4-14-24-The Lord Remembers_-_1-Samuel-1

Well, if you have your Bible, do make your way to the book of 1 Samuel, as we turn now to the Old Testament, having spent weeks in 1 John, and so we'll spend our time now forthcoming in the book of 1 Samuel. And so we'll start chapter 1 today, and to get us going, I'll read the first 11 verses of 1 Samuel, chapter 1. And these are the words of the God who remembers. There was a certain man of Ramathane-Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuth, son of Aphrodite. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 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. 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. And so the Lord had closed her womb, and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? 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. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of Hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to 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. When the grass withers and the flower fades, let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we praise You, even as we just read, that You are the God who looks upon us in our distress and our affliction, that You are the God who sees and who remembers, that You are the God who keeps Your covenant of grace unto us. And so we pray, here we are, humbling ourselves before You, that You would give us eyes to see, give us ears to hear, that Your Spirit would fill us, that we might behold the wondrous things of Your law, that we might behold the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory. We ask it in His name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. 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Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And at the end of the book, we have an anointed king. And we have that king solely because of God's covenant faithfulness. As the story unfolds, you'll see, it is certainly not due to man's faithfulness, man's reforms, or man's moralistic efforts. It is solely the steadfast faithfulness of our God that he gives a king after his own heart. My hope is that what will become even clearer in our time together is that the very best of human kings have their deficiencies, their sins, and their shortcomings. And so you're kind of left longing for, looking forward to a king of kings. And so through it all, we will learn what does it mean to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ in an age such as ours, an age where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. And so with that, we'll walk through this opening chapter and we'll see how the Lord is already on the move in the most unexpected and surprising of ways, using of all persons a simple, faithful, barren woman in the midst of a faithless society. So let's dive in. First two verses, we meet this man, Elkanah. And we're introduced to him with this phrase, quote, there was a certain man, end quote. Now that phrase is identical to how Samson's father was introduced in Judges. So when you heard those words, maybe you get an adrenaline rush, right? You're thinking, oh, here comes the man of the hour, right? Here comes the stud who can kill 3,000 people with a jawbone of a donkey, right? Here comes our giant killer. And your excitement might only be furthered because the verse continues, and just like Samson's mother, you encounter next a barren woman. But your enthusiasm would soon be downgraded because you see we meet not the one, but the two wives of Elkanah. Now the Hebrew verse 2 likely reads that Hannah was Elkanah's first wife. Elkanah's name in Hebrew literally means favored. And yet that is the painful irony because she is anything but favored. In fact, she is barren. Just like Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel, Hannah is without child. Because just remember, to be barren was not simply unfortunate. It was not just sad. It was not just an unfulfilled desire of a wishful mother to be. No, to be barren stood in direct contrast to the very opening pages of Genesis. The call to be fruitful and to multiply. To be a daughter of Eve was to produce the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. And to be a daughter of Eve was also to stand downstream from God's covenant to Abraham, that in your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so you've got to appreciate that to be barren was to live life in a kind of death. It was a reproach upon oneself. And we're also right to see that Hannah's unfruitfulness is a kind of analogy. Her barrenness is just a reflection of Israel's barrenness as a whole. That the nation herself has failed to produce fruit for her God. You could say that the womb of Israel as a nation is desolate of godliness. And so what likely happened is that years of disappointment clipped by. And as Elkanah has no heir, he steals a page from Abraham and he thinks to himself, I know what to do. I'll get a second wife. And so we meet this second wife named Peninnah. Now Peninnah in Hebrew literally means fruitful. And unlike Hannah, she lives up to her