1 Samuel 1 Bible Study (The Birth of Samuel) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (1 Samuel Series)

Father, we wanna just thank you immediately before we even begin this book of how grateful we are that you have inspired our hearts to love your word. Thank you for a church that loves your word. Thank you that on a Friday night, people craved your word. This is surely a work of your spirit. We acknowledge it for your glory in this place.

We ask Lord, that you would bless this series of studies in the book of first Samuel, that everything that you intended to say would be said, and that, Lord, it would apply to our lives. God, we desperately ask that you would protect us from being Pharisees who studied the scriptures but missed Christ, who knew the word but did not come to the God of the word for themselves, who had knowledge but did not have life. Lord, bring us to Christ. Bring us to communion with Christ. Let our lives change.

Let there be conviction when needed, comfort when needed. Lord, speak through this book so that we can be conformed to the image of your son. We trust that you have much for us. And with anticipation and with the psalmist, we say that your word, your law is better than food, better than treasure, better than gold and silver, sweeter than honey. Thank you, Lord, for the revelation that you have prepared for us today.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. First Samuel chapter one. Meet me there, please. In the last chapters of the book of Judges, we encountered a reoccurring phrase, and it was this.

In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone was doing that which was right in their own eyes. The books of first and second Samuel will transition us from that reality, from monarchy, rather from theocracy to monarchy, from the nation of Israel being ruled by God directly to the nation of Israel being ruled by human kings who are under God. You know, what's so interesting is that this book will detail for us a major shift in Israel's political system, spiritual system, social system. But when you come to the Hebrew library, because they have the same books as we do in the Old Testament, they have a different layout.

And first and second Samuel are actually one large book. It's just the book of Samuel. And it's not laid out after the book of Ruth. It is actually laid out right after the book of Judges. So there's there's an unbroken continuation from the last verse of Judges, which tells us that there was no king in Israel, to now bringing us to the to the suspense of, well, is this story gonna gonna tell us now if that king is going to come?

And that is what is about to happen here. And what we quickly realize though is that when we come to the first few chapters of the book of first Samuel, we don't see anything about a king. That doesn't mean that these primary chapters are any less important though. They are the back story. They are the backdrop to that central point.

And you and I throughout this book are gonna see many prophetic things, many practical things, but the the main thing here, the core point that's going to be driven into our hearts is, we're going to learn whether or not the human kings that they craved are actually going to provide what they needed. And you already know the answer to that, but we're gonna see it fleshed out, especially in second Samuel and when we come into first and second Kings. And so let's read in verse one of chapter one. 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 Ziph, and 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. Now, if you're reading from Judges to first Samuel without the break of Ruth, you might be thinking, is Elkanah gonna be this king that Israel needs? We aren't sure just yet, but we are given his lineage. And that's important because the Bible is trying to tell us about his his ancestry, where he came from, his family line.

And when you go to first chronicles six, which you don't need to turn there, it's much more exhaustive. And what we learn about Elkanah is that he was actually a Levite. He was a Levite that was born in the area or rather raised in the area of Ephraim. So he is actually from the the priestly line, which helps us because when we come to realize who Elkanah's son is, and he's going to serve in the tabernacle, we we realize why that is allowed. Because Samuel is actually going to be from the tribe of Levi, giving him permission to serve in the tabernacle.

But apart from that, which is also gonna be very inspirational because we're gonna realize that Samuel was used despite his family wreckage. You'll see it in a few chapters. Nonetheless, we're told about Elkanah's life in the now, in the immediate sense. And what we learn about Elkanah is that he had two wives. He had two wives, and the order of their names suggests that Hannah was his first wife.

And it's quite possible that because Hannah, as we're about to learn, did not have children or could not produce children, then Elkanah was so stirred about this that he he marries someone else. He marries a woman named Peninnah. Now, just a reminder that polygamy in the Bible is not permitted by the word of God. This is not something that God designed for marriage. And if there's any confusion about this idea of polygamy and why God seems to be silent, remember he wasn't silent.

He set the standard for what marriage should be. One man, one woman, cleaving to one another for life. And so just because, as critics would like to point out, just because the Bible records men, even faithful men, men who serve God having multiple wives, is not any suggestion that God is approving of it. In fact, every time you see a scene of polygamy, every time you see an example of it, you will realize that it is never in a favorable light. It is continually inviting us to see the the magnification of internal strife, and jealousy, and turmoil, and overall chaos in that household.

Why? Because whenever you do anything that is contrary to God's design for marriage, you always inherit confusion. And that is no different here. You see with Abraham, and Hagar, and Sarah, and you see it here with Elkanah as we're about to discover. And so this man, because obviously he's a godly man as we're about to read, he he had this human solution to his problem that was, well, if my family line is not gonna continue, then I have to marry someone else.

