.]

time

Getting into the Sermon

time

Background: So this is the setup of the story. He was probably reasonably well off.

1 Samuel 1:4–8 CSB

4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. 5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. 6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. 7 Year after year, when she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way. Hannah would weep and would not eat. 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?”

So we see Hannah is having a hard time. Her husband loves her and cares about her. He is trying to be kind. But he is also a little clueless - “Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

The answer is no - you aren’t. Now here is one big reason why, a son, besides being a big source of honor in those days, also provided for the mother when the husband died. He was usually older. So the son was the safety net. So she isn’t just in a bad place socially, she’s also in a tight spot economically.

On top of that, the other wife is rubbing it in. She is mocking her.

So we see that there is something that she wants, but she can’t make it happen on her own. It’s the type of thing that comes easily for some couples and is super hard for others. So there is all sorts of confusion and pain.

But here’s the thing about Hannah - she’s a christian. Not in the sense that she knew about Christ but because she knew about God. She had a real faith in God and it’s in that faith that she prayed.

1 Samuel 1:10–11 CSB

10 Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. 11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”

So she made a vow to God. But she is weeping. She is praying.

But she was also making a bit of a scene!

1 Samuel 1:12–14 CSB

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!”

But she wasn’t drinking!! That wasn’t the problem. She was so moved in her emotions with prayer that the priest thought she was drunk!

1 Samuel 1:15–16 CSB

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.”

She explains the situation! You may have a broken heart - good things.

1 Samuel 1:17–18 CSB

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.

1 Samuel 1:20 CSB

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.”

Here’s what we see, [An ORDINARY woman, committed to God in prayer, changed everything]

James 5:16

The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

What was the effect? Samuel was born and became one of the greatest judges in Israel. He anointed and mentored Saul and he anointed David. He wet on to have a huge impact o the country.

Are you facing any impossible situations in your life? Situations that you can’t control but you have deep desires?

Maybe there are some issues in your marriage, maybe in your family, maybe in your business.

Maybe it isn’t bad things. It doesn’t have to be. Maybe you have dreams and hopes and you are anxious to get those things now. You are ready now for them.

Whatever the case, prayer can be hard to get into.

[When the answer’s DELAYED it’s easy to give up.]

But I want to make sure that you understand something - I want you to reframe the way you pray. That’s part of what we are doing all summer but even today.

I want you to think less about prayer requests and more about prayer stories.

A prayer request is a checklist of things that you want that you bring to God and you ask for.

Father, give me a car, give me healing, give me… whatever. These aren’t bad things. But prayer requests, checklists, change the way we think about God and our relationship with him.

I asked for milk and you didn’t fulfill it. So now I’m upset.

Instead I want you to think about prayer stories - prayer stories recognizes two things God has an opinion about your prayer requests AND he is working out a grander story than you can imagine.

[God has an opinion and his opinion is RIGHT.]

The word that we use to describe God’s working in the world, the way he orchastrates the events of the world is providence.

[PROVIDENCE of God - God’s guiding the events of our lives]

Through

There’s a key passage in 1 Samuel that’s a blink and you’ll miss it detail.

Let’s look at verse 6 again.

Look at verse 6

1 Samuel 1:6 CSB

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

the key here is that the Lord kept her from conceiving. It was the Lords’ work.

Providence - guiding the events of our lives, he is controlling .

Why would he do that? Why did he stop her from conceiving.

Well, he was teaching her something - he was teaching her to rely on him in prayer. He was humbling her so that she would devote the child to God.

Samuel was a key figure in Israel’s history.

What would have happened if she had gotten pregnant no problem?

He was teaching Samuel something. Samuel learned that God had a hand in Samuel’s life.

He was teaching us something. He teaches us to keep on praying and rely on him.

Nick story

As a prayer story we learn things

If the money came without any problem, then I wouldn’t have learned about the power of God.

God pushes us towards longterm prayer, prayer through difficulties so that we become people who learn to trust God and can help other people who experience those difficulties.

We live in a world of pain and misery. Part of Jesus’ humiliation is that he had to live on earth! Your normal life was a humiliation for Jesus!

But it is a world of pain and difficulty and part of God’s plan for redeeming the world is creating people who know how to live in difficulty by relying on God and the helping others do the same thing.

The enemy wants to crush us. He wants us to give up. He wants us to think that God can’t come through for us. He ca’t change anything.

God has a plan for your life and so does enemy

[he wants us to doubt God, so that God is HUMILIATED in our eyes.]

We are being shaped and changed.

If the day you became a Christian, all your problems went away, all your difficulty went away, you would be useless for the cause of Christ in the world. He might as well zap us to heaven.

God would never be our stronghold, he would never be our deliverer, he wouldn’t be glorified and lost people wouldn’t have hope.

The difficulties make the joy sweeter

Difficulties are hard and they are bad but as Christians we have a unique power- we get to pray in Jesus’ name

Gospel - United with Christ.

{ABC’s of repentance}

Lewis and Clark - he got a promissory note that he could hand out. He had the authority of the US Government

And you have the authority of Jesus’ name. Your prayers are powerful because you are praying in the authority of Jesus.

But, here’s the deal,[You you have the AUTHORITY of Christ but you don’t have the WISDOM of Christ.]

Hannah didn’t have the wisdom of God. She was praying and she had power but she didn’t have divine wisdom. - she could not have imagined what God would do through the life of Samuel.

So she wouldn’t have dedicated her son to God without God working through her.

I found an old prayer journal the other day and I was an accountant and praying about a denomination I wanted

But just like the old Garth Brooks song says - one of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

You have no idea about what’s really happening behind the scenes. the greatest things, things that seem good, you can’t understand.

But you have no idea what’s really for the best.

The tragedy that happens in prayer - we are so convinced we know what right and good, that when our prayers but up against the wisdom of God, we start to doubt the power of God and we stop praying.

You know, I’ve prayed a lot and a long time and I’ve never looked back on time when God providentially told me no, that later, sometimes years later, I looked back and was like, “Well Lord, that was a real swing and a miss there!”

It’s always been oh, now I get it. There were things I didn’t know. Things I thought I knew but were only revealed years later. I thought I knew. I would have sworn that I knew.

don’t you think Hannah looked back on her prayers

Now, here’s the deal, it’s hard to keep up the confidence to continue to pray -

[We have the authority of Christ, but not the wisdom of Christ, so we trust the LOVE of Christ.]

the gospel

You would be fully convinced that you were god’s favorite

We get to pray in Jesus names

The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

So let’s pray big. Let’s make sure this summer that we are entering into prayer stories with the church plant, with your life.

We face some uphill battles as a church plant. It’s hard. But we pray with the authority of Christ, we don’t have the wisdom of Christ so we trust the love of Christ.

Would you dedicate this summer, as fellow church planters, to ask God to do great things at Mercy Hill?

Let’s see how the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect, together.

Lord’s Supper:

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

Benediction:

The LORD bless you and keep you;

the LORD makes his face shine upon you and be gracious to you:

The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.