A sermon on Hannah
29.10.06 1 Samuel 1:19-28
I don’t think it’s just my children I think it’s a recent phenomenon, but kids these days always seem to be invited to multiple children’s parties. My house hold is no exception Some weeks its not unusual to have several invitations stuck on our fridge.
More often than not, though it causes a problem, especially with little ones. You see little ones don’t seem to understand the point of a birthday present. While you and I understand that birthday presents are meant to be given away they aren’t able to comprehend this difficult adult concept. They think that the present is for them! Every now and then there are even tears when they have to give the present away. Its hard being a five year old sometimes!
I wonder how many of us adults have given a gift that we have wanted to keep ourselves. That’s exactly the story for today. And let me warn you right from the start this is a story about extraordinary faith. It’s a story about letting God take care. It’s a story that we can easily find ourselves involved in.
Context.
On Sunday nights we have been discussing the life and times of the Old Testament Prophet, Samuel. Samuel plays a decisive role in the history of Israel. He was the last of the OT judges and appointed the nations first king.
Samuels’ beginning though was not altogether without problems. You see there was a time when he wasn’t looking like he was going to get a Guernsey.
Hannah, that is Samuels’s mother didn’t have children. If you know anything about ancient near eastern culture you would know that its not good. In fact its really, really bad. A bit like the biggest curse you could ever have on your life. Having a child was everything for a woman. It meant you were valued, it meant you contributed. In popular perception it meant that God had blessed you. So to not have a child the opposite applied. But even more. To not have a child meant that you had no one to take care of you when you got old, no one to provide for you. No one to carry on the family name. In short it was like having no future.
But it gets worse, you see her husband had another wife (a very brave man!) and she had at least four kids. And she would rub it in like you would not believe. This caused Hanna great pain and distress. It’s a bit like having a permanent reminder of your inadequacies in front of you every single day. Now the story is a bit more complicated than this but finally one day in absolute frustration Hannah goes to the Temple of the Lord and cries out before God. God she says if you give me a baby boy I will give him back to you to serve you all the days of his life.
This is where we pick up the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Elkanah the husband of Hannah, Eli the priest of the Lord and Samuel who is soon to be born.
The bible tells us that the Lord heard her prayer and acted on her request.
So you get what’s going on for Hannah. At one stage she had absolutely nothing, no hope, no inheritance, no future and now because God heard her prayer she has it all. And all wrapped up in this little kid called Samuel.
The point for Hannah
And here’s the thing, she promised to give him away. She said to God that if he gave her the blessing of a child then she would dedicate that child back to his service.
Now I want you to think about this. Not so much about the child, but think about what he represented.
Think about her future, think about all the ridicule she had finally managed to avoid because she had proved her worth, all the pain of barrenness that had been taken away, all the hope that was found in this child.
And then think about that as gone. More to the point given away. Finished. completed
But you see this is not some stoic act. Hannah was not some person who had a robotic faith. This wasn’t as easy as how it’s written down, as easy as how we read it so flippantly. And this is where we connect with the story. Each one of us have concerns over the future. Everybody wonders where its all going and how its going to end.
If you listen to anybody for a while you will hear their dreams, their hopes, their desires for the future. Thinking about the future takes up a lot of our time. I mean we are always planning for the future, what we are going to do tomorrow, what groceries we need too buy for the week ahead. What we need to do to keep the machine going. And other times we think as more of a longer term, so future thoughts like have we got enough superannuation for retirement, have our children picked the right career, what investments should I place our trust in and so on.
I wonder though where God fits in, in your future? I wonder if you have given much thought to how you would involve God in where you are going.
How do you walk into your future? These are really important questions because most of us are really uncertain about our futures and very anxious just how they are going to turn out.
I want to briefly outline Hannah’s struggle with her life and see if we can draw from that any things we can learn in respect of our future. I am fundamentally convinced that we today can benefit enormously from hearing theses old stories of faith. If you haven’t got where I am going by now I will tell you - what Hannah was doing by taking Samuel to the temple was giving up her future.
There are 3 things that I want to mention.
All these are found in one little verse - 28 “Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.’ She left him there for* the Lord.”
