JOY "A Contrast of Leadership" September 26, 2012

September 26, 2012

1st Samuel 2:11-4:1

A Contrast Of Leadership

I.     Eli and His Sons    2:12-36

II.    Eli and Samuel      3:1-11

III    Samuel and God   3: 12-4:1

"The TV show 60 Minutes, ran a segment, a few years ago, which speaks volumes to us about what it means to a society, when there is no real leadership.

The park rangers at a South African wildlife preserve were seriously concerned about the slaughter of 29, rare, white rhinos in the park. They were afraid that poachers had invaded the area and were somehow killing them, for sport. They eventually discovered, though, that the culprits weren't people------the rhinos were being stalked and taken down  by teenage elephants. 

The story had begun 10 years ago, when the park couldn't sustain the increasing population of elephants. They decided to kill many of the adult elephants, when their babies were old enough to survive without them. And so a whole generation of young elephants had grown up without any fathers or any role models to guide them.

As time went by, many of the young elephants roamed together in gangs and began to do things that elephants normally don't do. They threw sticks and water at the rhinos and they acted like neighborhood bullies. Without any older, dominant males to keep them in line, the young bulls became sexually active---and this caused them to produce excessive testosterone, which led to abnormally, aggressive behavior. A few of the young males became especially violent, and were seen knocking rhinos down and stepping or kneeling on them, long enough, to crush the life out of them. Mafuto, the recognized leader of the elephant gang, was so aggressive, that the rangers finally had to kill him.

The park rangers finally theorized, that the young, teenage elephants were acting so badly, because they didn't have any real leadership. There solution, was to bring in a larger, older male, who would establish himself as the leader, and hopefully, would be able to counteract the bad-boy behavior, of the wayward elephants. It wasn't very long, before the new male, had established his dominance and had put the young bulls, in their places. The killing stopped; the aggression stopped; and as much as it can in a nature preserve, peace still reigns. 

We hear that story and we think, that's the animal world----that doesn't apply to sane, intelligent reasonable people----but the truth is----anybody, will do anything, when they're given the right set of circumstances------It has been proven, time after time, century after century, war after war, failed society after failed society, broken family after broken family, lost relationship after lost relationship, bad choice after bad choice----that, without leadership, nothing but confusion and chaos can result----there will be no limits and no boundaries and no balance. Everything will spin out of control and what we think is right will be wrong and what we think is wrong will be right. 

Leadership, has always been a desperately needed commodity, in our world-----and the necessity for it, is no different for us today, than it was in the days of Samuel, 3000 years ago----we need it in our homes, in our churches and in our government. But, unfortunately, even as believers, there is a certain cynicism about leadership, that exists in the hearts and minds of most of us. 

We have a hard time believing the words of our political leaders. We're suspicious of the motives of our business leaders. And sadly, a lot of times, we're skeptical about the competence of our church leaders. Like the Israelites, in our lesson today, we afraid that our leaders, on all fronts, will let us down. Too many of us think that we're smarter and wiser and more able to lead, than the leaders, who are in place over us, so we've started to develop very low expectations for our leaders.

And in our cynicism, we're thrilled to be proven right, in our low expectations. And the media is terrible about spinning words and emotions, that just feed into, our already jaded way of thinking ----- what better front page story is there, than one that exposes corruption and ineptitude, in high places. 

And at the same time, we also have lofty expectations for our leaders; its a conundrum--------

The funny thing is------the reason why we're so cynical toward our leaders, is because we think, that they could do so much better. We tend to get excited about, a change in leadership----- whether it's in our government or the school system or at work or even in church------because in spite of our cynicism----deep in our hearts, we still want to believe in our leaders----we want to give them the benefit of the doubt-----we can't help but hope, that finally, we'll see a true leader emerge, a leader that has, and can provide, exactly what we need, so that we can follow that person. 

In this confusion, there is one thing that we forget to consider, a lot of times----Where does God figure into our attitudes about leadership? He should be in the center of, the discernment and the expectation that we have of our leaders; and He should be the author, of our trust in them; and He should be the encourager, of our obedience to them. The buck stops with God. We have to realize that He is sovereign----He is the final authority on everything. We need to look to Him and only Him, to lead us. Unfortunately, Eli and his sons lost sight of this and totally forsook God-----they took advantage of the leadership position that had been given to them and they made a mockery of God's goodness. 

We don't want to be like them and we don't want to follow leaders who are like them. 

When its time for government elections-----we need to do our homework; we need to know the candidates and their platforms and their records----and when its time to vote for church leadership----of our deacons and pastors or to take a position ourselves----we need to do our homework-----we need to know what each person has to offer, and we need to see the transparency of their hearts, and we need to be able to see evidence of their walk with the Lord----but more than any of this-----we need to take our concern and our questions and our decisions to the Lord----and we need to listen, until we hear Him speak, telling us the way we need to go. Ultimately, He's the only leader we need. Isaiah 30:21 says, "whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying,' this is the way; walk in it.'"

Hannah's prayer was a part of last week's lesson------and it's an extraordinary expression of her faith in God's leadership. It takes us to the heart of the message of this whole book and we will have learned this lesson well, if we can start to see the world and God, in the way that Hannah saw them. 

I. Eli and His Sons   2:12-36

When Hannah and Elkanah left Samuel with Eli, they thought that they were leaving him in a place of protection and shelter. Because that's the kind of place that the tabernacle was supposed to be, but unfortunately it wasn't.  Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas, even though they served as priests, were awful!!!! They didn't know the Lord and they didn't recognize His authority-----so they didn't care how He might view their actions. They were wicked and self serving, and they were turning the Lord's house into their own den of iniquity. And they were the worst kind of leaders---- they weren't just turning their own backs on the Lord, with their actions and attitude, they were leading other people to turn away from Him too.  

In our lives, we can be just like Hannah and Elkanah----way too often, we think, that because our children (whether they are small or whether they are adults) are in Christian schools, or because they are active in church programs or hanging out with other young people, from Christian homes----- that they are where they are supposed to be, with the people they are supposed to be with------and that we can relax our vigilance a little bit----but we need to be more aware and be careful not to kid ourselves----satan is as alive and well in the places where Christians meet ,as he is in places where a Christian wouldn't be caught dead------

(J. Vernon McGee says that sometimes, those "safe" places can be even more dangerous------and that that's when we need to pray even harder, for our children and those that we love; and for our leaders, too.  We need learn to keep our eyes wider open and our minds constantly alert, because the devil cannot stand it, when something good is happening in the life of a believer or for God's kingdom----- he will show up---- and because he knows that he can't rob a believer of his salvation, instead, he will try everything he can, to trip us up and rob us of our joy. He will try and use anyone and anything to mess us up.The devil was in the upper room that night, when Jesus was betrayed and he was in the garden later on, when the soldiers came to get Jesus, and he was laughing the next morning, as Jesus carried his cross and stumbled and fell, on the way to Calvary.) We need to always be on our guard. 

Israelite law stipulated that the needs of the Levite priests (the caretakers of God's house and its contents and the men who handled the duties of the sacrificial offerings for the people----they were more like our deacons and committee members than they were, what we would consider as priests or preachers) would be met through the tithes and the sacrifice offerings that the people would bring to the tabernacle, at least 3 times a year.

So because Eli's sons were priests (they had inherited the title, they weren't called to it) that's the way they were supposed to be taken care of. But Eli's sons were greedy and lazy and their hearts were hard-----they took advantage of their position, to satisfy their lust for power and possessions and control. They abused the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh, by taking and using their offerings, sometimes by force, to satisfy their own personal desires. 

The offerings were supposed to be given to the Lord, by the people, to show Him honor and respect and as a way to seek forgiveness for their sins------not to fatten the stomachs and the coffers and the egos of evil men.  In taking the offerings, before they were offered to God on the altar and eating the fat that was supposed to be burned as a sweet savor to the Lord, and in taking the choicest pieces meat, for themselves, Eli's sons were treating the people, their offerings and, most importantly, God, with contempt. 

