A Mothers Day Message

Hey everybody Pastor Garey here. I am super excited to be live again today. I apologize that I have had a di cult time sorting out the live in person sermons and the online sermons. Hopefully here in the near future we can get all of that straightened out. Juggling the time between a full time job, sermon prep, video production, and Sunday service has not been easy for me to gure out well. Today however we are celebrating Moms everywhere. This sermon however isn’t simply directed at Moms, but also those women all around us that often times act like a mother towards us. And listen, this can happen whether you are ve years old or fty years old. An older woman who is showing you love by speaking wisdom into your life is acting like a mother. An older woman who is stepping into your life and giving you to God is acting like a mother. Women all around us are so often times acting like mothers in the lives of those around us it can often times be hard to see. But trust me it is happening on a regular basis. Not to brag about my mother. But I have seen her many times step into a younger than her persons life and act in a way that is motherly. Not because that person needs to be smothered by a mother, but because my mother is simply motherly. And today we are going to celebrate all those around us that do so often times without even realizing they are doing it. We are going to celebrate these wonderful women today by looking at a passage that is often looked at on Mother’s Day. First Samuel chapter one verses one through twenty-eight. And my hope is that when we are done here we can better see not only the impact a mother can have on her children, but the impact that both older women and men can have on younger children and adults alike. Before we get started I want to start with a little bit of background to our story. Historically Samuels birth is going to occur at the end of the rule of the Judges which is recorded in the book of Judges. This is a very dark period of time for Israel. Most of Israel has turned away from God and God has caused Judges to rise up among the people in order to provide leadership. This leadership should have been provided by the priesthood, but the people we are told in the beginning of the book had forgotten the Lord and turned to false idols this often times included the priesthood as well. Samuel will be the last of the Judges that God will call. He will not only be a Judge but also a priest. Samuel’s birth story represents a shift in the history of Israel and the way in which God interacts with Israel. God is going to eventually call Samuel to anoint the rst two kings of Israel. The rst king chosen by the people Saul and the second king chosen by God. Samuels life represents a sort of a hinge in essence between the time of the Judges and the time of the Kings. And the role that Samuel and his birth play is very important. And we will see some of the contrasts between these two time periods represented right in his birth story. So let’s start in the beginning in rst Samuel chapter one verses one and two which read, “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. 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.” So before we get too far I want to look at two other passages that mention Samuel’s father Elkanah because he does play an important role in our story that is often times missed in understanding who Elkanah, and eventually Samuel are in relation to the nation of Israel. fi fi fi fi fi fi ffi fi So let’s read through 1 Chronicles chapter six verses twenty-six through twenty-seven and thirty-three through thirty-four. In and of themselves they don’t tell us a whole lot but I’ll ll in the blanks so that we understand the importance of these verses. Our verses read, “Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son, Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son and Samuel his son.” And then, “Here are the men who served, together with their sons: From the Kohathites: Heman, the musician, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,” So I know, all that it says is the son of and the son of and the son of. But, in the midst of all of those sons of we have both Elkanah and our child Samuel. It’s important to understand that what all of these sons of is representing is the line of Levi. This makes them Levitical priests. They are essentially aristocracy within the nation of Israel. And more importantly their line the line of Kohath among the Levites was given the speci c responsibility of what is called the duties of the tabernacle. So we see that Elkanah’s descent is priestly in nature. But we are given some additional information about Elkanah that is important for us to see, but that is typically missed. First Elkanah was a true worshipper of God the Father. We read in rst Samuel chapter one verse three, “Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacri ced to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.” God chose to tell us that Elkanah would leave his home yearly in order to travel to Shiloh so that he might o er sacri ces and worship the Lord Almighty. Second we are shown that Elkanah took seriously his duties to provide for his family. Verse four reads, “Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacri ce, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters.” And so God has chosen to share with us that Elkanah provided for his family. He