And he does, but I believe that there was another option for this man. I believe that he had a different route to take than this one, but he doesn't nonetheless. And so we read what happens about Elkanah after we're told that he had two wives. Verse three. Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord.

K. As much as the man messed up in his married life, he was a man who honored God. He was a man who revered God. Remember, first Samuel is not too far off from the book of Judges. Ruth was during the times of Judges, and first Samuel is a little bit just after the conclusion of Judges.

So we're still in a time of moral anarchy. We're still in a time of much spiritual compromise. And here's one man who's actually observing the feast every single year. The feast that demanded the average Israelite to come physically to the house of God and worship him. And he's doing that.

He is doing that faithfully. And he's coming before the Lord. And we're told you that he's coming during the time when the spiritual leadership was under the management of two figures, Hophni and Phineas. You're saying, why is the Bible telling us that? Because it's not until you go to chapter two where you realize who Hothi and Phineas are.

And you want a brief description of these pastors? Go to chapter two and look at verse 12. Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. How about that for pastors? Were worthless men, they did not know the Lord.

Oh, you can be a pastor and not know the Lord. Let me shock you tonight. You can be a pastor and not be born again. You can go to seminary and not be born again. You can have PhD and not be born again.

They did not know the Lord. And I come back to chapter one, and I see Elkanah with his family going to worship, and I am encouraged. I'm encouraged. I'm not discouraged by this. You know why I'm encouraged?

Because regardless of the failures of the spiritual leadership, you see a man who will not fail his God. You see a man and his family still choosing to go and worship the Lord despite the spiritual climate of his day. He would not allow what the men who were supposed to set an example, fail his devotion and stifle his worship to the Lord. And so we hear of a scandal, and we should be disturbed, but we shouldn't be shaken. And in your life, God forbid, perhaps in the past you've experienced this, and I pray that you never never would in the future, you will see spiritual leaders perhaps fail you, sometimes royally, sometimes in a way that would scar you.

What are you gonna do about it? Stop going to church? Stop praising God. Stop reading the word while they preach the bible and they live like that. Surely, there's no power.

Hey. This man chose to go before God even though the priests were in such compromise that it would actually cause God to judge their descendants. You and I have no excuse. Keep your eyes on Christ like Elkanah does. Verse four.

On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Interesting. So we have another insight, a very crucial insight to to Hannah's condition of not being able to bear children. And what are we told?

It was God's doing. It was God's doing. The Lord was the one who sealed her womb, and I'm sure that verse alone triggers an explosion of thoughts for you to to to think about why God would allow such a thing. Especially when you compare Hannah to Peninnah. I mean, we're about to find out that Peninnah is vicious.

She is brutal. She is unkind, and she's popping up these babies. And here's Hannah who has a gracious spirit, who fears God and she can't even have one child. How does that work? If you're judging in the flesh, you would say, if there's anybody that deserve not to have babies, it was Penina.

And here's God allowing Penina to have her own little soccer team. And you know what? That's how many of us think in this world today. Some even are suffering like Hannah is suffering here. And then we think to ourselves, oh, here's a woman of God who desires to be married even and desires to have children.

Maybe they're married and they can't have children and and they have potential to raise up a godly family. And here's a world that the moment they they are given the news that they're pregnant, they're ready to chop that baby up and wipe their mouth like they did nothing. And so God will give a godless generation children and smash them to pieces, and here you are the godly that can't bear children. God will allow the wicked to live long healthy lives, and and we read of or we see or even know people that serve God so faithfully being removed from the earth so early. We go, how does this work?

That person had so much potential to advance the kingdom of God, and there they are now in the presence of the Lord, and we're here in this mess. And what's important to understand here is that there's comfort in this verse. And here's the comfort. We read it and we think, how can God do this? But here's the point.

God is doing it. He's sovereign over her suffering. He's sovereign, and though we don't know why he's doing this, you ready for this? We know who is doing it. And that makes all the difference.

We don't know why he's doing this. In fact, to our natural equation, we think, how can he do this? You're gonna let Penaena be a mother to these children? Like, I'm gonna have to pray for her children. And then here's this wonderful woman of God, and she can't even have one.

How? Well, don't worry about the how. Don't worry about the why. Be concerned about the who. God is the one who is sovereign over her turmoil.

God is the one who closed it, and God is the one who is able to open it. And when the faithful are undergoing turmoil outside of their own sinful choices, Meaning, when it's uninvited trials that are outside of your control, you have permission to be at peace. You have permission to have a rest. Even when you think that your suffering is suffocating, is suffocating your ability to serve God, you can be comforted to know that God is in control. Do you know why this is such a painful thing for a woman like Hannah?

It goes beyond the reality of you not just being able to have the loveliness of a home. This was this was seen almost as a judgment from God, because God said something about his nation through the seed of Abraham. And it's almost as though every single Israeli woman at this time had a sense of divine mandate from God in the place of bearing children. Let me be Let me remind you what God told Abraham. You don't have to turn there, but listen to the words.