Their disdain and arrogance toward both people and the worship of Almighty God, was undermining the integrity of the whole priesthood and it was taking glory and authority away from God. It's really bad when a person hardens their own heart against God, but when they lead other people to do it, it is even worse. We need to be so careful that our behavior and our words and our influence, points people to the Lord, not away from Him. 

Eli's sons knew better, but they continued to disobey God deliberately, by cheating, seducing and robbing the people. 

The contempt displayed in the behavior of his sons and in Eli's failure to curb them, is even more serious, in the light of God's grace----they kept on sinning deliberately, after they know the truth of God.  Any sin is wrong, but sin carried out deliberately and deceitfully is the worst kind! When we sin out of ignorance, we still deserve punishment, but when we sin willfully, the consequences will and should be more severe.

Eli was an Old Testament priest, but he had a very modern problem. And he didn't deserve the honor and respect that he was given in public, because of the office he held, because his private life was in shambles. He may have been a priest, serving God and the people of Israel, but he was a terrible parent. His sons brought him grief and they led him to ruin and death. He didn't fulfill the role of leading the people any better than his sons did. He let his inability, to say no to them, interfere with his love for God, and the discharge of his duties. 

Being a leader in the church is a special calling…and it should not be treated lightly by any of us.

1 Timothy 3;1-7 says, "This is a trustworthy saying: 'If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position. So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church? An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him, so that he would not be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap."

Eli had had a difficult time, rearing his sons. Apparently, he was a soft touch, where discipline was needed. He seemed to turn a blind eye to a lot of their wrongdoing. But Eli wasn't just a father who was trying to handle his rebellious sons. He was much more------he was the high priest, who was ignoring the sins, of priests who were under his control. Eli was guilty of honoring his sons above God, by letting them continue in their sinful ways. Is there a situation in our lives, with our family or with work or with a friend, that we've allowed to continue, even though we know its wrong. If there is, we're  just as guilty as those who are engaged in the wrong act. Eli was tolerating their sin----and tolerating sin, is a sin itself.

Eli knew that his sons were evil, but he did little to correct or stop them, even when the integrity of God's sanctuary was threatened. As the high priest, Eli should have had them executed-----so there's no wonder that he chose not to confront the situation---he must have been terrified as a priest and heartsick as a parent!  But by ignoring their selfish actions, Eli let his sons ruin their own lives and the lives of many others. The lesson for us to learn, is to realize that there are times when serious problems need to be confronted, even if the process and the consequences are painful. 

Eli lacked two important qualities that are needed for effective parental discipline--- firm resolve and corrective action.

Eli reacted to situations instead of solving them. But even his reactions tended to be weak. God sent an unknown prophet to point out the son's errors, but Eli did little to correct them. The contrast between God's dealing with Eli and Eli's dealing with his sons is clear-----God gave warning, spelled out the consequences of disobedience, and then He acted. Eli didn't do anything but warn them----almost like a parent who threatens a child with punishment and then doesn't follow through. Children need to learn that their parents words and actions go together. (when our children were growing up, we had friends whose children knew, that if their parents said maybe, it really meant yes----I hope that our children knew that when we said maybe, we meant maybe…..you'll have to ask Mary Kathryn…) We need to say what we mean and mean what we say. Both love and discipline have to be spoken, as well as acted out.

After the unknown prophet reminded Eli, of the special privileges that God had given to him and his sons, because of the legacy they had inherited----he asked Eli, why he had chosen to honor his sons more than he had chosen to honor God. Eli and his sons had chosen to trade all the blessings and privileges of their priesthood for some meat. Our commentary for this week says "that as Christians, we need to be so careful that we don't trade our spiritual blessings for the things of this world. We can't serve 2 masters. It might not be money or popularity or prestige that we want-----but it may be, that we don't spend the time with the Lord that we should---maybe we choose to watch TV or read a book or talk on the phone or some other temporal pleasure------not that any of those things are bad, but when we consistently choose to do everything, but spend time with the Lord----we'll miss out on the blessings, that the Lord has for us. Just like our leaders need to understand and live by the right priorities, so do we. 

Our loving God doesn't want to put anybody to death-----but in His sovereign heart and mind, Eli's two sons had crossed over the line of no return----they had defiled and denied and defied God's plan and provision, for dealing with sins. God, with His love for Israel, couldn't let the situation continue. Eli and his sons would eventually have to die for their sins----and the privilege of priesthood removed, forever, from the men in Eli's line of descent. There are places in the Old and the New Testaments that teach us, that there are circumstances, when God will give up on people, and there's nothing that will change that judgement. To someone who repents, God would never say that He doesn't forgive them, but repentance is a gift, that God offers to people----and if He chooses to, He can decide to stop offering it, if people keep refusing to take it. And He will leave people, to the consequences of their own actions, when they reach the point of no return. (In the OT, Pharaoh, and his hard heart is an example of this and Judas, and his hard heart, is an example of it, in the NT.)

The last point, in the message that was delivered to Eli, is remarkable. Their own wickedness, was going to bring God's judgment onto Eli's family, but that judgement wasn't going to be God's last word. In His grace, God gave Eli a glimpse into the future. In spite of his failure as a father and as an honorable priest, God allowed him to see, that God, Himself, was going to raise up a faithful priest, who would be a man after His own heart. And He kept His promise! Most commentators agree, that there are 3 different men who fulfilled it----Samuel, then Zadok and then ultimately, the Lord Jesus, the Great High Priest for, all eternity. 

During this whole time, a stark contrast can be seen, between Eli's sons and Samuel-----physically and spiritually---- 

It's a telling thing, that each year when Hannah made Samuel new clothes, she made him garments that only a priest would wear. 

There are other clear contrasts between them too: They are:

that Samuel served the Lord-------Hophni and Phinhas grabbed all that they could, for themselves

that Samuel matured-----------------Hophni and Phinehas become more and more decadent

that Samuel increased in stature and favor-------Hophni and Phinehas were marked for death

that as the curve of Eli's priesthood declined-----the curve of Samuel's ministry rose

that as the death of Hophni and Phinehas was prophesied-----the establishment of Samuel, as a faithful priest, was realized.

II.    Eli and Samuel 3:1-11

Although God, had spoken directly and audibly with Moses and Joshua----- His word become rare, during the 3 centuries, that the people were ruled by His God-appointed judges. There are only 3 prophets and 5 revelations recorded in scripture, during this time, including the unknown prophet who came to speak to Eli. By the time Eli and his sons were serving in the Tabernacle, no prophets were speaking God's messages, to Israel. Eli and his sons were the last, of a long line of priests, who either refused to listen to God, or who allowed greed, to get in the way of any communication with Him. And, the absence of God's word, may have been a sign of God's judgment on them---because their rebellion against Him had become a way of life----- except for a remnant, like Samuel's family. Sin keeps man and God separated. When God's word is not proclaimed, a society will degenerate quickly-----sin keeps us from listening to God and it keeps God from listening to us. But God loves us, so He will only let His silence last so long, before He will speak to us.

There is a "Dennis the Menace" cartoon that emphasizes the difference between hearing and listening----- Dennis ran into Mr. Wilson's house and saw him sitting down and reading the newspaper. Immediately, Dennis greeted him with a warm, "Hello Mr. Wilson". But Mr. Wilson didn't respond. Again Dennis spoke, but this time he was a little louder, "Hello, Mr. Wilson",  No response came from behind the paper. Finally Dennis blasted forth, "Hel-looo, Mr. Wilson!!!!" Still Mr. Wilson didn't answer. So Dennis turned to leave and in a normal voice, he said, "Well then, goodbye, Mr. Wilson", and Mr. Wilson replied, "Goodbye, Dennis." As he walked out the door, Dennis said to himself, "There's nothing wrong with his hearing, but his listenings's not so good." 

God was just beginning move, when He spoke to Samuel. Change was coming-----up until then, the 12 tribes had been loosely connected, each one governed by its own clan leaders----and they only came together to war against common enemies, under a God-appointed judge, from time to time----or to see each other at Shiloh, for the feasts and festivals. But the time had come, when Israel, was going to institute a central government, with a king, ruling over them all----- and prophets were going to be needed, because God was going to speak through them, to guide the king----- and Samuel was the first of those prophets. 

