Going to God with our burden (1 Samuel 1)

Now for those of you who don't know me, I am Stephen Harper. I hail from Northern Ireland and serve the Lord when I'm able in the lovely little land of Malawi. Some of you may have heard of Malawi, others may not.

But I'm glad to be here for the ministry conference this weekend and I'm going to ask you to turn this morning please to 1 Samuel chapter 1. 1 Samuel chapter 1. It's my exercise to look at a period in the history of Israel that we may describe as a transition from chaos, out of chaos, into this period of the kingdom that was first of all established in a rather abortive way by Saul and then established really in the person of David. And Brother Stephen was reminding us last evening of an episode at the end of that period after the Israelites had been taken into captivity because of their sinfulness, because of their departure, and he was directing us towards the book of Nehemiah last evening. But I want to go back just to the beginning of that period and look at some important lessons from the early period in the history of the kingdom and looking this morning at 1 Samuel chapter 1. So let's read together 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 1. Now there was a certain man of Ramathim Zothem of Mount Ephraim and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, an Ephrathite.

And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah or Penina depending on how you pronounce it. And Peninnah had children but Hannah had no children.

And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Thinias, the priests of the Lord, were there. Now we know how that there was rivalry between the two wives of Elkanah and I'm going to depend upon the fact that you have some background knowledge of the story.

We'll come to verse 9. Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli, the priest, sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but will give unto thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head.

Now the significance of that is she's effectively dedicating him with a Nazarite vow that he's going to serve the Lord all the days of his life. And it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah spake in her heart, only her lips moved but her voice was not heard.

Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken and Eli said unto her, how long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, no my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink but have poured out my soul before the Lord.

Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight.

So the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad. Verse 27, she returns with the child sometime later and she says, for this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord and he worshipped the Lord there.

And Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation.

And we will leave the reading there with the promise of the Lord's blessing upon his word. It's really the expression in verse number 27 at the beginning of that verse that I want to focus upon. Hannah says, for this child I prayed.

And really, Hannah, as she presents her petition to the Lord and as she then returns to present her son to the Lord, really this is the fulfillment of the desires of her heart, begotten in bitterness, begotten in sorrow. But I want us to see how that not only does the Lord in this episode, not only does he answer the prayers of a woman who is in deep sorrow of soul for her own personal condition, but I think there's good evidence to see that she was a woman who was exercised, deeply exercised and deeply burdened about the condition of the nation of which she formed a part. I think there's evidence in the that we probably won't be able to tease out because of the time this morning, but I'm going to put that out there and suggest to you that her burden of soul was not just for her own fruitlessness, but it was because of the fruitlessness of the nation that she formed a part of.

So this is an intensely personal narrative, but it's positioning between the chaos of the period of the judges and the emergence of the kingdom is clearly intended to signal to us that the fate of the nation pivoted on the prayers of this dear woman of God. I think that's very, very important to see. Interesting that it comes hard on the heels of the story of Naomi and Ruth, and I think it's greatly significant and I hope it will be a great encouragement to our sisters here and perhaps a gentle rebuke to our brothers that at a time in the history of the nation of Israel when the leadership was failing, there were godly women who were able to step in without overstepping, and I want to see that in the course of what we learned today from the narrative concerning Hannah.

She never overstepped, but she did step up and she provided leadership in her home that was sadly lacking because her husband was a weak man. Now, I don't want to anticipate too much of what I'm going to say just in a moment or two. Thinking very, very quickly, just first of all about the context of her suffering, I want us all to see that the Lord knows your sorrowful heart, and maybe I'm speaking to a sister this morning, and you have sorrow in your heart.

For whatever reason, perhaps a brother, because I don't want us to think that because the principles are drawn from the life of a sister, from a woman, that they don't somehow apply to the brothers, to the menfolk. They do. We want to learn principles today, but maybe I'm speaking to a sister, and you have a burden of sorrow in your heart.