didn’t need to share this tidbit of information about Elkanah in fact it has very little apparent bearing on our story. But God did choose to share it. Why? Because it is important to see that acts of a godly man. Finally we are shown that Elkanah loved Hannah, most likely his rst wife, deeply. We read in verse ve, “But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb.” I say most likely his rst wife, because Peninnah was most likely taken as his second wife because Hannah was barren. Of course, it’s also important to see that this is the result of the work of the Lord upon Hannah. And so Hannahs inability to have children is serving a purpose in the story of the people of God. As is Peninnahs presence as an antagonist in our story. Regardless of the fact that Hannah was unable to provide a son for Elkanah which was very important for a man during this time period we can see that he deeply loved his wife. So God has presented us with what I would call a man among men. A representation of manhood that is being lost in our present cultural climate of androgyny. A man who loves God, provides for his family, and loves his wife. Elkanah is a man among men. Now, let’s look at how God presents to us Hannah the mother in our story today. The rst thing we read about Hannah is found in verse two which reads, “He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.” The very rst thing that God chooses to share with us about this woman is that she was unable to have children. During a time when children were so important Hannah was barren. To be barren during this time would have meant a woman had little to no value what so ever. Today we nd that very di cult to believe but things were very di erent then and the need for children served a di erent purpose as well. The second thing that we read concerning Hannah in our story is that she was loved greatly by her husband. We have already discussed this in verse ve. So I won’t belabor the point. But, just to say it one more time. Hannah’s husband loved her very much. Husband’s a word of wisdom. Bless your wife with your love and she will pass that blessing on to her children. You see how that works. fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi ff ff fi fi ff ffi fi fi ff Then in verses six and seven we see a very di erent story. We read, “Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.” Because Hannah was barren, Elkanah had taken a second wife. Again our western minds cringe at this idea. But, during this time this was not uncommon, particularly if a mans rst wife were barren. This situation unfortunately created as we can see in our story a situation in which the two women have become “rivals.” Rivals for the love and attention of Elkanah and for position within the household. This rivalry became so bitter that the stress that it created in Hannahs life causes her to not only weep but to not eat as well. This speaks to a level of depression that few of us experience. But, if you have ever been there you know the depths of despair that Hannah is experiencing in our story. Listen if you have ever experienced depression like this where eating was a di cult task. Then I need you to pay attention to the rest of the story and see who it is that comes to the rescue and lifts Hannah from the pits of despair in which she nds her self right now in our story. Elkanah saw the distress in his beloved wife and sought to console her and we read in verse eight, “Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Elkanah wants nothing more than to be the help that Hannah so desperately needs during these trying times. But, in the end he is unable to provide for her what she truly needs. Elkanah is unable to ll the emptiness within that Hannah is experiencing. Lastly, we see that Hannah was a woman who sought the Lord and we read in verses nine through eleven, “Once when they had nished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” Hannah has come to a point in her life that she realizes that the only hope that she has for having a child is through the miraculous intervention of God Almighty. The only solution to Hannah’s emptiness and pain is God Almighty. It is not Samuel in fact it is the Lord. And Hannah knows this to be true. Deep down she knows that only God Almighty can ll that emptiness that she is experiencing. This is why Hannah is able to make the decisions she does concerning Samuel. Samuel is not her savior. God Almighty is her savior. And then we are going to get this funny little episode while Hannah is praying. God is going to use this episode in our story to present a contrast between Eli who represents the priesthood and Hannah who represents the faithful few left in Israel. Remember I had said that Samuels birth story was going to depict these two very di erent periods the time of the Judges and the time of the Kings. And I believe the most important part of the story is the story of the faithful few in Israel and the story of the apostate, if you will, who tend more often than not to shape the history of Israel. And it is this relationship that we are going to see contrasted here in our story now. And so in verses twelve through eighteen we read of this contrast represented by Eli and Hannah. We read, “As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him. She said, “May your servant nd favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” fi ffi fl ff fi fi fi fi fi Hannah a godly woman