Samuel was able to hear, but he didn't really understand, that He needed to be listening for God's call, yet------I don't think he would have been able to understand God's word------- until the time was right-------And only God could decide when that time was right-----and He chose the wee hours of that morning, in the tabernacle. That's when Samuel heard God speak for the first time and really listened to what He had to say. 

Samuel had reached the age of accountability----it was time for an encounter with the Lord, like everyone has to have, in order to be able to accept Him or to reject Him, for who He is. It was personal, private and face to face----it was between God and Samuel-----and for the first time, Samuel became responsible for the knowledge, that he'd been training for and dedicated to, since before he was born. 

The scene of the encounter between Samuel and God, contains some very interesting details, that can't help but capture our imagination----v. 3 says, "The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was." 

The Ark of God was kept in the most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), which was the innermost room of the Tabernacle, where only the High Priest could go once a year. This is the first mention of the Ark, in 1st Samuel. The presence of the Ark, in the Tabernacle, was a reminder of God's covenant relationship with the children of Israel, and His covenant command to them, to obey Him and be His people. The Ark was a gold plated wooden box, that contained the 2 tablets of the 10 Commandments, Aaron's rod and a jar of manna. The lid was called the mercy seat, and that's where God had promised that He would always meet His people. 

In front of the Most Holy Place, was the Holy Place, a small room, where the other sacred furniture of the tabernacle was kept (the incense altar, the Bread of the Presence and the lampstand.) Just outside the Holy Place, was a court, with small rooms, where the priests were supposed to stay. Eli, may have been in one of those rooms, and Samuel must have been in the Holy Place, near the lampstand, so that he could tend it, and make sure it didn't go out. The lampstand was supposed to burn continually, in front of the curtain, that shielded the Ark of God, because God had promised, that as long as the ark was there, and the light in the lamp was burning, then His presence was there too. 

In this particular instance, the fact that the lamp had not gone out, indicated that God spoke to Samuel sometime in the predawn hours----- and most theologians agree that there is a deeper meaning here-----and it is, that the darkness represented God's silence and Eli's blindness----and, because the light hadn't gone out yet, when He spoke, suggested that God hadn't abandoned His people, and that there was still time and there was still hope. The fact that Samuel was lying near the Ark, the place where God said He would always be found, leads us to believe that Samuel, of all the Israelites, was there for God's divine purpose. 

When God spoke to Samuel, it was an amazing thing!!!!!1 because God speaking, is the basic reality of our faith.  It is the fundamental foundation, of everything that we believe. God's revelation to us, begins in Genesis 1:1 when God speaks the world into existence, and it concludes, in Revelation 22:17, with Jesus speaking, an invitation for us "to come…" All the pages in between are packed with sentences that God speaks---about judgment, salvation, healing, guidance, admonition, comfort, wisdom and peace. And the most precious thing about God speaking, is that He speaks to us personally, by our names-----Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel…and each one of us...

And Samuel, when God spoke, listened----3 times he misidentified God's words to Him, as human words-----but the 4th time, with the help of Eli, he listened to them as God's words. And He answered Him. Because in the end, when God speaks, the only thing that matters-----is what God says and what He tells us to do, and that we do it!

Listening to Him and responding, is vital, in our relationship with the Lord.  God doesn't always use the sound of a human voice, to speak to us-----He might speak through the scripture, or through another person or through a situation-----we have to be paying attention, and we have to listen carefully, to hear Him clearly.  Learning to discern the difference between God's words speaking to us, and the words of another person, isn't easy. We have to make sure that we line the words up, with what we know to be true about God. If they don't line up with the scripture and they don't reflect His character, then they aren't His, and we need to run away from them.  And to be able to receive His messages, we have to make a conscious choice to listen, and then be ready to obey Him. We have to be ready to say "Here I am Lord, speak for your servant's listening…" like Samuel did. 

III. Samuel and God     3:12-4:1

Personally, I take great comfort in the fact, that the Lord was persistent, in His call to Samuel-----I'm thankful that He didn't give up-----and He doesn't give up on us either, He will keep on, calling our names, until He finally gets our attention------I'm thankful that He will use every means available, to get us to listen, even if it's painful---- because sometimes, He has to beat us over the head, with our own stubborn pride.  He knows how hard-hearted we are, and how blind and selfish we can be, and yet, He still calls our names over and over again. That kind of love and patience is incomprehensible to us. 

In our church service on Sunday morning, the choir sang a song I love so much, that makes me so aware of the Lord's presence that I feel like I could reach out and touch Him------ It reminds me, of what it must have been like, when God called Samuel's name, in those early morning hours.

The song is "He Is Here"---the words go like this….

I sense an awesome moving of the Holy Spirit

And I see His countenance resting on your face

I know there are angels hovering all around us

For the presence of the Lord is in this place

He is here, Hallelujah!

He is here, Amen!

He is here, Holy Holy

I will bless His name again

He is here, Listen closely

Hear Him calling out you name

He is here, you can touch Him

You will never be the same.

I searched for peace among the shadows, dark and lonely

Gave up on finding that strong and lasting love

I tasted all the things that sin could offer me

But today, I feast on manna from above

Repeat Chorus

That must have been how it felt for Samuel, when He laid back down that 3rd time-----don't you think he could feel the presence of the Lord, in that room with him? And then, when God spoke the 4th time, not only did He call Samuel's name twice, but He allowed Samuel to see, that he was truly in His presence--------Samuel must have been overwhelmed with amazement------because when we really and truly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit----the world just seems to fade away, and the only reality there is, is Him, and all we want to do, is to kneel down and worship Him, in obedience.  

In the natural order of things, you would expect an audible message from God, to be given to the adult priest, Eli----- not to the child-priest in training, Samuel----- because Eli was older and more experienced and he held the proper position. But God's chain of command, is based on faith, not on age or position. In finding faithful followers, God will often times, use unexpected channels and unexpected people. We need to be prepared for the Lord to work in any place, at any time, though anyone, that He chooses. 

God's message was to Samuel, but it was meant for Eli, and it was troubling to Samuel. He didn't want to tell Eli, whom He obviously loved and respected, that he and his sons were going to die. He went back to bed and then went about his chores the next morning, without telling Eli what God had said to him. Telling someone God's truth about their behavior or the behavior of someone that they love, can be either painful, or it can be joyous. We like to spread messages of hope, not messages of doom----No one likes to be the bearer of bad news----but when God tells us to speak, we better speak----and we better speak the truth of the gospel, even though it is a double-edged sword-----on one hand----the good news is, that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins----and if we will receive His gift of salvation, then we will spend eternity with Him in heaven------and on the other hand, the bad news is, that if we reject His gift of salvation, then we will be eternally damned, to the punishment of hell----separated from Him forever. 

Eli taught Samuel well---he wouldn't let him off the hook-----he demanded that he tell him what God had said-----this taught Samuel to be faithful, in speaking God's words, no matter who He was talking to. This taught him to never soften or change or withhold God's message, even if it could hurt the very people, who were closest to him. (same for us) It taught him that God was a holy and sovereign God. The Lord had already said that there would be no atonement for the sins of Eli and his sons and Samuel's words from God, just reiterated the truth of the prophecy. Eli accepted God's decision and took responsibility for his actions. In the end Eli, taught Samuel that God's will is perfect and that His judgment is righteous and that it must always be submitted to. 

The power of God's call on Samuel's life is shown in the faithfulness of God's presence with Samuel's ministry-----God walked with Samuel every step of the way and Samuel was careful to only speak the words, that God spoke, to him. He had the courage to be faithful to the message of God, no matter what. And because he did, God blessed his ministry, and never failed to confirm his prophecies. Samuel's words were trustworthy, because they were the Lord's words----and his reputation as a prophet of the Lord, spread from one corner of the Promised Land to the other. 

As a young boy, Samuel learned that God was the only leader he could trust. And before he died, Eli learned the same thing. Have we come to that same realization yet, and and do we live our lives like we truly believe it? 

Years ago, there was a brokerage firm that developed a series of successful TV ads, called E.F. Hutton. The circumstances were different, but the message was always the same. In a crowded room, restaurant, or other location, a small group of people would be busy talking about some financial investment. 