The first and most obvious thing that I want to see from this passage is the Lord knows. The Lord knows the sorrow of your heart. Let's think about the context of that.

We can see that nationally, we've already hinted at this. It was a very dark epoch in the history of the Israelite nation. We read a number of times that there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

The Holy Spirit wants us to realize that when there is no leadership and when there is no clear vision, then you have the chaos that you read about in the book of the Judges. I think those of us who have taken any time to think about what's in the book of the Judges, we would have to admit that if it wasn't in the Bible, we could hardly believe that it was true. Some of the things that happened that are recorded for us in the book of the Judges, if it wasn't in the Holy Scriptures, we could hardly believe that it was true, and we would hardly believe that a nation like the nation of Israel would stoop as low as they did and become as chaotic and as aimless and as lacking in direction as that nation became.

And it reminds us a lot of the conditions that we live in today, societally. We have lost leadership, godly leadership, god-fearing leadership in our nations, in our society, perhaps even, sometimes we might say, in the assemblies of God's people. Leadership is lacking, and every man is doing that which is right in his own eyes.

Domestically, it was a sorry picture. It was a divided home. Sometimes people will go back to the Old Testament and say, well, men like Alcanna had two wives, or Abraham had two wives, or David had multiple wives, and they'll somehow try to use that as justification for polygamy or at least bigamy, and they'll say, well, the Scripture, obviously this happened, and so therefore it's an okay thing.

Well, take another look. There's not one single recorded instance of bigamy or of polygamy in the Scriptures where it turned out well, and this is no exception. It was a deeply divided and a very, very unhappy home.

Now, I don't suppose there are any bigamists. Well, I hope there aren't in the company today. I don't suppose there are any homes that are deeply divided because there are multiple partners in the home, at least not openly, but there are multiple reasons why homes can be divided.

There are multiple reasons why homes can be unhappy. There are multiple reasons why marriages can be strained. Maybe I am talking to a sister.

Maybe I'm talking to a brother, and there are difficulties and problems in your home, and it's not a happy place. Well, I want you to take courage from this much at least, that God knew about the domestic circumstances of Hannah, and God knows about your domestic circumstances. Personally, things were compounded by the fact that Hannah, although she was loved by her husband, clearly she was loved by her husband, sadly hers was a closed womb.

For some reason, the Lord had not seen fit to grant her her heart's desire to give her children, and this becomes very deeply personal, I realize, because there are many dear sisters, and maybe they find themselves in a similar situation. There are many dear brothers, and you're going to say, my goodness, this guy, what's he going to say now? There are brothers who have never had – well, yeah, you'll understand what I mean. There are brothers who perhaps would have loved to have a life's partner, loved to have had a wife, and they have never yet found a wife, and they find themselves in distress because of that.

I want, just in a practical sense, to assure us all, to remind our hearts, that the Lord knows about the suffering of our hearts. He understands the context of our personal experience. So, she has this desperate plight of her barrenness, of her fruitlessness, and I want to suggest to you that this really is in the context of 1 Samuel, this is not just a personal problem, but this is a metaphor for the problem that seemed to exist in the nation at that time, a problem of barrenness and a problem of fruitlessness.

And I don't think it's a stretch, brothers and sisters, is it, to say that we can see the evidence of that spiritually in our own experience. I think as we look around the evangelical world in general, but as we look around the world of the assembly such as we know them, we can see evidence of fruitlessness. We see decline numerically.

Perhaps we can see decline spiritually as well. And the burden really of my message today is that this should not be a reason for despair, but it should be something that motivates us and causes us to be burdened and exercised in prayer before the Lord. So, when we think about Hannah's personal experience, when we think about her personal difficulties, I think it's important for us to notice that Christians, the Lord's people, are not immune to trials.