God told Abraham in Genesis twenty two seventeen. I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you've obeyed my voice. Through your offspring, I will multiply and and you will become a populous people. You'll become a numerous people.

And every woman had a connection to that mandate. We get to partner with God to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. And here's Hannah, an onlooker. An onlooker. Because some would say that there is woman in the nation of Israel throughout the years that would even believe that through their child, the Messiah would come, as told in Genesis three.

So this is more than just I can't have a baby and I can't have nice pictures. This is about a divine mandate that can't be accomplished, and you just feel less than the average person. So this was especially grieving to an to a woman at this time. It was painful. I can't have my own children.

Sure. I can't continue my my husband's name. Sure. But I can't fulfill what God said he would fulfill through through my womb. And so this woman was even trapped in her place of being used by God.

The way God called Abraham and promised through him would be a blessing to many people. And so she's broken, sincerely broken. But we are told, we are given a commentary, God is allowing this. God is allowing this because God has a reason, and God knows. God knows what he said to Abraham and what he would say through so many of these women, and he knows what he's doing here.

That's where we find solace. That's where we find rest. Okay, Lord. You're good. You're holy.

You're wise. You're perfect. I can trust you in my barrenness. I can trust you in my brokenness. I can trust you in my handicap.

I can trust you in my limitations. But here's the thing. Hannah is gonna respond to her suffering in a certain way. But before we see her response, you're gonna see the actions of two others and how they interpret this. And we come here in verse six, and we see Peninnah's Peninnah's response to this woman's barrenness, and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb.

Now look at this. You think that's bad? Look at verse seven. So it went on year by year. Year by year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.

Now, this is disturbing for many reasons. One, for the fact that this woman is already afflicted, you're gonna add more salt to the wound by you spewing and mocking and scorning, and who knows what Panaina said? Surely, you must be a sinner. Did you have other husbands before you married Elkanah? Are you a prostitute by any chance?

Who knows what she told this woman over and over again, only to spite her and smite her with her words? That's bad. But you know what's worse when I read this? She did it every time they went to the house of God. Year after year, whenever they would go to the house of the Lord.

Can you imagine this? I want you to picture this. They would go to the feast and there were special times of rehearsing the faithfulness of God. There were special times where you could receive fresh forgiveness from God. You offered your sacrifice.

You ate in his presence. You worship the Lord. And this woman, in that kind of a setting, in that kind of an environment, could do all those things only to turn around, look at Hannah in the eyes and mock her and mock her. And I said, this is disturbing, but it's a present reality in many churches. Because there are people that can go to church week after week and still do damage to other people who go to the same church.

Yeah. There can be people man, you can preach on gossip every week. You can preach on love. You can preach on humility. You can preach on how you're supposed to treat one another.

And people can get right back up and by lunchtime, do the exact opposite of what you just said. Trust me. It can happen week after week. And what's disappointing to me is that this is happening in the house of law where you're supposed to find that love and peace and trust. And Instead, what you're experiencing is more pain and more grief and more shame and more embarrassment.

If you feel like you don't wanna be here for that reason, that's a terrible reality. That's a terrible reality. In fact, I wanna show you something. Go to first Corinthians 11. Let's just go there.

Maybe this sermon will work. And let's go to verse 17 of chapter 11 of first Corinthians. And look what Paul says in the new testament. But in the following instructions, I do not commend you because when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse. When you come together, you know what Paul is saying as a church?

It's actually worse than it is better. It's better for you not to go to church. It's actually better for your mind, for your spirituality, for your for for for everything. It's better for you not to go because when you come together, things get really ugly. Can you imagine such a description for a church?

Can you imagine that it is worse for me to go to church than it would be for me not to go because of the people inside of it? How? Well, for the same reason, like Kenaina, they don't fear God. You can observe the things of God. You can attend.

You can sing. You can hear, you can amen, you can lift your hand, you can hold the bible in your hand, but at the same time, you can destroy someone's name with the same lips that sang praises to God. Penaiah here is ripping apart a woman of God at the same church she went to. And it's a sad sight to see, but here's the encouraging part. If it were not for Penaina, you're about to find out that Hannah is gonna be so overcome with grief, not just because of her condition, but because of the attitude of someone else that it's gonna actually lead her to pray a desperate prayer.

And I wonder if it had not been for Peninnah. I see Peninnah as a manifestation of the thorn of the flesh, at least one form of it. And I believe in in in one way, Hannah is gonna be so overcome with annoyance of the consistent spiritual hypocrisy of this woman. It's actually gonna be the very fuel that's gonna bring her to a place of deeper spirituality with God. And so I just love this because God can sovereignly take the malicious attitude of someone else that you can't even escape, and is gonna use it to deepen her walk with the Lord.