Generally, one individual would not be saying much, but in the course of the conversation, that person would finally be asked what he or she thought. The person always responded to every ad by saying the same thing, "well, my broker is E.F. Hutton, and E.F. Hutton says…" immediately, the person would stop speaking and realize that all activity around him had ceased, everything had become silent-----and all heads were strained toward him, and all their ears stretched out, to catch the next words out of his mouth. At that point, an announcer would break in and say, "When E.F. Hutton speaks, people listen…" 

The implication was clear-----E.F.Hutton was so successful in the investment business, that people would stop everything, just to listen to what the broker had to say. 

Wouldn't it be wonderful, if that's the way we were about what God has to say. Our ad would say, "When the Lord speaks, people listen!"

God is the creator and sustainer of life. He gave His only son to die on the cross, in order that we might have life. He gave us the Bible, His love letter and instruction manuel. He wants to be our leader, and He wants to guide us from here to eternity. The very least that we can do, is to learn to say what Samuel did, Speak Lord, because your servant is listening---and then put into practice what He tells us to. 

JOY "The Faithfulness of Hannah" September 19, 2012

September 19, 2012

The Faithfulness of Hannah

1st Samuel 1:1-2:10

I        Hannah's Sorrow 1:1-8

II       Hannah's Prayer 1:9-18

III      Hannah's Surrender 1:19-28

III      Hannah's Song 1:19-2:10

"In May 1996, ValuJet Flight 592, crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 110 passengers. To be able to determine the cause of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board, needed the plane's black box. The authorities knew that it would't be easy to find. The crash had scattered plane debris across a large area of swamp. Dozens of searchers descended on the scene, to sift through the muck and the water, which was as much as eight feet deep, in some places, in an attempt to find it. 

Navy experts tried to use a special technology that could detect submerged metal, but, unfortunately, they didn't have any success. 

Holding a rope that kept them spaced 3 feet apart, the searchers systematically poked through every square foot of the crash area. After 14 days, they still had not found anything. 

For the workers, the physical conditions were almost unbearable. The Florida sun was beating down on them as the temperatures hovered in the high 90s. Diesel fuel and caustic hydraulic fluid, from the wrecked plane floated in the water, forcing the searchers to wear rubber and latex protective boots and overalls and gloves, making the heat and humidity beyond miserable. Fourteen days of those conditions even landed some of the searchers, who were suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion, in the hospital. 

Sergeant Felix Jimenez, a Metro-Dade County policeman, was one of the searchers. For 14 days, he had prayed for the bereaved families and for the safety of his fellow workers------ but on the 15th day, as he took a break, he suddenly realized that he had forgotten to pray for one thing. He hadn't asked for God, to help them find the little black box. 

So, he paused right then, and asked God for direction, and then he resumed his search. 

The minute he stuck his pole into the water, he hit something metallic and when he pulled it up out of the muck, it was the black box!

Jimenez wrote about, his experience, in the Guidepost magazine and he said, "At the end of the day….I thought of the many days we had spent searching for the recorder, how we must have tromped over it many times, and I wondered why its retrieval had taken so long. And amid the low rustle of saw grass and the call of a great white heron, I seemed to hear God's response: 'Why did it take you so long to ask?'"

That's the way we are! A lot of times we look for the answers to our questions, in every direction but the one place, where we can really find them. God tells us in James 1:5, "that if anyone lacks wisdom, then we should just ask Him for it, and He will give it to us, and He won't rebuke us for asking." So, why do we wait till the last minute and the last resort, to go to Him for answers and comfort and direction and strength and our heart's desires? Why do we go to the phone before we go to the throne? Why do we go to self-help books? Why do we go to counselors, even godly ones? Why do we go to medication and food and exercise? Why do we lose ourselves in the books and entertainment and activities de jour, that the world offers? All of these things are good and effective and even healthy, in the right context------but they are poor substitutes for the perfect answers that the Lord wants to give us. Fundamentally, the reason we don't go to God first, is because we think too highly of ourselves. We have to much pride, to humble ourselves and lay our hearts and souls bare before the Lord; it makes us too vulnerable, and we can't stand that, because it makes us feel uncomfortable, and it makes us feel inadequate.

But Hannah had no problem with it. She trusted God so completely that she wasn't afraid to ask Him to give her her heart's desire and then she trusted Him enough to give her heart's desire back to Him. She is an amazing role model for us. 

It should be a great encouragement to us today, that Hannah's years of suffering, which were brought about by her barrenness and by her living in a stressful home situation and by her raising her son, only to have to give Him back----- made her into a woman, who truly knew God. We can see this so clearly in both of her prayers. In her, we can see a person who had walked and talked with the Lord for many years. Hannah is the perfect illustration of a prayer warrior, because she trusted her sovereign God to intervene in her life, and to orchestrate it, to fit into the plan that He had already ordained for her and for her family and for His people, from the beginning of time.

I          Hannah's Sorrow 1:1-8

The hope, of the coming of the Messiah, was in the heart of every truly righteous man and woman in the old Testament. Their fervent longing for Him was the focus of their existence. The truth of his coming was threaded throughout the scripture like a brilliant scarlet cord----- sometimes it came boldly to the surface, in explicit promises and prophecies------ and sometimes it was concealed, just underneath the surface, throbbing with the constant heartbeat of the waiting Savior, until He revealed Himself in all His glory, in the person of the Lord Jesus. 

Although the OT people's understanding of the redeeming Messiah was dim and shadowy, there was always a remnant, who kept all their hopes for salvation, focused on their promised Redeemer. Job, whose story, is one of the most ancient expressions of faith, that's recorded in scripture, testifies to his longing for the Messiah, at the lowest point, of his worst troubles in Job 19:25-27, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" Amazing! maybe as much as 2000 years before Jesus' resurrection, Job's faith included the expectation of his own bodily resurrection!!!!

Hannah had that same kind of faith!!!! It was the essence of her belief in Almighty God, and the foundation of that belief, which gave her the courage to be able to pray the way she did. But, there was one other element that was a driving force for her and the other women, in the Old and the New Testaments, which carries through into Jewish culture, even today----- and it is, that nobody knew, who would be granted, by God, the privilege, of being the mother of the Messiah. 

As much as Hannah wanted a child for herself to love and to raise, and as much as she wanted a child for her husband Elkanah to have help on the farm and to carry on his name------the deeper desire for her, I believe, was to honor her God and her nation, by bearing the hope and salvation of all mankind!

Hannah was an obscure woman, living in a remote part of Israel. Their home was in the territory of Ephraim. Her husband was a descendant, in the priestly line of Levi. That they were a devout family, is evidenced for us, in seeing their consistency, year after year, of traveling 20 miles to Shiloh, probably on foot, to worship in the tabernacle there, for the nation's High Holy days. That they were a faithful family, is evidenced in the love that we can see between Hannah and Elkanah; and in the patience that Hannah exercised with Penninah; and in the prayers that Hannah prayed and the vow that she made to God, and in the way Elkanah honored that vow; and in the way Hannah kept her vow; and in the way Hannah and Elkanah taught their son how to worship God and to serve Him with his whole heart, his whole life long. 

We know that their family was a polygamous one. And polygamy is definitely not the way that God chooses for families to live. He ordained one woman for one man, back in the Garden, when He created Adam and Eve------but in the culture that biblical people lived in, it had become a normal way of life. For a lot of men, it was a pride issue, that represented his male prowess------ but the main reason was, so that the man would have an heir-----the inability of a wife to produce an heir was a serious issue---- because an heir maintained the family line and carried on the family name and also provided for the preservation of the father's estate within the clan and the tribe. Plus, it was kind of like social security, the heir would provide for his mother after his father's death. It was also a way of taking care of widows and old maids, to insure that they were not a drain on the society-----it took the place of welfare. Political alliances, lust and economic purposes were also reasons that middle eastern men took extra wives. It's interesting, that these are the exact same reasons, that polygamy is practiced in that part of the world, still today. 