name. You see in verse 2, she does have plentiful children. We don't know how many, but verse 2 puts it in the simplest but most painful of terms. Peninnah had children. Hannah had no children. And now don't dare confuse this to be one big happy family. Because Peninnah is named Hannah's rival. Hebrew word even meaning her enemy. And we'll see that animosity here in a moment. But all hope is not lost. Though Elkanah has his faults, he is a God-fearing man. And you see that in verse 3. This man used to go up year by year to worship, to make sacrifice to the Lord where Eli and his two sons were. So despite this pandemic of barrenness, God preserved this godly remit as he always does. And here is Elkanah doing just as the law commanded. And not only that, he shows his generosity. He lives with his wife in an understanding way, you might say. Verses 4 through 6 say that he gives portions to Peninnah, but a double portion he gives to Hannah. And you see the reason why in verse 5. Simply because he loved her. So not only did Elkanah not resent or blame his wife for her failure to give him a son, instead he responds with this generosity simply because he loved her. You might remember how Jacob labored seven years for Rachel with the stated reason exactly the same. Simply because he loved her. And this is a love beyond all expectation. And it mirrors just how the bride of Christ is loved. That we receive not just grace, but grace upon grace. That we receive not just blessings, but abundant blessings. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The moment we ask, well, why? Why do we receive such a superabundance of love from Christ our head? We have the very simple answer. Simply because he loves us with a steadfast love. Well, that said, let's also ask the question, okay, well, why was Hannah unfruitful? Was it some secret sin in her life? Was it due to some medical condition? Alright, how should we scrutinize her barrenness? Well, we don't have to speculate because you see the ultimate reason in verse 6. Quote, it was because the Lord had closed her womb. This is always the sufficient answer. And yet, it's the answer we most wrestle with. To what do we turn in life's disappointments, devastations, and afflictions? It is exactly this. That bedrock truth of the sovereignty of our God. The God who opens and closes the womb. The God who kills and the God who makes alive. As Job said to his wife, shall we receive good from the Lord and not receive evil? And the only way to do that is with the robust conviction that my God is in the heavens and all of His ways are righteous and good. His ways are wise and holy. And we must do that with an absolute unreserved faith because you can be sure that the world will exploit such hard moments. By that I just mean that the world seizes onto such hardships all to discourage the saints, to intimidate and provoke the church, all in order to stop God's kingdom from advancing onward. And you need to see that's exactly what happens next. Verse 6 says that Panina pounces on Hannah's barrenness in order to provoke her grievously to irritate her. Don't read that as, oh, this is mildly annoying. You know, this is somewhat bothersome. This is a nuisance. No, Panina's provocation was so effective, Hannah weeps bitterly and she cannot even bring herself to eat. Tears are her only food. And church, make no mistake about it. That is the world's playbook. That is Satan's scheme. Read nearly any missionary biography and you'll see how our missionaries are constantly facing down discouragement, setback and provocations. And what is Satan's tactic but to accuse you night and day? If you are going to stand for Christ, then just set your watch to it. You will face such discouragements. You see just how unrelenting was the rival Panina in verse 7. This was not a five-minute hazing session. No, you see there it went on, quote, year by year. This is a perpetual dripping faucet of hate. Just imagine Panina's taunts. Oh, Hannah, you must really be favored by God. Just look at all your children. You do want children, don't you? I wonder why you're so unfruitful, why you're so dead on the inside. But here's what we need to see. That despite that barrage of hatred, just look what Hannah did not stop doing. Verse 7, she went up to the house of the Lord. Though harassed every single time, she never stops worshiping her God. As the psalmist says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. What sustained her, what strengthened her, what encouraged her, she continually came into the presence of her God to be strengthened by the Lord of hosts. And church, that is our very same joy and privilege every Lord's Day. Every Sabbath, our God promises to feed us, to nourish us, to equip us for yet another week of battle. We can contrast that robust truth with Elkanah's approach to encouraging his wife. Now, I have to confess, there are a few verses in Scripture that every time I read them, I cannot help but laugh out loud because they're just plain funny. And verse 8 is one of those verses. This is a humorous instance of a man