Hallelujah. And so we see the attitude of Peninnah, but we also see the attitude of her husband in verse eight. And Elkanah, her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad?

And may not more to you than 10 sons? Elkanah has a different approach than the penaina. We can applaud Elkanah as a husband because he's genuinely trying to comfort his wife. He he's genuinely trying to remove you know, relieve her from pain and from turmoil. Like, she is so broken, she can't even eat.

She has no appetite. And Alcona is seeing this. He's observing her pain. And so he comes along this her side, and and he's trying to what is he trying to do? He's trying to take her gaze off of her barrenness and to the blessings that she has.

And Elkanah, like any good husband, saying, look at me. I'm a lovely husband. Am I not? I'm a wonderful man. Look how God has blessed you with me.

I mean, sounds like a typical husband, really. Right? Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.

Am I not am I not this? Am I not that? And and Hannah's there, like, I'm sure she she nodded her head and she agreed. And although we see this man and we say, you know, you're trying. You're trying.

I believe Elkanah could have done more. He could have offered Hannah more. And I can't help but think of another story because there are many instances of woman who are barren and God broke through that barrenness, and one of them is with with Isaac. Look at Genesis twenty five twenty one in your Bibles. I want you to see how Isaac partnered with his wife when he found out that she was barren, and you're gonna see contrast.

We don't know if Elkanah said more than this. We don't know if Elkanah prayed for his wife. I'm just going with what the Holy Spirit's revealed. And let's just assume this is his his main attempt to try to comfort his wife. But look at what Isaac does to his wife.

And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. Isn't that a precious verse? Isaac sees, and Isaac had a father, Abraham, who knew the pain of barrenness. And instead of repeating what his father did by taking on another wife and seeing the mess that caused, he just goes straight to God.

And he comes before the Lord, and whether his wife was there or not, we don't know. But he comes before the Lord, says, oh, Lord, my wife is barren. She needs help. You're sovereign over her womb. Lord, if it is your will and by your grace, I pray that you would open it and give us children according to the covenant that you've made with my father and with me.

And then God answered it. But you know what's amazing? We find out from the verses before this that Isaac married and became one with Rebecca at the age of 40. At the age of 40. Right?

Don't be discouraged, guys and gals. It can happen at 40. But we are told that he has children. He has twins. At what age?

You're right. Twenty years later. I don't believe this is a one time prayer. I believe he continually came before God and sat before God and asked God and plead plead with God. But then when you come to first Samuel, Elkanah is not really, you know, giving the advice that maybe Isaac did.

He's not he's not pointing her to God. He's saying, look at me. Look at the blessing that that I can provide you. There's nothing wrong with that. He's trying.

He really is. But I believe he could have gave more. I believe he could have offered his wife more. And what Isaac gave Rebecca is what Hannah really needed. And there just comes a point in your life where the closest people to you cannot fill the void that only God can fill.

So what does Hannah do? Verse nine. After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. And so this is what she's doing.

She's hearing her husband's other wife barking at her, and in the other ear, she's, she's trying to be convinced of what her husband's trying to say. And then it's just like white noise comes in. She doesn't hear anything. She just gets up and says, I need to pour out my soul to God. And what's amazing is that her rival fails her.

Her husband fails her. And guess what? We're about to find out the spiritual leadership, the high priest Eli, he's also going to fail her. But God doesn't. God won't.

You can be misunderstood, misjudged. You People can say you're overreacting. People can try to give you different solutions. And you know down deep inside that only God can touch you in that place. Only God can heal you.

That is the privilege of prayer. That is the opportunity you and I have every single day. That when there is a place where counseling doesn't really work, and sermons can only take you so far, where you come broken and shattered before God, And he understands everything, and he provides the perfect remedy. She comes. She did the right thing.

She makes her way towards God, and she sits at his feet, And that is one of the signs of faith in your life. Listen very carefully. You wanna know if you have faith. You wanna know if you really know God. You wanna know if you really trust in him.

I'll tell you one way you can measure it. The more pain you experience, the more prayer you'll express. The deeper your pain, the deeper your prayer life. If you can endure pain, failures, the sins of others, and you can't recall how as a reflex you came before God, you should ask yourself, do I really trust that he hears me? Because this is modeled by Jesus.

Look at this precious verse in Luke twenty two forty four. Luke twenty two forty four, just to show that I'm not I'm not pulling this out of thin air. This is this is true spiritual insight from the word of God. Luke twenty two forty four, we are told, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.

The more pain he experienced, the greater his cry was before God. The deeper the sorrow, the deeper his prayer life. You know you trust God when you're so overcome that you just burst out with the desire to just communicate with him. You wanna get in your car and you wanna go on a long drive so that you can talk to your God. You can't wait to shut yourself in your room to get on your knees and to say, God, I'm too scared to communicate how deep this pain is to another human.