(We're taught by the scripture, that motherhood is the highest calling that God can bestow on a woman-----but I don't want you to get the idea that it's the only proper role for a woman. 1 Cor. 7:8-9 says that it is God's will for some women to remain single and Psalm 127:3 says that some married women will remain childless------- and the understanding of this, is so that they can devote themselves to the Lord, in service to the kingdom, without any divided loyalties.) 

It is though, the one vocation that God designed uniquely, for women; only a woman can be a mother------there is no man that could ever fill that role. 

Of course, in the world that we leave in-----motherhood gets a bad wrap sometimes-----it is often scorned and belittled and relegated to the back seat of importance-----how often to you meet women, who will tell you what they do professionally 1st, and then, they will tell you that they are wives and mother's second?

But its been God's plan from the beginning, that women should train and nurture godly children, so they will leave a powerful imprint on society. John MacArthur says "that Hannah is a reminder to us, that mothers are the makers of men and the architects of the next generation." Hannah's earnest prayer for a child shows us how much she trusted God, and how much that trust had developed over time. God used her suffering to grow her into the mother, who could shape the man, that He needed, to lead Israel. We will see, as we continue to study, that Samuel's character bore the clear stamp of his mother's influence, even though he left home at such an early age.)

Hannah's name means grace and she seems to have had a gracious character to match it. But in spite of that, her home life was often troubled and sorrowful. The fact that her husband was a bigamist, had to have caused severe tension in the family, on a daily basis, made especially harder by Peninnah's having many children, and Hannah having none. And scripture  says that Peninnah deliberately provoked Hannah, by tormenting her by constantly calling attention to her own remarkable fertility, and Hannah's God-ordained barrenness. 

And Elkanah didn't help matters any. He tried to show Hannah how much he loved her by giving her special portions of food, at the feast celebrations that they went to at Shiloh------but that only magnified to Penninah, that even though she was the mother of his children------she was second-best, in his affection----and so she retaliated, by taking her heartache and disappointment out on Hannah. 

This made life almost unbearable for Hannah. Not so much because of the taunting, which was a miserable thing, but because of the constant anguish over her infertility, month after month and year after year-----and having it constantly pointed out to her. 

(What is it, that's in our lives, right now, that's bringing us this same kind of anguish? It can be anything, not just wanting to have or adopt a baby------but something that we desire, from the very depths of our souls. It may be that we have earnestly prayed for something to either begin or to end, for a long time----and God has either said no, or He's said, not yet. (it could be….. marriage for the 1st time; marriage after widowhood or divorce; having to deal with a first wife from a husband's previous marriage; having to walk a tight rope in a blended family of children and step-children; reconciliation after a broken relationship; dealing with days and days of the constant drain of being mother to small children; navigating the minefield of worry over a teenager who's angry or on drugs or promiscuous;  worry and fear over money or the loss of a job; having to work at a job that makes us miserable; struggling with some kind of an addiction or depression; worrying about a debilitating or life-threatening illness for you or a loved one)-------there are countless things that could have us agonizing in our spirits----- Whatever it is----we need to take it to the Lord and lay it at His feet in prayer, and leave it there----- we can't make God move one bit faster than He wants to and He knows how and when He wants to answer our prayers.)

But Hannah's marriage, even though it was marred by tension and rivalry, was solid. Elkanah obviously loved her with a sincere affection and her love for him seems to have been reciprocated, because he tried so hard to comfort her, by tenderly reminding her of all the good things that they had, especially his love for her. But bless his heart---he was as sweet as he could be------ but he was clueless------she needed empathy and sincere understanding------ and in a typical male, self-centered approach----he tried to be her solution, instead of her sounding board and her shoulder to cry on. 

(Don't you think that most men are that way though, and they can't help it…..God made them that way----they mean well, but they can barely see the forest for the trees------but they are sincere, and they just want to fix, whatever's hurting us.) We need to teach them that sometimes, all we need is for them to just listen to us or just hold us or just make the world stop for a minute and be our friend. 

Elkanah asked her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? and Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? He didn't understand that the love that he had for Hannah didn't make up for the emptiness of her womb. (On a much, much lesser scale----I would love to get a puppy-----our one and only family dog passed away about 7 years ago----she was deaf, had cataracts and had to be given insulin shots twice a day for diabetes-----Dale doesn't want to be responsible for another dog in it's old age----so his pat answer to me, is always----"you don't need a dog, you can take care of me, I'm better than a puppy…" classic answer and one has nothing to do with the other----but it does make me laugh and it does lighten the moment. 

And Elkanah's questions must have helped Hannah some, too-----at least for the moment, because immediately, she got up and ate, and then went into the tabernacle to pray. 

Hannah's love for her husband is the first key to understanding her profound influence as a mother----and why she is used so often, as the sermon topic on Mothers Day, in churches, all over the country. Contrary to popular opinion, the most important characteristic of a godly mother, is not her relationship with her children. The most important characteristic of a godly mother is her love for her husband. The love between a husband and a wife is the real key to a thriving family. (I've heard Dale say many times that the greatest gift that a man can give his children, is to let them see how much he loves their mother) well it the same thing for a mother---the greatest gift that she can give her children, is to let them see how much she loves their daddy.  A healthy home environment is not built around the children; its built around the marriage ---- and a healthy marriage is not built around the husband and wife; its built around the Lord------The hierarchy in a marriage should always be, if you look at it in a pyramid fashion, the Lord first, the husband and wife second, the children third and then extended family and friends and jobs and interests and everything else falling into place under these.

All parents and grandparents need to understand, that what you communicate to your children, and your grandchildren, through your marital relationship, will stay with them for the rest of their lives. By watching how a husband and a wife treat each other, our children and grandchildren, will learn the most fundamental lessons of life-----love, self-sacrifice, integrity, virtue, sin, sympathy, patience, loyalty, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness, just to name a few. Whatever we teach them about those things, right or wrong, is planted deep inside their hearts. 

That emphasis of the centrality of the Lord in marriage and the love between the husband and wife, is very evident between Elkanah and Hannah. With all their domestic issues, they still seem to have had a healthy marriage and an abiding love for each other. Their inability to have children together was like an open wound. But it made them close and grew a tenderness between them. Even in a home environment with a second wife and multiple children-----a chaos that was created by the bigamy and made even worse by Peninnah's ill temperment-----Hannah and Elkanah clearly were deeply connected to each other. 

The glimpse that God gives us of their stress-filled household, provides us with a helpful backdrop, to be able to see that God's purposes, can't be thwarted by human shortcomings. He worked within the strain and stress of their relationship to bring Samuel into the world. When our relationships seem too snarled to be salvaged or even, unraveled, we need to remember that God not only displays His creativity, by being able to make things from scratch, but He also shows us His power and wisdom, by bringing order and beauty, out of seemingly, impossible messes. 

The best thing about Hannah and Elkanah's marriage, was that they worshiped God together and they did it regularly. All Israelite men were required to attend at least 3 of their annual feasts----but they could journey to Shiloh to worship, any time they wanted to. We don't know how often Hannah and Elkanah visited the tabernacle-----it could have been many more than the 3 required times, because it would only have been about a 2 day journey to get there for them----- and from what it seems like in the scripture, further on in chapter 2------ most likely, they did go more often, and took their family with them when they went. The Lord seems to have occupied the central place in their lives together, because worship was important to them, it was obviously, a way of life for them. That's what kept their love for one another strong, in the face of so much adversity.

And the importance of worship in their lives, explains a second reason why Hannah is such an influential mother and example for us----because as much as she loved Elkanah, its obvious by her prayers and her actions and her attitude, that she loved God more. 

II Hannah's Prayer 1:9-18

From Peninnah's perspective, her abuse was designed to goad Hannah into complaining to and about God. But it had just the opposite effect on Hannah; it wound up driving her to her knees. Hannah could have shaken her fist in God's faith; she could have challenged His motives for keeping her barren; or rejected Him and lived her life in bitterness toward Him, in her heart and in her behavior, spilling it out, onto everybody around her. But she didn't-----she let her heartache draw her even closer to the Lord. 

The lesson for us is, that we need to always let our sorrow and our hurt and our worry and our disappointment and our fear, drive us to our knees. 