And I think it's important to see that when trials come our way, those trials, those difficulties, those personal challenges are not necessarily because of the governmental dealings of God with us in judgment or in rebuke for sin. But what I want us to see is that this experience of Hannah's, she went through it so that her experience of the Lord and her dependence upon the Lord would be deepened, that her faith in the Lord would be enlivened. And as a result of these very difficult circumstances in which she is found, the Lord brings great blessing in his own time.

And that is because you remember what the New Testament says about how no chastening seems pleasant in the present, but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby. And I heard a brother say quite recently, and I thought it was good advice, his advice was this, never waste a good trial. Now, I realize, please, I realize that there are many dear saints and they experience trials that are much deeper than anything that I have ever experienced.

And so I want to be measured and cautious in what I say. I don't want anything that I say to seem shallow or trite. But when difficulties come our way, brothers and sisters, I think this narrative that we've been reading together this morning, when difficulties come our way, this narrative teaches us that God always has a blessing for us.

If only we can perceive what he's trying to do in us and through us, God has a blessing. So, God does not arbitrarily bring trials into the lives of his people. God is not a capricious God.

That is, he doesn't just for fun bring difficulty into our lives. But God sometimes allows trial in order to draw out our heart's independence and ultimately to produce in them adoration and worship because we'll see that that is the product of Hannah's experience. And God worked in her heart and God worked through her and through her trial to bring great blessing, not only to her personally, but to bring great blessing to a nation.

Actually, she would be the one ultimately, and through her prayers, she would be the one who would bring the kingship to the house of David because Samuel, her son, the one that she prayed for, would be the one that would eventually anoint the king. So, we could think about her closed womb. We could think about spiritual fruit and think about how that fruitfulness, we are looking for fruitfulness in gospel witness.

We're looking for fruitfulness in spiritual growth. We're looking for fruitfulness in the Lord's people. The scripture would talk about whenever we give for the support of the Lord's people, that is fruit.

The apostle Paul speaks about fruit to account and so on. And we should be exercised. We should be burdened if there is a lack of fruitfulness among us.

We could take time and think about this cruel foe that she had. It's interesting to look at some of the meanings of the names of the individuals in this story. I know Brother Stephen reminded us last night not to just maybe latch on to things like names of places and whatever and import things into that that aren't really there.

But I think it's interesting whenever names are recorded in the scripture just to observe them. Elkanah's name means provision of God. And Hannah's name means gracious gift.

And of course, we know that Samuel's name, whenever he is born, that means that he was asked of God. I think it's interesting that Peninnah, her name means coral or pearl. She was one who was flinty heart and could cut cruelly.

And it's interesting if her name means pearl, you know that the pearl, there is something beautiful. There is beauty that arises in the pearl out of the irritation that is caused in the oyster. Well, there was no beauty that resulted in the life of Peninnah herself.

But isn't it a wonderful grace of God that the irritation that she caused brought beauty in the life of her rival Hannah? Brothers and sisters, I am challenged by this personally because I can be an irritable kind of a person. That is, you know, I can allow things to irritate me. And I suppose whenever I'm irritable, it would be much better if I use the irritation to produce something of Christ, something that would bring glory to Christ in my life.

And that's exactly what Hannah did. The constant irritation, the constant cutting, the constant cruelty that she experienced, yes, it caused pain in her heart and in her soul. She was full of sorrow.

But this woman, she allowed it to form within her a deeper experience and appreciation of her God. Her husband, well, he did his best, didn't he? But well, he was a man. He was a man.

And I have learned after 30-something years of marriage that sometimes the best I can do is keep my mouth shut. Because dear old Elkanah, he tried his best. And he said, oh, come on now, Hannah.

Come on. Sure, I'm better to you than ten sons. Well, she didn't want to hear that, did she? He was well-meaning.

So ladies, just, you know, understand that maybe your husband will say really dumb things, but he means well. And yeah, I have some authority to speak on that because I've said many, many dumb things. But I can assure you that when I said dumb things, I meant well.