being a classic blockhead of a man because to cheer up his wife in her depressing state of her soul, just listen to Elkanah's effort at encouragement. Verse 8, he says to her, why is your heart so sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? You know, honey, cheer up. Just remember, you have me. And I imagine he says this with complete sincerity. You know, why the long face? You have me as your husband. You know, husbands, just try that out if ever your wife is sad. Well, to be charitable to Elkanah, the Hebrew may mean, don't you see how much I love you, right? I love you as if you bore me ten sons. Your barrenness has not dampened my love for you at all. Well, either way, it may have had some impact. Verse 9 says, they ate and drank. Hannah can bring herself to eat a little. And yet she knows, I cannot live off of bread alone. And so she performs next what is a profound act of faith. Verse 10, you see, she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord. I wonder, how would that sentence read for many? I was deeply distressed and so I... And you fill in the blank. I was deeply distressed and so I drowned my sorrows in booze. I was deeply distressed and so I sought escape in social media, distractions, devices. I was deeply distressed and so I sought out a chemical or a prescriptive refuge. Or how often it is simply, I was deeply distressed and so I did nothing. I grumbled and complained and I became numb and bitter and angry. How often we take the truth of God's sovereignty and we justify our passivity. Well, Hannah shows us the better portion that is pouring out of one's soul. That in our darkest hours, our most stressful moments, even our daily anxieties, we come to the throne of grace. And we need to see it is because Hannah receives her barrenness from the Lord, therefore, she can go to the Lord with her affliction. Right? Because my affliction is from the Lord, I will go to the Lord with it. Indeed, may we never do the reverse. My hardship is from the Lord and so I'll just grin and bear it. I'll resign myself to this fate. I'll just simmer in sadness and in anger. No, if you are in depression, anxiety, anguish, despair, perfect. You are well positioned to pour out your soul to the Lord by faith. Just think of Hannah's situation. When you are barren at this time, what can you do to fix your situation? Nothing. There is not one lever you can pull. There is not one button you can press to remedy this. The only thing is to humble yourself before the Lord who exalts the lowly. Well, Hannah does exactly that and her prayer issues forth in this vow in verse 11. It reads, O Lord of hosts, if you will look upon the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant and 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. When you see there's three really important things going on in this vow. Firstly, her address is to the Lord of hosts or more accurately, the Lord of armies. As she's calling out to God as commanding general. God as divine warrior because remember, the child to come is the one who stomps the head of Satan. So we need to see this prayer is far more than just a yearnful mom who really wants to have a baby. Sure, that's true. But Hannah has eyes to see that Israel as a whole is in need of salvation. So when she pleads, give me a son, she means nothing less than God send us a deliverer. Give us a savior. And friends, we pray the very same thing. But we have the advantage of the son who has already been given, who is already making all enemies his footstool. Secondly, notice the initial plea is not give me a son. The initial plea is actually look on my affliction and do not forget me. Now, where do you suppose she learned that lingo from? Well, it's very likely she's got God's word stored up in her heart and she remembers the stories of the patriarchs. She knows the stories of Exodus of when Yahweh looked on the affliction of his people and God remembered his people. Thirdly, you have this Nazarite vow, no razor touching the head. There's only three lifelong Nazarites in scripture. We've got one here in Samson and John the Baptist, all born of barren women. And to be a Nazarite was to be wholly consecrated and set apart to God. That is what Hannah is signing up for. So when she says, I will give my son to the Lord all the days of his life, as much as she is gaining a son, she's actually going to give that son away. And so the story continues and now we meet up with Eli in verses 12 through 14. And he's watching all this go on. There's Hannah pouring out her soul to the Lord and Eli takes her to be tipsy. Verse 14, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. That's an important indicator as to just how much spiritual decline there is in Israel. Eli is a priest. He is the religious leader. And he's either so spiritually dull that he cannot recognize prayer or it's such a rare thing in Israel to see someone pouring out their soul like this. It'd be like today, say you're in a coffee shop. You're reading your Bible and someone says to you, what is that book? And you say, it's the Bible. And