is praying without words though her mouth is moving because mere words were unable to express the depth of grief and anguish she is experiencing. Eli, the priest. Eli a man who should be a shepherd of the ock of the Lord. Eli the intermediary between God and his people immediately assumes the worst of this woman. He never asks a question. He simply assumes that she is drunk. Why? Because, the fact is that most people who were knelt down mouthing nothing during this time period were most likely drunk. This not only speaks to the people of this time. But, it also speaks to Eli’s heart as well. His immediate assumption as a Priest of the Lord is not that this woman might be in need of the Lord. And then when she does reveal that she is a woman of great anguish and pain he doesn’t seek to intercede before the Lord on her behalf which was his job. He simply told her to go away. He just did so politely. However her response shows that she felt no need for a priest to act on her behalf before the Lord. She knew that she herself could approach the throne of grace and be heard by her loving God. After Hannah prays we are told that the Lord remembered her. We read in verses nineteen and twenty, “They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” Elkanah as the NIV says made love to his wife. I prefer the ESV here that reads Elkanah knew Hannah. There is a wordplay that God is using here when he uses this word knew that we need to watch for in the scriptures. Then we read that the Lord remembered Hannah. God didn’t forget Hannah. Just as God didn’t forget the Israelites as they languished in slavery in Egypt for four hundred years, but we read in Exodus chapter two verses twenty-three through twenty- ve, “During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” God didn’t forget his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is simply the easiest way of expressing the fact that it may seem like such to us. God’s memory is consistent with his promises and he will always take action on behalf of those faithful to him. It may not be how or when we would like. We are told that God is the one that had caused Hannahs womb to be closed, and so it must then be God who opens her womb. He did not forget. He was simply waiting for just the right time. What did we need to wait for? Perhaps for Elkanah and Hannah to reach a maturity in the Lord and trust in the Lord for what would come next in their relationship with their son Samuel. It would seem that the Lord was waiting for Eli’s sons to come to an age that the people would know them well as priests among the people. There may have even been other reasons that we will never know about. Whatever the reason God required a period of time before Hannahs rst born son could be born to her. And so, he caused her womb to be closed until the time was right for Samuel to be born. I believe that God gives three answers to every prayer. The last two for some reason we always interpret, I believe, as silence from the Lord. The possible answer the Lord gives to prayer are Yes, No, and wait on me. Hannah had a prayer request and she was told to wait. But, when the time was right. The Lord lead her to pray and he answered her in the midst of her anguish and pain through the love of her husband. And our child is born. And Hannah names him Samuel. Now there are two possible ways to read Samuels name in Hebrew one of them would be interpreted as “the name of the lord”. The other option would interpret his name to be “the Lord hears.” It is this last interpretation that I prefer. I believe that it ts best with our text. For instance we read in verse twenty right after Hannah names him Samuel she says, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” I’m not sure how his name meaning the name of the Lord ts with this statement form Hannah. But the Lord hears, I believe, ts very well. It even ts with our example of God remembering Israel from earlier. We read in Exodus chapter two verse twenty-four, “And God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” In fact as we continue through the story we will see God use Samuels name as a play on words several times. fi fi fi fi fi fi fi fi ffi ff Now to the di cult part of our story. Hannah is going to now ful ll her vow to the Lord and so we read in verses twenty-one through twenty-three, “The man Elkanah and all his house went up to o er to the Lord the yearly sacri ce and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for There is this progression in Hannahs life that is important to see. It is more often than not the progression that God moves us all through life. First we see Hannah originally go to shiloh EMPTY. In rst Samuel chapter one verse two we read that she was barren. Her womb was empty. As we continue to read her story we realize that not even the immense love that her husband shows to her can ll the emptiness that is within. And so in verse ten we read that she o ers her tears to the Lord, “She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.” The Lord alone is the one that can truly ll the emptiness that we all feel deep within our souls, the Lord remembered Hannah and she bore a son. Then her womb is lled. And the emptiness that was present is lled with joy. And Hannah responds rightly. She returns to Shiloh this time lled and she o ers everything to God. We read in verses twenty-four through twenty- ve, “And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of our, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli.” She rejoices and worships in the Lord. And she takes the greatest blessing she had ever received from the Lord and she gives it back to the Lord as a blessing for others. Wow! What a testimony to Hannahs trust in the Lord. Then she says to Eli the priest, “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. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.” And then our story concludes with the greatest description a man could ever have spoken concerning him. We read about Samuel, “And he worshiped the LORD there.” Samuel will grow to be a man of God. So What? First and most importantly I hope from our story we can see that children are a gift from God. We read in Psalm 127 verse three, “Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.” Hannah uniquely understood this in that it took the miraculous work of the LORD for her to conceive and give birth so Samuel. As frustrating as children can be at times for a myriad of reasons, we need to see the treasure that they truly are as gifts sent by God. fi ff fi fl fi fi fi fi ff fi fi ffi Most importantly. We need to see from our passage that we pass on our worship. In verse three of our story we read, “Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacri ce to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord.” Elkanah was a man of worship who went yearly to worship the Lord during the prescribed time of feasts. Then in verse thirteen we read concerning Hannah, “Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman.” Hannah was a woman of prayer who sought the Lord in the midst of her distress and anguish. We see godly examples of parents in both Elkanah and Hannah and the result of that is found in the nal part of verse twenty-eight where fi fi she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.” Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.” So Hannah spent the rst two to three years of Samuel life with him. After which she says that she will not only dedicate Samuel to the Lord, but that she will give him to the Lord for service to Him. One of the most di cult and yet most important things that a mother can do is to trust that the Lord has her children within his very hand. And none of us are being asked to do so in the way that Hannah has vowed to do. we read concerning Samuel, “And he worshiped the LORD there.” Samuel like his parents before him is counted by the Lord as one of the faithful few. Now I didn’t intend this when I chose the two verses to show the faithfulness of Elkanah and Hannah, but both of these verses mention Eli. Eli is the priest who will raise Samuel and teach him the way of the priesthood. However, it does not appear that Eli is a man who passed on His faith to his own children. Remember this contrast that I have mentioned earlier that God is making in the birth of Samuel between the faithful few and the apostate of Israel. Eli is used in our passage as an example of parenting. However, parenting gone wrong. In the next chapter in verse eleven we read concerning Samuel, “Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.” And then in the very next verse concerning the children of Eli we read, “Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.” The greatest gift that Hannah gave to Samuel was to pass on to Him her faith in the Lord. This truth has never changed and will never change. The greatest gift a mother or father can give to their children is the gift of their faith in the Lord. We give this gift by practicing our faith daily before our children. In whatever we do we must do it unto the Lord so that our children will see and learn the greatness of our God. The second greatest gift the Hannah gave to Samuel was to trust the Lord with Samuels life in every respect. Eli was not the greatest of men to entrust Samuel with. However, it was not Eli that the faith and trust was being placed in. It was in the Lord. How far are we willing to trust the Lord with the care of our children physically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually? More than anything else. I hope that we can see that being a good mother or a good father for that matter all starts with the same thing. Do you want to be a good mother? Whether you have children or not you can and will act as a mother to someone at some point in your life and that person may or may not be your child or younger adult by birth. The thing that is of most importance and has the greatest impact on your children is… The very depth of your relationship with God. Let me pray for us. Father God we come humbly before you seeking you rst and foremost to change our hearts that we might see the children all around us as gifts given by you. Father help us to continually see the great responsibility you have placed upon all of us to cause these children to rise up as men and women of God Almighty. Jesus we beg you for your grace and mercy when we mess it up. As fallen humans we are most certainly going to do so. Protect us and our children from ourselves when those times come. Rather guide us in righteousness and grace that we might provide the example so many around us need to see daily. Holy Spirit ll us with your wisdom and truth that we might lead the next generation that they might know you and that you might in their time of need remember them. Amen Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen fi . fi . Amen