But he said a pretty dumb thing, didn't he? But he meant well. But here's what I want to get to. If the Lord knows your sorrowful heart, here's the second lesson from 1 Samuel 1. The Lord hears your silent prayer.

The Lord hears your silent prayer. So I think it's important that we see that what Hannah did and how she acted, she did not, as I've said already, she did not overstep the mark. She still remained submissive to her husband.

She still gave him the respect that he was due. She gave him a by-ball for being dumb, but she brought her burden to the Lord. And she comes into the presence of the Lord, and she makes a solemn vow to the Lord.

Now, there are lots of people professing Christians today, and they will bring their petitions to the Lord this way. If I do this for you, then you do something for me. Now, that's not what Hannah said.

Hannah did not say, I will do for you, I will give to you, and then you give back to me with added interest. That's the way the prosperity gospel speaks today. You know, they talk about seeding, you know, so they will give to the Lord, but they expect the Lord to give back with multiplication, okay? That's not what Hannah said.

Hannah said, you give to me, and I will give back to you. You see, I think this is one of the reasons why I said her burden was not only for her personal situation, but her burden was for the plight of the nation, because she was praying for this child. I'm going to run out of time this morning, so I want to mention this.

Whenever we get to the end of the chapter, she says, for this child I prayed. She wasn't just praying for any child, she was praying for this child. She was praying for a child that she could give to the Lord.

In her personal need, she recognized there was a greater need. She recognized that although she was barren, that the nation around her was barren and was leaderless, and her burden was not just for her own need, but her burden was for the need of a nation, and it was for this child that she prayed. And so she comes to the presence of the Lord with a solemn vow.

She says, if you will give me a man-child, I will give him, I will lend him to the Lord all the days of his life. He will be lent to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor will come upon his head. I will give him absolutely unreservedly.

I will give him to the Lord. It's no surprise, is it, that the Lord heard and answered her prayer. No surprise.

I was saying somewhere the other evening that the secret to having our prayers answered is to make sure that we ask for the right thing. Well, Hannah was asking for the right thing. She wanted the Lord to give a man, not just to her, but a man that could be given back to him, and a man that would lead the people of God.

Her burden was for the need of leadership of the people of God. Her burden was for the need of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she says, if the Lord will give me a man, I will lend him to the Lord all the days of his life.

And so she made this solemn vow. And I'm reminded of Matthew chapter 6 in verse 13. Do you remember what it says there? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Hannah was a woman who was seeking first the kingdom of God. At a casual reading, it might seem that her concern was for her own childlessness, but I think her greater concern was for the fact that there was no man to lead the people of God. Can I pause at that point and ask each of us, is that a concern to us? Is it a concern to us that at times the people of God are without those that can lead them in a godly fashion? Is it a concern to us that the people of God often seem to be aimless, directionless? Is it a concern to us that the people of God, not just in our gospel efforts, but in our personal lives, that we're often fruitless? Is that a concern to us? It was a concern to Hannah.

And when no one else in the nation seemed to care, there was a woman with a heavy heart, and she brought her burden to the Lord. I want to say something for a moment or two. My time is almost gone.

I want to say something or two about silent prayers. I'm not talking about the brothers who should not always be silent, but I'm talking about the silent prayers of godly sisters and the silent prayers of brothers whenever it's not their turn to be audible. But I'm thinking particularly about the silent prayers of godly sisters.

I want to tell you, sisters, if you're a godly sister, you don't need me to tell you this because you know this already. But to those of you who perhaps are just sisters, silent prayers are heard in heaven. Silent prayers are heard in heaven.

Silent prayers are no less valuable than audible prayers. In fact, I would say that the silent prayers of the sisters, which of necessity – of necessity must come from the heart. You see, a silent prayer must come from the heart.

There are many audible prayers and they just come from the lips. But silent prayers of necessity by nature come from the heart. And it's prayers that come from the heart that move the throne of heaven.