they say, oh, what is the Bible? If you knew nothing else, you know, okay, I am among a spiritually destitute people. Now make that even worse. Say now, you're not in a coffee shop, but you're in church and you get that same question. What's that book you've got there? It's the Bible, right? This is the sad state of Israel and the crisis of leadership at this time. So Hannah replies to him saying, look, the only thing I'm full of is the Holy Spirit. Verse 15, I am pouring out my soul to the Lord. It is out of great anxiety that I pray. So Eli finally gets it. He says, may God grant your petition. Now that's not an empty throwaway line. That's not flattery. Eli's very job is to mediate between God and man as a priest. And so it makes sense. Verse 18, Hannah is now comforted. She may not know Eli's condition, but she knows one of God's own priests has blessed me. And so notice verse 19, they rise early and they worship. Now, what's truly remarkable about that is that Hannah worships God before her womb is opened, before an answer is given. In other words, Hannah worshiped God simply for who he is, simply because he is worthy of all worship, whether or not her womb is opened. As the psalmist says, I will praise the Lord at all times. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who said, look, whether or not we are saved from this fiery furnace, we will serve no other gods. And friends, you need to ask yourself the same question. Can you worship God with some prayers answered and some not? Sometimes distressed, sometimes happy, sometimes feeling like it, sometimes not feeling like it. But what remains the constant is that there is no rock like our God. And he is always worthy of all of our worship. And we see our God is the rewarder of those who seek him. Verse 19, the Lord remembered her and she bore a son and named him Samuel. Kids, you need to know, your God is the God who remembers. And by that, I don't mean that God forgets things only to then remember them, as if heaven is full of yellow post-it notes that kind of help God with his memory recall. No, kids, remember that just as the Lord remembered Noah, the Lord remembered Abraham at Sodom, the Lord remembered Rachel and opened her womb. Yet here again, the Lord remembers Hannah. That is a most precious truth. What good are promises that are forgotten? Our God does not just make covenant promises, he remembers them. The dying thief on the cross, his one ask, Lord Jesus, will you remember me? It's of course exactly in those moments that we are most tempted to think that the Lord has forgotten me. He has forgotten to be gracious to me. A little financial stress comes our way. Our marriages hit a stormy sea. One of our children starts to go wayward. Persecution comes upon us. And in rise the suspicion, perhaps my God has forgotten me. And so it falls to us by faith, we are always to remember that our Lord remembers us in our afflictions. Well, Hannah now finally has her baby boy. Years in the making, years of praying and waiting, what is she going to do now? It might be tempting to find a little wiggle room in that vow. Right, it would be easy to say, I need a little more time with young Samuel. I need to at least teach him his ABCs before I send him off. Well, now you see her ready obedience as far as her vow goes. Her husband is going to make this pilgrimage, but Hannah says, I can't go with you because, verse 22, As soon as the child is winged, I will bring him up. Why? So that he can appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever. Now what better excuse to say, I need to be with my husband. I need to be with my family so we can worship together. But she doesn't even flinch. She says, no, I'm winging him off of me and winging him onto the house of the Lord. And so we're right to imitate the same eagerness in our own vows. For many of us, that means, of course, marriage vows, vows as parents unto our children, certainly our membership vows to promote the peace and purity of this church. To take a vow is an extremely solemn thing to do with great reward in keeping it and great penalty in breaking it. And to his credit, Elkanah agrees in verse 23. Because no doubt it would be odd, maybe even disrespectful, that there you are making a pilgrimage and yet your wife declines to come with you. But as Proverbs 31 says, the heart of her husband trusts in her. Presumably, if Hannah is not a Proverbs 31 woman, this may look far different. Her request might be received as disrespectful, maybe even malicious. Why are you not following my headship? But Elkanah trusts Hannah. And all the more so he trusts the Lord because he says next, May the Lord establish His word. Not so much your vow, but His word. Just like Joseph unto Mary, Elkanah knows enough to know this is the Lord's work, that my wife could go from death to life, from barren to having a child. And so God's word is established. Hannah weans the child and she brings him to Shiloh and she fulfills her vow. Now, this section is certainly far more than a story about parenting. Let's be very clear. This is not