Havasu Christian Church
Series in I Samuel
April 14, 2024
I Samuel 1:21-2:11
“Joy, Sadness and a Song”
INTRO: Praising God when things are going well isn’t very difficult. In fact, it’s pretty easy. You got the promotion you wanted… or your grandkid is playing varsity…. Or maybe you’ve lost some weight and people have noticed. Whatever you’ve been doing is going well. It’s easy to be thankful.
But what about when things aren’t going so well. You didn’t get the promotion. Or your grandkid is riding the bench, or worse, got cut from the team. You’ve been trying to lose weight, but instead, you’ve gained 5 pounds. To add insult to injury, there was a weight loss commercial on where they showed you what 5 pounds of fat looks like…
Sometimes, life is like that. But we are still called to praise God, even in the tough times.
James 1:2–4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
This is one of those moments for Hannah. How did she do? She passed the test with flying colors!
1 Samuel 1:21–2:11 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow.
22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD and stay there forever.”
23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the LORD confirm His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh, although the child was young.
25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli.
26 She said, “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the LORD.
27 “For this boy I prayed, and the LORD has given me my petition which I asked of Him.
28 “So I have also dedicated him to the LORD; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.
- Hannah comes to Worship the Lord and fulfill her promise to God.
- Hannah had promised God that if He gave her a son, that she would give him back to God!
- She had made a “Nazarite vow” on his behalf.
- “No razor will touch his head.”
- I think that the rest of the vow is meant as well.
Numbers 6:1–8 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin. ‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long. ‘All the days of his separation to the LORD he shall not go near to a dead person. ‘He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ‘All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.
- Hannah has spent somewhere between 2 and 4 years with her son Samuel.
- I suspect that most of the Moms here would say “that wasn’t enough time.”
- So would most of the Dads.
- But now it’s time to fulfill her promise to God.
- Sometimes, it’s fun to fulfill a promise to God.
- Wedding vows are a promise, not only to your bride or groom, not only to the people present, but to God!
- Other times, not so much.
- Wedding vows are a promise, not only to your bride or groom, not only to the people present, but to God!
- I’m sure this was an “other time.”
- But she goes to Shiloh anyway!
- She seeks out Eli and gives her son into his care and into the service of the Lord.
- Hannah must have come to worship God with sadness in her heart.
- I have a son, but I’m giving him up!
- It’s easy to keep promises that don’t cost us very much.
- It’s easy to praise God when things are going just the way I want them to go.
- How easy is it when things get difficult?
- When things are going the exact opposite of how I want them to go.
- I suspect that Hannah had a lump in her throat the size of a tennis ball as she walked to Shiloh. She is probably crying, or at least nearly in tears.
- But she knows that God’s answer to her request is the only reason she has a son to give back to Him in the first place.
- God has given her the son that she promised to give back to Him.
- Hannah Rejoices, even in her sorrow.
Listen to her prayer!
I Samuel 2:1-11 Then Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 “There is no one holy like the LORD,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
3 “Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the LORD is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed.
4 “The bows of the mighty are shattered,
But the feeble gird on strength.
5 “Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to hunger.
Even the barren gives birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes.
6 “The LORD kills and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 “The LORD makes poor and rich;
He brings low, He also exalts.
8 “He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with nobles,
And inherit a seat of honor;
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S,
And He set the world on them.
9 “He keeps the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a man prevail.
10 “Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered;
Against them He will thunder in the heavens,
The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.”
11 Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah. But the boy ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest.
- She makes the choice to choose JOY!
(This isn’t a feeling, it is living in the knowledge that YOUR GOD is in charge of everything and you trust HIM to see you through!)
(Exult = show or feel triumphant elation!)
- She gives praise to God for what He does!
- She speaks of God as a Rock!
- A stable foundation for her life.
- She speaks of God as a God of Power.
- God takes away from those who are boastful
- “The bows of the mighty are shattered, but the feeble gird on strength.”
- God can takes away the power of the mighty
- But He can also give strength to the feeble.
- God has the power to turn hunger into fullness, and can take away the plenty from those who boast proudly.
- She speaks of God’s power to give children to the childless, and His power to take the happiness away from those who have many children.
- The Lord has the power of Life and Death!
- He MAKES the rich and the poor.
- He brings some people low, others He exalts.
- God make the world and He supports it!
- Whatever happens, He is in control!
- God is the Judge of everything.
- God is the one who gives strength to His king.
- Or anyone else for that matter!
- God will “exalt the horn of His anointed.”
- Perhaps a reference to the fact that later her son Samuel will anoint two men to be Kings of Israel?
- She looks, even in her sadness for ways to thank and praise God!
- This is exactly what she does.
Conclusion: What can I take home with me today that will matter this week.
- KNOW that your life will not always be full of fun and happiness!
- Oh, thanks so much for that ray of sunshine!
- This may be a hard truth, but it is true nonetheless!
- Be ready for those times, and be ready to praise God in spite of what’s going on!
- Keep your promises!
- To God,
- To others.
- LOOK for ways to Praise God, especially in the hard times!
Example: One of the hardest things in Ministry is leading people through a funeral. They are hurting, they are drained and they are consumed with Grief. Often, I’m grieving too. I know the same holds true for Billy as well. To try to sing a song without breaking down when you are deeply grieving and you are surrounded by the grief of others, is difficult to say the least.
- But those moments can be some of the most powerful moments that we ever have with our Lord. To praise Him, to Honor Him, when our soul is in agony, is worship at its purist, its finest.
- We CHOOSE to Worship, in spite of what is going on at the moment. We KNOW God is still on His throne! We acknowledge that God knows best, and that we trust Him to take us where He wants us to go. We trust Him to take us, as David wrote, “through the valley of the shadow of death.”
- That is Worship!