Lent
Did you notice what Hannah says in the first sentence of verse 28. She has Samuel there in the temple in front of the prophet Eli. Samuel is probably 5 years old or so, but certainly no older. Notice what she says “I have lent him to the Lord.” Now I don’t know about you but that indicates to me a certain reluctance to hand him over! And I don’t blame her. I have a 5 year old in my house and I don’t want to hand her over to anybody. Suzie will tell you I don’t even like dropping her off at kindy! Let alone leaving her at a temple with some strange old guy!!
So understandably Hannah says she is lending Samuel to the Lord. She is giving him to the Lord but she is going to want him back.
Now I don’t’ what to talk with you about making promises to God and fulfilling vows. Because I want to talk with you about how you perceive your future. I wonder if you can sympathize with Hannah because your future is lent to the Lord? In other words you would like to have some faith that God has got it all in hand, that the black space you are walking towards is going to be ok – but you are not quite sure.
There are a lot of us that like to lend things to God. Time, experience, abilities our loyalty. I see it all the time. We make it conditional because something better might come along and then we can take it back. We lend it because maybe God has not got our best interest at heart and he might ask us to do something that’s uncomfortable.
But you see this is not the path of Jesus. Lending yourself and your future to God is only paying lip service to what God is calling you to. If you find that your faith is only a lending faith, then maybe its time to take the next step on the journey. Is it time to really consider the claims of Jesus on your life.
Given
If we go back to Hannah we find that she has made another step. The text says that “as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord…” do you see the progression? Do you see how she has moved and now decides to entrust God with Samuel. It’s a big step really, if you ask me.
My father was the son of missionaries who made the choice to send 3 of the 5 children to Scotland for schooling while they remained in Africa. The Second World War made it impossible for his parents to visit and so the 3 children lived for 11 years in a boarding school waiting for their parents. That’s really something isn’t it. I would love now to talk with my grandparents about just how they did that and what it was like. Unfortunately I can’t, but I would bet my last dollar that it was a huge struggle.
I wonder how much we trust God? How much we are able to give the future dreams that we have, those hopes those things that are most precious to us and give them over to God asking for his involvement in those situations?
You see we are talking about entrusting all our ideas and expectations and security into the hands of God. Is that something that you and I are able to do? Can you say God you are big enough to take care of this for me, for my financial security, for my loved ones, my health??
Can you do that? Because that’s the path of Jesus. Those are the words of the carpenter who says to his disciples “come and follow me”. He says choose me above everything else.
Now I know that a lot of people will stumble over that point, and that it’s a hard thing to grapple with. We are so logical, so planned, so strategic and in some cases so materialistic that its difficult to live our lives in such an attitude of faith. But there is actually more. There is one more thing in this text that invites us forward.
Left
But there is something else that Hannah did. The last bit of the verse says “She left him there for* the Lord.” She left Samuel there and walked away. Wow. She left all her future and security at the feet of the Lord and walked away.
If that’s not a description of total faith I don’t know what is.
Now make no mistake this is not blind obedience. This is not stupidity wrapped up in a veil of religion. This is not some suicide bomber ideology. This is faith that says the God who had led her and provided for her up to this point will continue to do so again.
My friends we are so far away from this sort of faith that most of us will find this totally incredible. But you see my job is not to tickle your ears but to provoke you to see other realities. My job is to say that the God we experience through these sacred pages, who did such marvellous things in the past is alive and well and doing those same things today!
And so God calls to us through the story of Hannah and Samuel and cries out that we might be the same people of faith. Even here in the 21st century, with all our sophistication and structure and confidence. That we might be an anomaly in a world of confusion and uncertainty. They we may stand on the Promises of Jesus and have a confidence that our future is safe in his hands.
There is no more crucial time than now for people of faith to put it all on the line for Jesus. Our world is in turmoil, everywhere you look we are heading for disaster. Its obvious we have not done a good job of running our own future. Why don’t we hand it over to God - totally
Its easy for us as individuals and even the contemporary church to become engaged in excessive self interest. As C.S. Lewis once said “once we lose sight of the importance of God we loose sight of the real importance of everything”. It makes you think.
Jim Elliott a famous missionary of last century said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”
I wonder where you’re at in your faith with God? Lent? Given? Left? Maybe its time to rethink just where we are at and take a step forward.