a bare-bones parenting manual. But it's also not less. We're right to see our children, at least in part the way Hannah does, that our children are the Lord's children. And that in all of our parenting, stewardship, raising up our children, is thoroughly oriented unto the Lord. The average parent is constantly bombarded with parental distractions and temptations. Give your child to this sport, this ambition, this opportunity, this privilege. And those things certainly have their time and place. I would not diminish any of those things. But Hannah's disposition shows us what is the governing priority. J.C. Ryle once said, Train your children with this thought constantly in mind, that the soul of your child is the first thing to be considered. Will this X, Y, or Z hinder or help to train up my child in the way that they should go? And Hannah modeled that in at least two ways. In verse 26 and following, she presents the child to Eli, and then in verse 27 she says, For this child I prayed. How simple. She prayed for her child. The Puritan John Flavel once said, What a mercy it was to have parents who prayed for us before we were born, to have parents who prayed for us in our infancy when we could not pray for ourselves. Our prayers, of course, will look far different. But Hannah's labor of prayer is worthy of all imitation. Secondly, not just prayer. She, of course, devoted her child to the Lord. Verse 28, Therefore I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives. He is lent to the Lord. Now again, let's be very careful to not draw the wrong applications here. This is not teaching that every parent's goal is to have your child in vocational ministry by the time they can walk. That would misapply this section. Samuel occupies a very unique position in redemptive history. So you can't just transfer everything over to the daily life. But you can definitely glean the overall disposition that our children are the Lord's children. And if children are arrows in our quiver, you can be sure that the world's desire is to break those arrows, to blunt those arrows, to educate and indoctrinate our children, all with the net effect of taking them from this orientation that they are the Lord's children. We've got this confidence. We know that children are a heritage from the Lord. And as such, we train them up in the Lord to be wholly devoted to Him. Well, that said, as there is far more going on here than just that, let's lay up in our hearts one great use from this opening chapter. We see the Lord's work in a time of crisis. And it's very simply this, that what we see here is the Lord's faithfulness in the midst of unfaithfulness. Hannah is certainly heroic, but the true hero is our covenant-keeping God and His covenant faithfulness amidst faithlessness. Because remember, at this time, the lamp of Israel was nearly extinguished. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes, from the priests to the leaders all the way down. And not merely Hannah, but the whole nation was a nation that was barren and unfruitful. So you have to ask the question, you know, why? Why does our God operate in this way? Why does our God seem to continue to like using a barren woman, a barren nation, and a broken people? Because, friends, in those moments of our total inability, our utter depravity, what becomes crystal clear is that it shows off the Lord's mercy, the Lord's power, the Lord's faithfulness to His covenant of grace. And so you might well look out today at the nation, at the culture, perhaps even in the walls of your own home, and you might see barrenness as far as the eye can see. And our reaction should be, oh, it's perfect. This is just the kind of situation that my God loves to show off His glory. This is just the kind of situation that my God loves to work redemption and give deliverance. This is how the kingdom of God works. God takes that which is small and insignificant, and He says, watch this. I'm going to make something out of nothing. I'm going to go from death to life. I'm going to come down, and I'm going to deliver my people. Of course, friends, we need to see our God has done this most of all in the Lord Jesus Christ, that it was through another Hannah, a barren woman named Elizabeth, that our God prepared the way and made a straight path for the Lord Jesus Christ. For a people with no king, for a world with no king, God brought forth the King of kings whose rule is without end. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do praise You, Lord God, that You look down on Your people in our affliction, in our distress. And what do You do? You look and You remember that You are faithful to Your covenant promises. We praise You, Lord, that here we are as new covenant believers, that we get to see the yes and the amen, that You worked redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David. And so, Father, we do pray, help us to be a people who are full of courage, of steadfastness, of faith, that in the darkest of times, we know we have the greatest of saviors. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.