Today’s message summary of March 19, 2017 from Assistant Pastor Travis Jackson:
1 Samuel 1:1-8
There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless. This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the Lord’s priests.
Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving. Whenever she went up to the Lord’s house, her rival taunted her in this way every year. Hannah wept and would not eat. “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah asked. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?”
In verse 10, it is noted that Hannah was depressed about her inability to conceive. She was very upset and was praying to God that she would be remembered in her difficulty.
1 Samuel 1:9-11
Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s tabernacle. Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”
She was weeping in such a way as a woman who had lost her only child. Her condition was one of deep despair.
The reality of infertility makes a woman feel inadequate or incomplete. A woman’s desire is to bear children. In Hannah’s time, women who remained barren felt worthless, and they typically would not receive an inheritance that would allow for care for themselves and family members. A woman’s prestige was based upon her ability to produce offspring.
It should be noted that Hannah’s inability to bear children was allowed by God, and perhaps for the sole purpose that He wanted Hannah to draw closer to Him and to not dwell on her circumstances.
2 Corinthians 12:6-10
For if I want to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger[a] of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Hannah found her self-worth in God. This is also a lesson for each of us. We believe that the things that we do defines who we are. All joy that we experience comes from Him, and it should remind us that we are to seek Him in everything.
When we pray to God, we are to pray with the understanding that our desires are to be rooted within a relationship with Him. He wants us to grow more and more with Him.
In her prayer to God, we will focus on these three things:
- Hannah’s vow to the Lord
- Hannah asked for recognition
- Hannah’s offering
Hannah made a vow with God not only with herself but also with her future child. When she made this promise, it affected the course of her child’s life. The vow was a Nazarite vow, where the person would separate and consecrate himself for service to God in the temple. We find that Samuel would be serving the Lord diligently for his entire life.
Making a vow is not to be taken lightly, and is not recommended (Judges 11:29-40).
So, (Akron Alliance Fellowship) Church, when you are praying:
Matthew 5:37
But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’[a] Anything more than this is from the evil one.
When Samuel was born, we know that Hannah followed her vow by keeping her commitment. Her only child was committed to service. Her desire to be a mother was fulfilled, but she released Samuel to serve the Lord. This is the type of prayer that we are to focus on when it comes to our own service to Jesus Christ.
Hannah prayed to the Lord to be remembered by God as her servant (1 Samuel 1:11). In Hannah, whose name means “grace,” you can understand her sincerity of prayer before the Lord. Note that God heard her affliction, and we see that Hannah bore Samuel and many more children afterward (three sons and two daughters).
The lesson here is remaining prayerful. God, in His sovereignty, does recognize your prayers, and it make take some time before He answers them.
Hannah’s offering was giving her son back to the Lord. She offered her son as a way of serving the Lord in her desire to please God. Samuel was faithful in service and became a judge over Israel.
There is a parallel to her actions to Jesus’ prayer in John 17:
John 17:9-11
I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world
but for those You have given Me,
because they are Yours.
Everything I have is Yours,
and everything You have is Mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
I am no longer in the world,
but they are in the world,
and I am coming to You.
Holy Father,
protect them by Your name
that You have given Me,
so that they may be one as We are one.
Jesus asked God to keep and protect His servants. The persons that Jesus would die on the cross for belonged to the Father.
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