Hannah had good reason to feel discouraged, but instead of giving up hope and giving into defeat, she laid her problems honestly before the Lord. Each of us have faced; are facing; or will face, times of barrenness---- when it seems like nothing is "coming to birth" in our work or in our service or in our relationships or in our desires. It can be difficult to pray when we feel so ineffective. But prayer will open the way for God to work and if we will just submit ourselves to Him, even when we don't know what to say, the Holy Spirit will say it for us. Hannah persistence in prayer, is a beautiful characteristic and it was Hannah's distinctive virtue----it revealed her constant and steadfast faith.  

Hannah was deeply distressed and cried out to the Lord, while Eli, the old priest, sat nearby on a chair at the doorpost of the tabernacle. She recognized that the Lord alone, is the giver of life so she came to Him with a proper respect, believing that He would help her somehow, in her distress. 

I don't know if she believed that He would give her exactly what she asked for, but I do believe, that she believed, if it was in His will, He would----- because she called Him the Lord Almighty.

 She came to Him with a proper attitude. In the Hebrew translation, Hannah so humbled herself, that she referred to herself 3 times, as a female household slave. She understood that the proper position before a Holy God, was one of absolute submission. 

And Hannah came to the Lord with a proper request----way too many times, our prayers are one-sided. We tend to come to the Lord just to ask Him  for something. We give lip-service to praising Him, but our real motive is to get a need or a want fulfilled. E.W Price, Jr. reminds us that prayer is a conversation between God and one of his children----they both talk and they both listen----and their hearts are in communion with each other. Hannah made her request, but she also promised something to God----she promised that would give her heart's desire back to Him. 

The method of prayer in Hannah's time was to be loud and showy-----its no wonder that Eli misunderstood what she was doing. He could see her lips moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. He thought she was drunk. So, Hannah, with her characteristic grace and humility, defended herself------- because she knew that she was talking to the Lord, heart to heart! and it didn't really matter what Eli thought. 

Eli realized his blunder and recognized the honesty of her words, so he validated Hannah's  prayer with a blessing, and with a benediction, that the God of Israel would grant her request. It was then that Hannah's whole demeanor changed. Her spirit was lifted and her depression disappeared. her sorrow seemed to melt away. She had taken her focus off of her circumstances and put it on the Lord----her circumstances didn't change right away, but her attitude about her circumstances changed immediately.She went back to her family and sat down with them and ate something. 

In the end, Hannah, trusted completely in God's will for her life. Whatever it was-----she was assured that her God was in control. She had cast her whole burden on the Lord and she had left her frustration and disappointment and heartache, there at the altar. She was content to leave it in the Lord's hands. This demonstrates for us, how genuine and patient her faith truly was----Psalm 55:22 says, "Cast your burden on the Lord and He shall sustain you." Too many times, we pray, O Lord, here's my problem…" and then leave His presence, still bowed down with doubt and frustration and fear-----still shouldering the same burden we had started our prayer with, not really trusting the Lord to take care of us. The antidote for discouragement, is to tell God how you really feel, and then to leave it with Him. Hannah laid her troubles in the lap of the Lord, with total confidence that He would answer her, in one accord, with what was best for her. 

The next morning, the Elkanah family worshiped God one more time, and then they went home. Scripture tells us that the Lord, remembered Hannah and He opened her womb, and in due time, Samuel was born. Hannah had been given the desire of her heart.

III Hannah's Surrender 1:19-28

Hannah was devoted to her home and to her family. We can see the evidence of that in the love she and Elkanah shared and his willingness to trust her, when she told him, that she had vowed to dedicate their only child, to a life of service to God, in the tabernacle, as a Nazarite; and we can see evidence of it, in her her patience with Peninnah, because their is no evidence in scripture, that Hannah ever said a cross word to her or retaliated, for Peninnah's mistreatment, in any way. We can see it, in her deep longing for a child, even if she wouldn't get to raise the child to adulthood-----just knowing that he was in the world, serving the Lord, was a blessing to her.

And we can see it in the way that she was committed to Samuel, in his infancy, especially------ and then, consistently, in his growing-up years. 

Hannah devoted herself solely to Samuel's care, for as long as she was able to have him at home. She knew that her time with Samuel would be short. Mothers in that culture nursed their children for about 3 years. Her plan was to stay home with him until he was weaned. She wanted to be able to care for him without interference, during his most formative years, while he was learning to walk and talk. She made it clear to Elkanah that she hadn't forgotten her vow, and that she would honor it, when the time was right. In the meantime, she wanted to be the most important person in Samuel's life. 

She would have been, the very model, of a stay-at-home mama. She would have nurtured him, and cared for him, and helped him to learn the most basic truths of life and wisdom. She would have taught him his first lessons about God----and would have sung songs of praise with him-----(it reminds me of singing Jesus Loves Me, and This Little Light of Mine, and If You're Happy and You Know It  and Amazing Grace, and The Old Rugged Cross, to my children, when they were little). 

She would have made her home an environment, where he could learn and grow in safety, without any fear of asking questions or expressing his opinions or his fears. She would have carefully directed his course of learning and helped shape his interests.

Hannah seemed to understand how vital those early years are, when 90% of a child's personality is formed. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." 

And based on the life, dedicated to the Lord, that we know that Samuel lived, Hannah had prepared him well for the service, that she had consecrated him for, even before he was born. History tells us that she did her job well. Samuel, obviously a precocious child, grew in wisdom and understanding, and served the Lord, with his whole heart, his whole life. The only blot on his record came in his old age, when he made his sons judges and they perverted the justice. Samuel's own failure as a father, was the one aspect of his life that was obviously owed, more to the influence of Eli, the old priest----- which we will talk about next week----- than to the example of Hannah.

Her devotion to her son in those early years, makes her ultimate willingness, to hand Samuel over to a life of service in the tabernacle, seem even more remarkable. It must have been intensely painful, for her to send him off at such an early age, to what basically, was a Christian boarding school, with Eli as his tutor. But Hannah doesn't seem to have hesitated, to do what she had promised God. She gave up what she wanted most-----her son-----and presented him to Eli, to serve in the house of the Lord. In dedicating her only child to God, Hannah was dedicating her entire life and future to Him, as well.

 Because God, had given life to Samuel, Hannah wasn't really giving him up-----she was giving him back to God------because he didn't really belong to her anyway. None of our children do. They belong to God, He just gives them to us for safekeeping and for loving them and training them in the ways of the Lord. so that they'll choose Him for themselves, when they are old enough to. And this doesn't just apply to our children----it applies to everything we have---it's all God's, He has just given us the opportunity to be stewards of His good things----what we really need to give Him, is ourselves.

Hannah must have continued to exercise a strong maternal influence on Samuel as he grew into a young man, because 1st Samuel 2:19 tells us, that she would make him a robe and take it to him year after year, when she and the rest of the family traveled to the tabernacle, to make their sacrifices. 

Scripture says that God blessed Hannah with 5 more children----3 sons and 2 daughters. Her home and her family life must have grown rich and full. She was blessed, by God, to be allowed to achieve every ambition that she had ever longed to fulfill.  Her love for heaven, husband and home, are still the true priorities, for every godly wife and mother. Her extraordinary life stands as a wonderful example to women today, who want their homes to be places where God is honored, even in the middle of a dark and sinful culture. Hannah has shown us with her life, what the Lord can do through one woman, who is totally and unreservedly devoted to Him.

IV Hannah's Song 2:1-10 

Hannah's song is a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for His blessing, in the gracious gift of her son, and it exalts Him, for His good works. Its a pure, unbroken stream of praise. The contrast between this prayer and the first one we heard her pray, is profound! The first prayer was a vow, and it was the result of heavy disappointment and deep-seated grief--------- and the second prayer, is a song of wonder and peace----which was the result of pure joy. The joy came, not just from being given her heart's desire, but from the privilege of seeing God, at His work, in all His glory, and being square in the center, of His will. (because it is better to be in the Lord's will, even if we're in danger, even if we're scared, even if we're heartbroken, than it is to be out of His will and safe and secure, from all alarm. 