I'm coming before you because I know that you already know, and you just spill it all out before him. That's not a lack of faith. That's not weakness. That's a sign that you're a man or a woman of God. And surely, this is a woman of God.

So she comes before. She just blocks everything out. And verse 10, we are told she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. I love Hannah because she doesn't bite back. She doesn't shoot down her husband's attempts.

She just goes to God. Yeah. There's a penaina in my church. I'm stuck with her. I'm married to him.

I'm stuck with him. I'm coming before the Lord. And she does. And she weeps, and she weeps, and she weeps. And look how she prays.

And she vowed a vow and said, oh, Lord of hosts. You know what that means? Lord of armies. Out of all the things that she could have said to God and said about God, she says the lord of heavenly armies. And I believe she said that because she was feeling attacked.

She was surrounded from all sides. Her husband, the other wife, in a moment, the spiritual leadership of her day, and she goes, I'm just everywhere I look, I'm surrounded. So lord of host, the one who can defend me and be my shield and rescue me, If you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me, not forget your servant, but will give to your servant. How many times does she have to say she's a servant? See, prayer helps you see God right, and prayer helps you see you right.

But we'll give your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. This is interesting. This is amazing, because she could have come a thousand different ways with this request. She could have come and said, Lord, I'm ashamed. This is embarrassing.

I look like I'm cursed. I don't have purpose in my life. No. That was not the basis for a cry. There was something underneath all that pain and all those desires that fueled everything else and it was this, God being glorified.

God being exalted through her life even in the realm of her having children. That was her main concern. And this was her desire. Lord, I'm asking that you would bless me so that I can bless you. I'm asking that you can give me something so that I can give you something right back.

And so this woman we know right off the bat that she is totally consecrated to the purposes of Lord. That her prayers are laced with selflessness. That she is totally set apart for the kingdom of God and she's concerned here in this moment. Not for her reputation, not for even her pleasure because her pleasure is in this, God, I want to serve you. And in this moment, I feel limited in how I'm able to serve you.

And I believe to a certain extent, it's possible, it's not there, but just entertain the thought with me. That Hannah herself was spiritual enough to interpret the spiritual climate of her day. She wanted a child, but she knew that Israel needed a man of God. She wanted a baby boy, but Israel needed a prophet. So she comes before God, and she says, I'm willing to dedicate him to you for all of his life.

Now why is that interesting? Because if if Elkanah is a Levite and Samuel is also going to be a Levite, then by the law, a large portion of a Levite's life is already surrendered to the service of the tabernacle. You want to see it? Look at numbers eight twenty three. I want you to see this with your eyes.

Numbers eight twenty three to 25. It says, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, this applies to the Levites. Elkanah is a Levite, according to first Chronicles six. Making Samuel a Levite, which means what? From 25 years old and upward, they shall come to the duty in the service of the tent of meeting.

And from the age of 50 years, they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and and serve no more. Every Levite had to give twenty five years of their life to service in the tabernacle. But Hannah's going beyond that. Hannah's saying, I'm not I'm not just gonna give you twenty five years of his life. I want to give you, Lord, from his infancy to his dying breath.

I wanna give you everything. I wanna give you his whole life. I wanna go beyond the priestly duty. I wanna make him a Nazarite, like Samson was a Nazarite. From birth, I want him to be set apart for your glory.

And so this is a deep deep desire that she has. And I really believe it reveals what Hannah truly desired in her life to see God's name exalted, to see God's name magnified. That was her true longing. And it would be unfair for me to say that if you're totally dedicated to the Lord, that every prayer of yours will be answered. But I can confidently say this, that God will move in special ways for those who are set apart for him.

He inclines his ears in a different way to the consecrated ones than to the compromising ones. And that can look like God providing a miracle like he does for Hannah or it can look like him providing the strength and the grace to endure the the suffering so that the world would behold the power of God in weakness. Heart before God. You want better chances for your prayers being answered. First ask God to make you totally consumed for his glory.

First, as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Heart. Only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman. Now, I love this verse for many reasons and I'll tell you one.

I love that God can hear my heart just as loud as he does my voice. I love that he he can he can see my meditation, my contemplation, me sitting up on the end of my bed, and just talking to the Lord without my mouth even opening, and knowing that it's just as loud to him as it is if I shouted till I'm blue in the face. And this woman is just sweetly, internally, and I believe this showing is that everything, all her faculties are part of this this act of crying out to God. Because prayer, true passionate prayer is not defined by volume or by eloquence or by pacing back and forth or by knocking your head against the wall. It is measured when your heart and mind are focused, are focused on God.