I don’t think it’s just my children I think it’s a recent phenomenon, but kids these days always seem to be invited to multiple children’s parties. My house hold is no exception Some weeks its not unusual to have several invitations stuck on our fridge.
More often than not, though it causes a problem, especially with little ones. You see little ones don’t seem to understand the point of a birthday present. While you and I understand that birthday presents are meant to be given away they aren’t able to comprehend this difficult adult concept. They think that the present is for them! Every now and then there are even tears when they have to give the present away. Its hard being a five year old sometimes!
I wonder how many of us adults have given a gift that we have wanted to keep ourselves. That’s exactly the story for today. And let me warn you right from the start this is a story about extraordinary faith. It’s a story about letting God take care. It’s a story that we can easily find ourselves involved in.
Context.
On Sunday nights we have been discussing the life and times of the Old Testament Prophet, Samuel. Samuel plays a decisive role in the history of Israel. He was the last of the OT judges and appointed the nations first king.
Samuels’ beginning though was not altogether without problems. You see there was a time when he wasn’t looking like he was going to get a Guernsey.
Hannah, that is Samuels’s mother didn’t have children. If you know anything about ancient near eastern culture you would know that its not good. In fact its really, really bad. A bit like the biggest curse you could ever have on your life. Having a child was everything for a woman. It meant you were valued, it meant you contributed. In popular perception it meant that God had blessed you. So to not have a child the opposite applied. But even more. To not have a child meant that you had no one to take care of you when you got old, no one to provide for you. No one to carry on the family name. In short it was like having no future.
But it gets worse, you see her husband had another wife (a very brave man!) and she had at least four kids. And she would rub it in like you would not believe. This caused Hanna great pain and distress. It’s a bit like having a permanent reminder of your inadequacies in front of you every single day. Now the story is a bit more complicated than this but finally one day in absolute frustration Hannah goes to the Temple of the Lord and cries out before God. God she says if you give me a baby boy I will give him back to you to serve you all the days of his life.
This is where we pick up the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Elkanah the husband of Hannah, Eli the priest of the Lord and Samuel who is soon to be born.
The bible tells us that the Lord heard her prayer and acted on her request.
So you get what’s going on for Hannah. At one stage she had absolutely nothing, no hope, no inheritance, no future and now because God heard her prayer she has it all. And all wrapped up in this little kid called Samuel.
The point for Hannah
And here’s the thing, she promised to give him away. She said to God that if he gave her the blessing of a child then she would dedicate that child back to his service.
Now I want you to think about this. Not so much about the child, but think about what he represented.
Think about her future, think about all the ridicule she had finally managed to avoid because she had proved her worth, all the pain of barrenness that had been taken away, all the hope that was found in this child.
And then think about that as gone. More to the point given away. Finished. completed
But you see this is not some stoic act. Hannah was not some person who had a robotic faith. This wasn’t as easy as how it’s written down, as easy as how we read it so flippantly. And this is where we connect with the story. Each one of us have concerns over the future. Everybody wonders where its all going and how its going to end.
If you listen to anybody for a while you will hear their dreams, their hopes, their desires for the future. Thinking about the future takes up a lot of our time. I mean we are always planning for the future, what we are going to do tomorrow, what groceries we need too buy for the week ahead. What we need to do to keep the machine going. And other times we think as more of a longer term, so future thoughts like have we got enough superannuation for retirement, have our children picked the right career, what investments should I place our trust in and so on.
I wonder though where God fits in, in your future? I wonder if you have given much thought to how you would involve God in where you are going.
How do you walk into your future? These are really important questions because most of us are really uncertain about our futures and very anxious just how they are going to turn out.
I want to briefly outline Hannah’s struggle with her life and see if we can draw from that any things we can learn in respect of our future. I am fundamentally convinced that we today can benefit enormously from hearing theses old stories of faith. If you haven’t got where I am going by now I will tell you - what Hannah was doing by taking Samuel to the temple was giving up her future.
There are 3 things that I want to mention.
All these are found in one little verse - 28 “Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.’ She left him there for* the Lord.”