Hannah's song can be divided  into 4 sources of joy:

1.) Hannah rejoiced in her own experience. bur she gave God all the glory for it------Samuel was a gift from God(as are all children). He wasn't the product of her strength or her own achievement. There was nothing she could have done to create Samuel's life inside of her----only God could do that; only Almighty God can give life and can take it away. That's why she could boast over her enemies, and could advise other people to do the same---- because she knew, with all certainty, that God was in control of all things and all situations. Her boasting, was in God's power, of deliverance. She didn't have to struggle and fight and fret any more----she knew that God would bring about His plan, when and where His time was right. 

2.) Hannah rejoiced in her God. She felt an unfathomable sense of God's holiness, as she praised the Lord for His goodness. She was in awe of the fact, that there was no one holy, like Him. Ancient Canaan was was full of idol worship. And specifically, women were partial to praying to and worshiping these tiny little clay figures, named for the goddess Astarte, in the hope, that they would increase the fertility of their owners. But Hannah didn't pray to a doll, she prayed to the Lord. He was real and alive and He was her rock, and He had done a mighty work in her, and He was doing a mighty work for Israel. 

Standing before a Holy God, requires humility. In her first prayer, in her misery, Hannah had had to humble herself before the Lord----- and when she did, she was rewarded with a little glimpse of heaven------In her second prayer, Hannah turned her attention, to look beyond, her own immediate experience, and she publicly warned her fellow Israelites and us, not to be proud and arrogant. Her prayer cautions us, that we need to understand that God knows our thoughts and He judges our deeds. 

In our fast-paced world, friends come and go and circumstances change. Its difficult to find anything that has a solid foundation, that won't change or disappear. Devoting our lives to achievements, causes, and possessions  will prove to be futile in the end, because those things are all finite and mercurial, they will disappear. The possessions and achievements that we work so hard to accomplish, will all pass away. But God will always be present---our hope should always be in Him, because He will never fail us. And we should live our lives, with this knowledge, as the driving force behind all of our decisions. 

3.) Hannah rejoiced in God's way of justice. Her prayer says, that God weighs the deeds of man, and that He humbles and exalts the deeds and the people, based on what He thinks is necessary. The proud and the haughty may stand for awhile, but eventually they will be brought low, as we've seen time and time again, in history, and in our own lives. Hannah describes 5 areas of life where God has always and will always prove Himself to be the one in control-----in military might, in famine, in economic status, in fertility, and in life and death . 

The very foundations of the earth belong to our sovereign Lord, and He created the world on them. Hannah saw God's justice as the prevailing force, because she knew that God had created and established the world. God is on the throne of life, and His heart is with the poor and lowly, who are willing to trust Him, in spite of their circumstances. 

4.) Hannah rejoiced in her future hope. She expressed that hope, both in the every day world she lived in, and in the eternal world, that she believed would someday come. Travel, in the ancient world. was accomplished mostly on foot, over difficult and rocky terrain and sometimes across rivers and mountains. Travel in this world, physically, spiritually and emotionally, can be just as dangerous, and the terrain just as treacherous.  Hannah proclaimed that the Lord will guard the feet of those who are faithful to Him----that includes us, as we walk through the details of our lives, one step at a time.

No one will succeed in their own strength, and anyone who tries to oppose God, will eventually be the loser. 

Because of her deep and abiding relationship with the Lord, Hannah was able to catch, a prophetic glimpse of the coming Messiah. By the power of the Holy Spirit, she was able to look beyond her circumstances and see 1000 years into the future, and embrace the glory of her salvation. 

There is a enough prophetic and doctrinal significance in Hannah's song, that we could spend weeks, analyzing it. But even just discussing it briefly, we can see that Hannah was thoroughly familiar with the deep things of God----with  His holiness, His goodness, His sovereignty, His power and His wisdom. She worshiped Him as Savior, as Creator, and as sovereign judge. But the most precious thing about the prayer, is that Hannah spoke about God, with the assurance of someone who knew Him intimately. Her words of praise were filled with love and wonder. That love for Him and a love for all things heavenly, is what makes her the person that we should all pattern our lives after. 

My prayer for us is this:  that Hannah's reverence will be reflected in our homes, that our prayers will be as powerful as hers, that our devotion will be evident to everyone we come in contact with, that our children and grandchildren will hear God's words from our lips, that our husbands will catch a glimpse of God's holiness through our humility, that our friends will be infected with our fervor, for prayer and service, that we will be able to clear life's clouds away, that we will be able to appreciate life's happiness and it's beauty, that we will be able to have compassion on life's miseries, and that we will be able to turn our duty to delight, and our work to worship, and our service to singing and our pleasures to worship. 

Like Hannah, we should be confident of God's ultimate control over the events in our lives. We should be so grateful, for the ways, that God has blessed us. By praising God for all good gifts, we are acknowledging His ultimate control over all the affairs of life in general, and ours, in particular. 

JOY "Introducting to 1 and 2 Samuel" September 12, 2012

September 12, 2012

Introduction to 1st and 2nd Samuel

"The true story, is told, of a university president, who was and strong, godly, Christian man----------but few, on the school campus, other than his family and close friends, knew just how deep his faith was, because his position, kept him so isolated from his faculty and his students. A question that was always asked, whenever his name came up was, "Do you know him, what's he really like?" The general consensus was, that he seemed like a really nice, straight-up guy, who walked the walk, the he seemed to talk-----but, no one had gotten close enough to him, to really find out.

Then, a remarkable thing happened that changed the situation for everybody-------Late one night, the president left his office and started off, across the central quad, of the campus lawn, heading toward home -------halfway across, he bumped into a young freshman, who, was away from his home for the first time, and was struggling with a dreadful case of homesickness. Not knowing that he was talking to the president of the college, the young man voiced his loneliness and accepted a kind invitation, to share some hot chocolate and a chance to talk. 

That memorable evening, a relationship began, that was of immeasurable benefit to both people. The student came to know the president so well, that he became privy to the desires of the president's heart. And, through the natural flow of his activities on campus and the friendships he developed there, he began to reveal to the whole university, the depth and the breadth of the heart of the man, that he had grown to love like a father. 

The result, was a spirit of unity between the president and the faculty and students, that was remarkable; and it served as a precious blessing to the whole campus." (Myrna Alexander)

This, is a clear illustration of what can happen to us, when we spend time with God------ in His word, and talking to Him, in prayer. Gradually, we can begin to know His heart, and, the more we know His heart, the more we can apply His truths, to the daily circumstances of our lives, and the more we apply His truths, as we walk through our days, the more God's heart will be revealed to the world. 

It's through the scripture, that God reveals so much of Himself to us. Though it------ He shows us, what He thinks is Important---what He wants us to Pay attention to------what He wants us to know is Absolute------and what He wants us to Stake our lives on. 

We live in a society that praises the external, and makes performance, the main criteria for success------ But the Bible teaches us, that God, in total contrast, to the world, is primarily concerned with the heart attitude, of every single person that He's created. 1st Samuel 16:7 says that "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." And 1st Samuel 13:14 says, "The Lord has sought out a man, after His own heart."  

 Now, you and I may want to to be women after God's own heart, but in the quietness of our souls, we can't help but wonder, and ask Him, "Lord, what does that mean; to be after your own heart?" 

And In response, God doesn't offer us a concrete definition------instead, He has given it to us in His Word-------- He's given the answer in His written word------through the History chapters, through the Gospels, though the life and letters of Paul, through the Judges and the Prophets and the Poetry and the Law--------from Genesis to Revelation-----God tells us how to be women after His own heart----- And He has given us His answer in His revealed Word, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ; through His birth, His sacrifice and His resurrection and in the promise of His Second Coming----- And He has given us His answer in His abiding word, in the person of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us and leads us and helps us to understand what God's word means and how to apply it. 

This year we are going to study 1st and 2nd Samuel------both of which are historical narratives. You may or may not love history, but you can't help but love these 2 books because some of the most beloved childhood bible stories, can be found in their pages. 

But, in the Bible, though, narratives are never used, just for telling a good story, because God always has a larger purpose----- which is to show, how real people grapple, with His godly principles, in their everyday lives and its to show God in action, carrying out His plan for His creation, as He comes alongside His children, in their struggles, and gives them, Himself. 