And it was the silent prayer of this woman that moved the throne of heaven. And so, to those of you dear sisters, and you have burdens that you take to the Lord, I want to say personally, I want to say thank you. Thank you.

I know there are many dear saints, and they remember – they remember us and the work that we're engaged in faithfully in prayer. And I thank you for that. But in a more general sense, if you're burdened about the need of the Lord's people, and if you're burdened about the need of the gospel, whether it involves the work in Malawi or Timbuktu, thank you, my dear sister.

Thank you for being faithful in the presence of the Lord. Because it's the silent prayers that move the throne of heaven. Because those silent prayers cannot possibly be for a motive of self-promotion.

It's not possible. That's why the Lord Jesus actually said, go into your closet. And whenever you go into the secret place, then unburden your heart there.

Why? Because the prayers that are made in the secret place can never be with a motive for self-promotion. They can never be to draw attention to yourself. There's a big problem, isn't there, with prayers that are intended to draw attention to oneself.

The Lord Jesus spoke about those people who have long, flowing robes and, for a pretense, make long prayers. Why? They want to draw attention to themselves. So let's be wary about that.

And let's thank the Lord for the faithful prayer ministry of sisters who, with no motive of self-promotion, are faithful in the presence of the Lord. I think about Mary. I was reading about her this morning, who broke her alabaster box of ointment in the presence of the Lord.

And the worship, her silent worship, for there's not a single word recorded that she spoke, her silent worship ascended to heaven and pleased the heart of God. We could think about the stony rebuke of a priest who didn't understand. We could think, and I would like to think about this just for a second or two, about the settled spirit of this woman.

We read about it in verses 17 and 18. After she unburdens herself to the Lord, what does it say? It says that she rose and she ate and her countenance was no more sad. She brought her burden to the Lord and she left it there.

And although her burden had been so great that for a time she had no appetite, she'd lost her appetite. She couldn't think about eating whenever there was all of this sorrow and angst in her heart. And whenever the feast happened and she was brought up to the temple, up to the tabernacle, and they had this feast, well, that just added insult to injury because her rival, at the time of the feast, she just used that opportunity to pour fuel on the fire.

But after Hannah has unburdened her heart before the Lord, it says she rose and she ate and she was no more sad. My time has gone, so I want to finish with this. The Lord regards your selfless act.

What did she do? The Lord gave and she fulfilled her vow. Actually, it's really interesting to see the way she influenced her husband because it says that Elkanah went up to pay his vow. I think that she was the one who gave leadership in that house and without overstepping, she positively influenced her husband so that at the end of the episode, he is taking more responsibility and he is going up now to the temple to worship and to pay his vow.

And she does exactly what she said she would do. And she did what I think some but very few would do. She gave the most precious thing that she had to the Lord all the days of her life.

I remember the day that I went to tell my parents that I felt that the Lord, my wife and I felt that the Lord was calling us to go to Central Africa and to take their, at that stage, only grandchild to Central Africa. I remember what my mom said. My mom said, Stephen, I prayed for you before you were born that the Lord would raise you up and use you for his glory.

So how can I complain now? And I often think that the real price, when it comes to missionary service, overseas missionary service and whatever, the real price is often paid by those who stay at home, preachers' wives, missionaries' parents and grandparents. But they selflessly give those that are most precious to them. They give them to the Lord.

I have to stop now. But I hope that this simple meditation on a godly woman, and there's so much that we've left out. I hope that this simple meditation will encourage our hearts in the midst of trial and difficulty, in the midst of heartache and pain, to bring our burdens to the Lord.

And let us, brothers and sisters, not be afraid. Let us not be afraid to do great deals with God. Don't be afraid to do great deals with God.

That's what Hannah did. And at the end of the episode, and I haven't had time to go into chapter 2 and see how that she worships and adores and how her heart is full, so many similarities between her experience and her prayer and that of Mary, the Magnificat, so many parallels. But Hannah says, for this child I prayed.

May the Lord bless this work.