Lent
Did you notice what Hannah says in the first sentence of verse 28. She has Samuel there in the temple in front of the prophet Eli. Samuel is probably 5 years old or so, but certainly no older. Notice what she says “I have lent him to the Lord.” Now I don’t know about you but that indicates to me a certain reluctance to hand him over! And I don’t blame her. I have a 5 year old in my house and I don’t want to hand her over to anybody. Suzie will tell you I don’t even like dropping her off at kindy! Let alone leaving her at a temple with some strange old guy!!
So understandably Hannah says she is lending Samuel to the Lord. She is giving him to the Lord but she is going to want him back.
Now I don’t’ what to talk with you about making promises to God and fulfilling vows. Because I want to talk with you about how you perceive your future. I wonder if you can sympathize with Hannah because your future is lent to the Lord? In other words you would like to have some faith that God has got it all in hand, that the black space you are walking towards is going to be ok – but you are not quite sure.
There are a lot of us that like to lend things to God. Time, experience, abilities our loyalty. I see it all the time. We make it conditional because something better might come along and then we can take it back. We lend it because maybe God has not got our best interest at heart and he might ask us to do something that’s uncomfortable.
But you see this is not the path of Jesus. Lending yourself and your future to God is only paying lip service to what God is calling you to. If you find that your faith is only a lending faith, then maybe its time to take the next step on the journey. Is it time to really consider the claims of Jesus on your life.
Given
If we go back to Hannah we find that she has made another step. The text says that “as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord…” do you see the progression? Do you see how she has moved and now decides to entrust God with Samuel. It’s a big step really, if you ask me.
My father was the son of missionaries who made the choice to send 3 of the 5 children to Scotland for schooling while they remained in Africa. The Second World War made it impossible for his parents to visit and so the 3 children lived for 11 years in a boarding school waiting for their parents. That’s really something isn’t it. I would love now to talk with my grandparents about just how they did that and what it was like. Unfortunately I can’t, but I would bet my last dollar that it was a huge struggle.
I wonder how much we trust God? How much we are able to give the future dreams that we have, those hopes those things that are most precious to us and give them over to God asking for his involvement in those situations?
You see we are talking about entrusting all our ideas and expectations and security into the hands of God. Is that something that you and I are able to do? Can you say God you are big enough to take care of this for me, for my financial security, for my loved ones, my health??
Can you do that? Because that’s the path of Jesus. Those are the words of the carpenter who says to his disciples “come and follow me”. He says choose me above everything else.
Now I know that a lot of people will stumble over that point, and that it’s a hard thing to grapple with. We are so logical, so planned, so strategic and in some cases so materialistic that its difficult to live our lives in such an attitude of faith. But there is actually more. There is one more thing in this text that invites us forward.
Left
But there is something else that Hannah did. The last bit of the verse says “She left him there for* the Lord.” She left Samuel there and walked away. Wow. She left all her future and security at the feet of the Lord and walked away.
If that’s not a description of total faith I don’t know what is.
Now make no mistake this is not blind obedience. This is not stupidity wrapped up in a veil of religion. This is not some suicide bomber ideology. This is faith that says the God who had led her and provided for her up to this point will continue to do so again.
My friends we are so far away from this sort of faith that most of us will find this totally incredible. But you see my job is not to tickle your ears but to provoke you to see other realities. My job is to say that the God we experience through these sacred pages, who did such marvellous things in the past is alive and well and doing those same things today!
And so God calls to us through the story of Hannah and Samuel and cries out that we might be the same people of faith. Even here in the 21st century, with all our sophistication and structure and confidence. That we might be an anomaly in a world of confusion and uncertainty. They we may stand on the Promises of Jesus and have a confidence that our future is safe in his hands.
There is no more crucial time than now for people of faith to put it all on the line for Jesus. Our world is in turmoil, everywhere you look we are heading for disaster. Its obvious we have not done a good job of running our own future. Why don’t we hand it over to God - totally
Its easy for us as individuals and even the contemporary church to become engaged in excessive self interest. As C.S. Lewis once said “once we lose sight of the importance of God we loose sight of the real importance of everything”. It makes you think.
Jim Elliott a famous missionary of last century said “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”
I wonder where you’re at in your faith with God? Lent? Given? Left? Maybe its time to rethink just where we are at and take a step forward.
posted by Jonathan at 11:38 AM
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