And if you're better at focusing with your mouth open and talking to the Lord, so be it. If you're better at containing your words and it coming from your heart like Nehemiah did as well, then so be it. God sees and hears it both ways. But this beautiful scene is quickly interrupted by something so ridiculous, so disappointing. Eli, who's the high priest, who's supposed to have all the spiritual discernment and knowledge and wisdom is sitting there at the door of the tabernacle and Hannah's somewhere in the distance, but not too far off for him to witness what he's seeing.

She's crying out to God. She's praying, but her mouth, she's not speaking but her mouth is moving. And this man is sitting there, this superintendent of whatever denomination you want, and as he's watching her, he calls her a drunk woman. Now that says many things. Let me tell you what one thing it means.

It means that this must have been a regular occurrence. It must have been at this time of Israel's history, not a rare thing that someone would dare come to the house of God intoxicated. So he's like, oh, here's another drunk woman, another feast. Get out of here you drunkie. Which says something terrible about the spiritual condition of this time.

But but here's what's more disappointing, he didn't just lack the discernment, he lacked the wisdom by outright rebuking her for being a drunk woman. Verse 14, and Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. This is what we learned from this. Again, you can be in a spiritual position of leadership and not be spiritual.

This man could not see what he was supposed to see. He could not read what he was supposed to read and therefore, he could not relate as he was called to relate. He judges her. And what's so sad about this is when you come to chapter two, you're gonna find out in detail why his sons are worthless people. But when he comes to this woman who's doing right, he rebukes her.

When it comes to his sons who are doing wrong, he taps them lightly on the wrist. This man is just skewed in in so many of his judgments, which is again telling us and showing us how dire and how dark it is in Israel's day at this point of history. You want to be in spiritual leadership? Get discernment. Have a heart that is connected to God, so you know how to connect to God's people.

This man didn't have it, unfortunately. And Hannah again is just surrounded. I mean, can you imagine how this is so discouraging? You're reading this, you're thinking, Meg, she's not getting a break. I mean, she just left a house of chaos with her husband and the rival.

Now she comes to the house of God and as she comes to the house of God and is getting some kind of relief, then comes this priest saying, why are you drunk in the house of God? It's like, where can you go? Where can you go? But that's what I appreciate about this woman so much, is that she is just radiating mercy and grace. She doesn't stand up to this man.

She doesn't point her finger and says, you have no idea what I've been through. If there's anybody that's supposed to help me, it should be you. No. No. No.

No. No. She explains herself. She recognizes though he is failing in his position, he still has a position. This is this is a man who God has ordained for this position.

I am going to honor and respect him though he is failing in this moment. And so she she just explains gently, and it is through this where we get her explanation and her insights on prayer. You ready? Verse 15, Hannah answered, no my Lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.

That's prayer. Pouring out my soul before the Lord. You know what that means? That everything that's eating you up in the inside now comes out. The unspoken things, the deep things, the things that almost have no language, the things that you can't bring up to others, those things.

Prayer gives us the permission to spill it out before the Lord. Prayer gives you the right to come before him and say, this is what I'm this is what is really going on inside, Lord. And this is what God desires. That you, in his presence, pull out. You pull out those things and you lay it at his feet and you say, can you explain this?

Can you help me with this? It's not professional. Is there reverence? Yes. Is there a way we need to be wise and careful in how we communicate?

Sure. But it is honest. It is passionate. It is God wanting you to be transparent. It is you just speaking to him the way you can't speak to somebody else at times.

And look, it says here, do not regard your servant as a worthless woman. Interesting. He regarded her as a worthless woman. He wouldn't regard his sons as worthless sons. For all along, I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.

Because that's what prayer is. Prayer is you being able to come before God when you are anxious and when you're annoyed. When you're anxious and when you're annoyed, saying, God, here's my fear and here's my frustration and I'm coming before you because I believe you can do something about it. If you don't believe that, I feel sorry for you in this journey on the path of godliness. Because some of you in here, though you don't have the exact condition of Hannah, you might know what it's like to be surrounded from all sides and those who are supposed to support you, help you, fuel you, encourage you are disappointing you.

So here's my thing, you better create a relationship with the Lord where you can find him as a true refuge. You better create that soon or you will not be able to endure. I don't know how Hannah will be able to endure if she did not have this revelation of God in the place of prayer. When's the last time you've done that? We put a pause on everybody else's advice and the phone calls and the long text messages and the blogs online and the answers from this podcast.

When's the last time you just put it all aside and you came before God and said, God, one to one now. Heaven and earth, you're my Lord, I'm your servant. I need something from you now. I need something from you now. Is that prayer real in your life?

It was for this woman. She cries out to God and Eli does something right, which is encouraging because he's gonna go right back to wrong in chapter two. Verse 17, Then Eli answered, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. Go in peace. He blesses her.

He understands that this is a true spiritual woman, that this is not like the average Israelite that came intoxicated and stumbling into the courtyard and he said, go in peace. This encourages me because it tells us something about spiritual leadership and the spiritual house of God. That when you come to the house of God, you should leave with more peace than when you came in. Every single meeting. Not for the ones who are continually in rebellious sin and know that they're doing wrong, but refuse to repent.