1st Samuel introduces us to individuals who came to know God and who grew in their faith by applying what they knew about Him, to their daily circumstances. Hannah, was a young woman who desperately wanted a baby and she knew that only God could give her, her hearts desire; Samuel was a young boy who could hear the Lord speaking to him so audibly, that he grew up, strong in the Lord, in the middle of a perverse nation; Jonathan was a young warrior, who loved his friend David more than he did himself and He trusted the might of His all-powerful God, more than he did his military prowess; and young David was a teenager, who faced a Giant with a slingshot and a handful of rocks and the unwavering belief that he couldn't, but He served a God, who could. 

These were people who cared enough about God and what was important to Him, to follow His commands and they, in turn, became living definitions of what it is to be, people, after God's own heart. 

But, 1st and 2nd Samuel will also introduce us to people who either, didn't care, or who didn't care enough, about the things that God thinks are important. Alongside the shining examples for us to emulate, we will be able to see what can hinder or detour a heart from desiring to be like God's. We are going to learn from people who really lived------ how we are to seek after God's heart and how we can be found by Him, and how to keep from getting lost, somewhere along the way. 

 Dr. J. Vernon McGee says, that for us to be able to have that right relationship with God, we have to start with prayer and we have to proceed with prayer and we have to end with prayer---- He reminds us, that we will see that 1st Samuel opens with prayer; and that 2nd Samuel closes with prayer; and that there is a whole lot of prayer in between.

In order to understand the historical implications of 1st Samuel, we have to first set the stage, from the perspective that we find in the book of Judges. 

And Judges describes a dark, dark period in history, for the nation of Israel. God had delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and helped them become  an independent nation in the Promised Land, of Canaan. The transition had not been an easy one, but under the leadership of Joshua, they had done reasonably well, except for the fact that they had created immediate and future problems, for themselves, from the outset, because they didn't obey what God had told them to do, and annihilate, the pagan gentiles that they found there, immediately. So, after the death of Joshua, Israel kept going though repetitive cycles of blessing and discipline, depending on whether they were being rebellious or obedient to God, at the time. And each time, God would raise up a judge to lead them out of their trouble. The book of Judges ends with the hopelessly bleak words from 21:25, "In those days, Israel had no king, everyone did as he saw fit." 

And that's how 1st Samuel begins: 

Internationally, this period of time was one of phenomenal transition for the Israelites. The great empires of the ancient world were in a state of weakness, and that allowed Israel, to begin to develop as a nation and to really be reckoned with, without too much external interference or restraint. The Hittites of Asia Minor had passed into insignificance, and the Assyrians hadn't  realized their full power, yet and Egypt was weak, and struggled with its own internal conflict.  The Philistines, who had migrated from the Aegean Islands, were Israel's main threat during this time period. They had a monopoly on iron and it gave them a decided military and economic advantage, which kept Israel on the defensive. And God used the Philistines combativeness, to unite and grow the nation under the leadership of Samuel, and Saul and David. 

The weakness, of the other international powers,at the time, is what made it physically possible, for the expansion and the success of the kingdom under David, enabling Israel to reach the highest peak of military and political power that it would ever know, until the millennial kingdom is established.

Samuel was the last judge of Israel, and he was the first prophet too------and he led Israel into their kingdom age. The rise of this kingdom is particularly important in both the Old and New Testaments, because it's the origin of a very real earthly kingdom, with borders and a geographical location, that was ultimately defeated and its the origin of a very real spiritual kingdom, with borders and a geographical location, that will last for all eternity. The millennial kingdom is foreshadowed in these books and through it, we can see 3 things that our world needs today: 1.) a king with power, who exercises that power in righteousness; 2.) a king, who will rule in full dependence upon God; and 3.) and a king, who will rule in full obedience to God. 

I like what I read, that J. Vernon McGee has written-------and it is," that God's chosen form of government is a kingdom ruled by a king." 

 I know that gives us pause for thought, because we fought a war to free us from a kingdom and we think a democracy is the best way----but the kingdom that Dr. McGee is talking about is the one where Jesus will be in control. 

The truth is, that changing our form of government today, wouldn't solve our problems-----its not our form of government that's bad-----it's people, in all their frailty and sinfulness, that make the world's governments less than perfect. Dr. McGee says that a kingdom, is God's perfect ideal, and that He will put His choice for King, on the throne of this earth, someday------and that when He does, and King Jesus rules this world, it will be nothing like the world we live in----we won't need welfare or poverty programs or ecological reclamations, or moral reforms. Instead, like it says in Isaiah, "righteousness and peace will cover the earth, like waters cover the ocean floor."

Originally, 1st and 2nd Samuel were one book and nobody really knows exactly who wrote them, but Jewish tradition says that Samuel is the author of the chapters 1-24 of the first book, and that Nathan and Gad wrote the rest of it, and 2nd Samuel, sometime between 1025 and 900 B.C. 

1st Samuel gives us a unique insight into the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. We know that He didn't indwell people permanently, then, like He does now, in the hearts of believers. His coming was selective and temporary.  He would come upon people to encourage them and to empower them to be about His business----- and, specifically, the scripture teaches that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul in a mighty way, to empower him for his divinely appointed tasks, and He also also came upon David, after he was anointed by Samuel. 

The books of Samuel are very instructive concerning the personal and national effects of sin. The sins of Eli and his sons resulted in their deaths. The lack of reverence for the Ark of the Covenant resulted in the deaths of a number of Philistines and Israelites. Saul's sin and disobedience resulted in him being rejected by God, to be king over Israel. Saul's experience, illustrates for us, that disobedience to God, can eliminate opportunities for our service, to and for Him. 

And, even though David's sin with Bathsheba was confessed and forgiven by the Lord, David still had to suffer the inevitable and devastating consequences of that sin. 

The sovereignty of God is clearly seen in the fact that it was God who selected both Saul and David to be king. You can clearly see God's permissive will at work------He allowed Israel to have a king, even though He warned them against it, because of their attitudes and imperfect timing. God knew that establishing a monarchy wouldn't solve Israel's problems. What God desired from His people and still desires from us, is the genuine devotion of each person's heart and mind to Him. There is no government or set of laws or leader, that can substitute for the rule of God in our hearts and lives. And God is always at work in the world----even when we can't see what He's doing. No matter what kind of pressures we have to endure, or how many changes that we have to face, or how many times we yield to sin, God is always, ultimately, in control of all things. Being confident of God's sovereignty, we can face the difficult situations in our lives with boldness. And in these books we can see, that God allows sin and evil and heartache, for a time, but eventually, He will act against it.

The books of 1st and 2nd Samuel encourage us and instruct us to live lives of wholehearted obedience to God. 

They teach us that God can use both men and women, who may be unappreciated, or rejected by others, or who maybe have even committed a grievous sin that has been forgiven, to do great things for Him-------if their faith, is in Him alone. 

They are beautiful Old Testament books, that magnify "the grace of God, which is greater, than all our sin." There is no clearer demonstration in the Old Testament, that we are valued by God, in that "while we were still sinners, in due time, Christ died for us", as it says in Romans 5:8----- than the account of David's sin, against God, against Uriah, against Bathsheba and against his people. It is a testimony to God's marvelous, matchless grace, that David was able to overcome his sin, and become the model for all future kings, with his ultimate descendant, being the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

As we study this year, my prayer is that, we won't look for and focus on human failures and excesses, instead, I want us to will look for God's divine working among His people and His progressive revelation, of Himself to them. The burning questions to ask ourselves, should be "What more can I learn about God, from these books, and how can I become more intimate with Him, though them. 

Let's Pray the words of King David from Psalm 103: 1-5, 11, 22

"We bless you, Lord, from the bottom of our souls;

with all that is within us, 

we bless Your holy name.

And we don't forget any of your benefits;

You, Lord, forgive our sins,

You heal all our diseases,

You, Lord, redeem our lives from death, 

You crown our lives with Your love and mercy;

You, Lord satisfy us with good things;

You renew our lives like an eagle.

….For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 

so great is Your faithful love toward those who fear You.

Praise the Lord, and all His works;

in all the places where He rules,

Our souls praise the Lord!

Amen