Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ \\ *Hannah: A Woman of Faith. 1 Samuel 1:1-2:21*

Everton Community Church.

Mother’s Day.

Sunday May 13, 2007.

10:30 am

*Debbie Trickett* *from Atlanta, Georgia*, knows the heart-wrenching challenge of *infertility**.*

But Debbie *also knows* the heart-changing power of *savoring God’s presence and goodness.*

(Taken from True Women by Susan Hunt, (c)1997.

Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60187.)

Children.

I want children.

Not just a baby.

Not just a child.

I want children.

Three of them.

If I were younger, I might want more, but at thirty-four three seems like a good number.

*Marrying a little late* and *moving across the country a couple of times* as well as a long-running struggle to pay the rent *delayed the real trying for a while*.

The trying has been going on for a long time now.

Not as long a many of you, but much longer than most.

To no avail.

No children.

Not one pregnancy.

I have never experienced that wonder of knowing that there is a life inside of me.

Instead, *there is a longing that will not be filled*, that *will not be diminished*, that will not end this side of heaven without children to fill it.

Nothing else in my life has been as baffling to me as not being able to conceive a child.

*My emotions hide* *even from myself*, spilling out in tears of sadness or anger at the most inopportune times.

There have been no days of real clarity, no times when a light has come on to show the way—not even a little.

But *the mysterious and marvelous mercy of God has convinced me of one thing *in all of this—it is dark because I am in that deep, hidden place under God’s wing.

Certainly, the inability to bear children to the glory of God is due to the sinfulness of sin and its effect on all of life.

It is *not that God punishes us* by not allowing us to give birth to the offspring we most desperately desire.

*It is* rather that *we, along with all of creation, suffer the wretched consequences of the sin of our first mother and father*, Adam and Eve, *compounded by the sin of all the sinners who have come after them.

And that, of course, is all of us.*

Since this is so, I know that, as with all of life, I must *not put my trust* *in anything other than God*, even in the provision of a child.

This does *not necessarily mean* that I *may not use a medical intervention* to try to conceive a child.

It does not mean that *adoption* is not an option to pursue.

Rather, *I trust that God in His mercy* has given us these means as part of His redemption from the effects of the Fall.

At times the knowledge that God has given His covenant of grace to believers and their children makes not being able to have a child even more difficult to understand and bear.

*God has* *rescued me* from such a desperate place and has *given me such a glorious glimpse of Himself *that *I want*, *with all that is within me*, *to see this passed on to the next generation of my family, my children.*

*My heart cries out*, “*Why*, O God, will You not answer this prayer?

Why will You not do *this simple thing* for me and for *Your own name’s sake*?

*You do it for so many* so easily.

Your marvelous grace.

Why not to me?”

With thoughts like these, it is *easy to fall into deep despair*, and *at times I certainly do*.

When this happens, *God* in His time and His various graceful ways, *comes to me to remind me that I am not alone*.

*He does not*, as so many do, *tell me that “my time will come*.”

*He does not say* *that if I will just relax and not try so hard, everything will be okay*.

He does not say, “If you adopt a baby, you’ll get pregnant.”

*He does *say *that He is with me*.

*He weeps with me as Jesus wept for Lazarus*.

*He reminds me* that *He is good* and that *He can be trusted* *with my heart*.

*Any doubt* *of that was wiped away at the Cross*.

*He has given* *His best to me,* His own beautiful, beloved Child.

*Will He withhold any good thing from me?* No, never.

Is Jesus enough to make up for this aching void in my soul?

I do not always feel that it is so.

But it is.

Jesus loves me—this I know.

*Unlike the testimony* *of this woman*, *in **Israel* *the time was described:*

*Judges **21:25*   [25]In those days there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

(ESV)

*The commentator Gordon Keddie* describes *1 Samuel* as a span of *about a hundred-year period, 1100 BC* from the *theocratic Hebrew republic* to the establishment of the *theocratic monarchy.*

I’ts* theological *because it *concerns the rule of God among His people*; it’s *spiritual *because it concerns the *faith *of *those who love the lord and are committed to Him as His disciples*; it’s *eschatological *because it *points to the coming of God’s son*: the *messianic and mediatorial King */(Dawn of a Kingdom/: The Message of 1 Samuel.

[Welwyn Commentary] p. 12.)

*The struggle to be a mother* has *never been harder*.

There are *more pressures and choices* from *conception* to *role *than ever before.

*We too live in an age* that as far as motherhood is concerned, *everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes.*

For some of you, Mother’s Day can be a bittersweet holiday.

*You delight* in the *opportunity* that this occasion affords to *honor your own mother* and *all your friends who are mothers*, but you *also can be saddened* by the *reality that you are not yet a mother, even though you long to be.*

Perhaps you are *single *and there *does not appear to be any prospect for marriage in the near future*.

You are *keenly aware, however, that the body clock is ticking*.

You may *fear that the childbearing years will pass you by.

*

Others of you may be *married and have been trying to get pregnant* for months now.

Maybe even years.

*But still no baby.*

How is a *mother* to respond?

*1 Samuel* gives us *5 Defining Traits of a Woman of Faith in the person of Hannah.*

In her life we can see that women of faith 1) *exhibit real problems 2) express vibrant prayers*.

3) *experience God’s provision* and 4) *excel at keeping their promises**, a*nd 5) *explode with praise*

1) *Women of faith exhibit real problems* (1:1-8).

(Go over this section very quick)

*In 1 Samuel 1*, we’re introduced to a man named *Elkanah.*

*1 Samuel 1:1-2*   There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.

[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.*

(ESV)

*Socially, *in Israel, a *barren womb* was *considered a curse* and *Hannah would have been looked down upon*.

She joins *a long line of other women of faith* who *battled barrenness: Sarah *(Abraham’s wife), *Rebekah* (Isaac’s wife), *Rachel* (Jacob’s wife), *Ruth* (Boaz’s wife), and *Elizabeth* (John the Baptist’s mother).

*Women of faith* *exhibit real problems*.

*It’s easy to think* that the *heroes in the Bible* were *somehow different* than we are.

We might think that it’s *tough to relate to them* because their lives were *so perfect and* their *culture was so different* than ours.

Actually, *the Bible is filled* with *real people* with *real problems*, who *face them with real faith.

\\ * \\ *At this point in her life*, *Hannah* would have thought *Mother’s Day was just a big rip-off.*

*Some of you* probably *didn’t want to come to church on Mother’s Day* because *your mother is no longer alive* and *you really miss her*.

*Others *of you *don’t care much for your mom* and you’re a bit turned off by all the *syrupy sentiments in Hallmark cards*.

Some of you may have a *mother who is very sick right now* and you *wonder how much longer she’s going to be with you*.

I am going *after the service* to be *with my Grandmother* who will *celebrate her last mother’s day on this earth*.

For some who are *single dad’s*, they struggle to find out why *their mother has hurt them so much.*