The last thing that you should feel when you come to the house of God in that state is peace. If you're that person, I hope that this seat that you're sitting on feels like fire so that you would repent. I'm talking about the ones like Hannah that love God, that fear God, that honor God, but are broken and smashed by life. That have been pushed aside by family and friends and those who are supposed to be leaders. I'm talking about those people.

When you come to the house of God, this place should offer such truth and joy and love that you leave lighter than when you entered. So what does that mean? That means that Paninas can't survive here. Right? Paninas can't thrive in a place like that.

Right? And so spiritual leadership has a duty for those like Penaina who continually fail to see how they are bringing disturbance rather than and that's where God instituted church man of God for a sliver of a moment. If you leave here more burdened, if you leave here more discouraged, if you leave here more beat up, that can't be right. But if you feel here full, and you feel here leaving here joyful, and and hopeful, that's God working in you. Verse 18, and she said, let your servant find favor in your eyes.

And the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. After pouring out her soul before God, and after this man of God assures her of God's goodness and favor, she gets up with her tear stained cheeks and she maybe sniffles her nose and she looks at the man of God, she looks at the high priest and and for the first time we see in this story, Hannah smiling. She thanks the high priest and she turns around provides us a wonderful insight about what prayer should be doing in your life. It should be doing that. That when you come and pour your heart out before the Lord, truly with passion and focus and faith, you should also know a release from anxiety.

You should have an appetite again. See, oftentimes, listen. This is where we find liberation in the area of prayer. When God answers, you are prolonging the peace that you're supposed to be experiencing. If you're waiting for the answer to release you from the anxiety, then you are cheapening what God is able to do.

What am I trying to say? What I'm trying to say is this, she left no longer sad before she even got the answer. Why? Because what we get from prayer, the peace that we are promised in Philippians is in the place where you put it at his feet and that's it. See, this is what many people get confused.

I'm praying, I'm praying, I'm praying and I'm still burdened and troubled. And and my question is, well, perhaps you've linked your freedom only in the place of answer. And what God is calling us to do is have the faith enough to say, I've done my part to unburden my soul, and now it's in God's hands. And you should be able to get up from that same place, go down to the kitchen, and have a nice meal. Because prayer for many of us doesn't become a thing of trusting God, prayer becomes a place of testing God.

If you're really, really, you're gonna answer it. And if you don't answer it, then I'm gonna stay miserable, and I don't think I can serve you the way you called me to serve you. That's not prayer. True prayer, an understanding of God's power in prayer, is that when you come burdened and you spill your heart out, and you're able to say, it's done. It's done.

Does that mean that you don't come back to the Lord? No. You do, but it also means you come back to him knowing that you ate that day and that you're able to function at work and you're able to be normal in a social setting. Not just normal, joyful Because you said, I gave it to God, it's finished. He's gonna do something about it.

Well, what if I feel anxious again? Well, go back and do it until you're relieved. That's what she does. She's no longer sad, not because she got the answer, not because she got Samuel, but because she gave it to her Lord, the Lord of hosts. The woman went away and ate.

She had an appetite. Her face was no longer sized. She didn't just do that. Verse 19, they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord. She was able to worship before she got the answer.

And I'm sure she had a smile on her face the same way she did when she left that house the night before. She worshiped God and declared as good as him. Penaiah was probably somewhere there with a frown on her face holding her children and trying to be all mean and she's just Why? I gave it to the Lord. Like I believe he actually hears me.

I believe the courts of heaven hear my voice when I give it to him. Do you believe that when you're staying up all night on your bed? Tossing and turning and whispering your prayers? Do you really believe that heaven hears you? Do you really believe God says, I will honor this prayer and I'll do something about it?

Next time you pray, ask God not for the answer to what's causing you anxiety. Ask God for the faith to believe that he'll do something about it. She worships. They worship. Then they went back to their house at Ramah and Alkanah knew Hannah, his wife, in an intimate way, sexual union in the context of marriage.

And the Lord remembered her. Not that he forgot her, but it's a human term to help us understand God's actions. The Lord remembered her and fulfilled the promise in prayer. And in due time, Hannah conceived and bore a son and she called his name Samuel. For she said, I've asked for him from the Lord.

Samuel simply means heard from God or heard of God. And this woman here, every time in those early years would call Samuel's name, would rehearse the truth that God answers prayer. Every time she would sing over Samuel and Elkanah would come in the room and check up on Samuel, they would be reminded God answers prayer. And the boy became a living memorial of what happens when you really pour out your soul before God. But you know what's so encouraging is that this boy that was in answer to prayer would himself become a prayer warrior.

Psalm 99 verse six. Here's what we're told about Samuel among other men. Psalm 99 verse six. Moses and Aaron were among his priests. Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.

They called to the Lord and he answered them. They called to the Lord. Samuel was one of the mighty prophets that were known for intercession. That were known for intercession. That when they prayed, things happened.

Samuel was one of the most dangerous, if I can use that word, prophets. When he said it would happen, it happened. Like God honored this man's word. And that's so encouraging about Hannah's prayer. All Hannah at this point saw Samuel as was an answer to prayer, not realizing that this man was gonna pray big prayers for Israel.

Because you know what God does in prayer? You know the answer. Above above what you can ask or imagine. See, in Hannah's mind, she just wanted to dedicate him to the Lord. And in God's mind, he was gonna use him to rock this nation.

Here's the point that I wanna make in closing. Here's the point that I wanna make. In connection to Ruth, this is happening as you're about to discover and as you already know, when the spiritual matter, the spiritual disciplines, the spiritual worship of Israel was down the drain. This is the thing that I wanna drive. Ruth and first Samuel chapter one are teaching us already that no matter how bad things are at home, like with with Hannah.

Right? At home. At home. With your husband. With your friendships, with your nation, with your school, with your job.

It doesn't matter how bad, how ugly, how evil people are. We cannot afford to not stay connected to God. Ruth was a woman who stayed faithful to the Lord in the days of judges and God used her to usher in a king. Hannah was a woman who had enough audacity and faith to pray to God in the midst of spiritual compromise and a buffoon of a high priest. And God would use her to usher in a prophet.

I read that and I thought to myself, there is not a season in life where you and I can afford to pull back and put the brakes on pursuing the Lord. We can't. In fact, if there if we're learning anything is that this is a time for the opportunity to see God birth something, if I can use that word, in a time where people really need God to touch and to heal and to revive. I'm not sure if there was other barren woman in the time of Hannah. All I know is that God found a woman who was crazy enough to pray such a prayer.

And he partnered with her because God had a divine will and he saw a woman who had a will to partner with that will. And it would be through her son that there would be a shaking and there would be a prophetic voice that they haven't heard in years. So here's the point I'm making for those who actually care about seeing God's kingdom advance. Now is not the time to let up. Now is not the time to relax.

Now is not the time to play patty cake and just endure and hold on until the rapture. Now is the time to say, Lord, I'm asking you that you would use me. Though people wanna be spiritual sleep, let them sleep and let them slumber till their death. I'm asking you to use my life. And I wanna obey and position myself so that if you're looking for someone to partner with, you would find it in me.

He found it with Ruth in days of judges and he found it in Samuel in this crazy age. And he's doing the same today. I believe it with all my heart. Don't miss the train. Don't miss the train of God's will because this is an amazing opportunity to see him magnified.

Give him your barrenness. Give him your brokenness. Give him your destitution. Give him anything to work with and watch what he'll do with it. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the first chapter. It's not even completely covered today, but we thank you for where you brought us thus far. Lord, your word is so pregnant with power. Lord, we sense you speaking to our hearts from these verses. We thank you that we can pray to you, that you can really answer, That you can really answer us.

And, God, we pray that we would have the confidence in our relationship with you, that you know us, and that you hear us in a way that no other person can. Lord, may it be all of our reflexes that the deeper our pain, the more real our prayer life. The greater the agony, the more we pray earnestly. Lord, help us realize that that is not to say we can't receive counsel or to seek out a a phone call as lack of faith. But, Lord, we wanna know that we can communicate with you from point a to point z.

Help us never think of you as the last option. That even when we cry out to you, you can, in an answer to that prayer, provide another person to enter into our lives and speak to us. Lord, may this house not be a house as Paul described, where when we come together, it's worse. May this place be a blessing where we can leave here with a greater peace of mind, Peace in our hearts. Knowing that in this place, as we strive to be like Jesus and fail along the way, people will have mercy on us.

They will not trample on us. Lord, that we would not add more sorrow to people's personal troubles, but that we would be able to speak life into them. And Lord, we lift up those in here who are being disappointed by others. Let them know that if it had not been for Penaina, perhaps they would not be in the place where they need to be with you. That you can use anything.

You can use disease and gossip to drive us closer to Christ. But, Lord, in this place, may we be free from such attitudes. And, again, we ask that your peace would be our portion in this place. And so, Lord, tonight, we just open our hearts to you. We say, God, help me believe that when I sincerely bring bring this pain to you, bring this problem to you, you'll do something.

That I can get up from that place and be free from worry knowing that I brought it before him, who is the Lord of hosts. He will fight for me. He will defend me. He will protect my reputation. He will open the doors.

Lord, we love you, and we just wanna worship you in your house. Like Hannah, we wanna turn down the volume of every other voice, including our own, and just worship you, Lord. Worship you in faith tonight. We thank you for first Samuel chapter one. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen.