The Lord Hears

To consider this morning our text, the setting really is that of loneliness. Loneliness is a significant part of what we're thinking about this morning. Loneliness is one of those despairing, difficult feelings. There's different ways to be lonely. You can literally be all alone. Sometimes you can feel so different, there's no one like you, and you feel lonely. Or you could feel like you're in such pain and suffering, even though you're with your closest friends and family, you're all alone. You don't know how to get help. Today, our setting is a woman who is suffering all alone. But the most important thing we're going to see isn't her loneliness and her suffering, it's that the Lord hears her. The Lord hears her. This morning's meditation is simply on not just that prayer, but the, the setting and context that, that makes it so rich. God hears His people. He's a listening God. He's a, He's a God whose ears are bent. If you're new with us, we go through books of the Bible at a time, and you're, you're here as we're beginning 1 Samuel. We go from Old Testament to New Testament. The last time we were in the Old Testament, we were in the book of Ruth. And if you're using a Pew Bible, we're on page 225. And just a simple observation here, 1 Samuel begins with Hannah. Hannah is a barren woman who's suffering the kind of cultural disdain and even family disdain within her own family there with her husband and the other wife. She's suffering from barrenness. And this is how this book launches. And if you were with us before, the last book of the Bible we looked at together in the Old Testament was Ruth. It's interesting. We look at the history of God's redemption. He calls out Abraham. He sends them into Egypt. Then they multiply. They grow great. Egypt starts punishing them with slavery and hardships. They cry out to God. God takes them out of Egypt with Moses. He gives them the commands on Mount Sinai, giving them his expectations, and then that generation, they don't get to go in the Promised Land. They don't get to have redemption completed for themselves. The next generation goes in because of their disobedience. And you have the period of Joshua, and then you have these figures, the judges, people God uses to really establish His rule. But the theme of judges is there was no king, People did what was right in their own eyes. People kept looking for God's blessing, even though they were disobedient. And then you see this transition. Ruth, a Gentile woman, who's been left widowed, and she needs to find a husband. And by faith she follows her mother. By faith she finds a Redeemer. And by God's sovereign plan, that's the line of the king. God is in charge of this plan. The judges were full of chaos, and everyone doing what was evil, what was right in their own eyes, and God is at work there with Ruth, a Gentile woman who's going to be in the line of David, in the line of the Messiah, and then the next woman we see is our figure today, Hannah. A woman who was barren. A woman who was, was, was being provoked. And God uses her faith to bring about His Word for His people. We're looking at 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, they're not supposed to be divided in the way we think about them. It's one book. Because of the scroll and the length of the scroll, we call it 1 and 2 Samuel. It's one unit. There, there's three main characters. The first is Samuel. than Saul, than David. We see here in Samuel the outplaying of how God is bringing about His righteous reign partially. We don't yet have the true king, the right king, the final king, but we see how God wants His people to stop doing what was right in their own eyes, and a king is necessary. Kind of just an assumed truth here. We need a ruler. Because we're so unruly. We need God in His Word. We need God in His grace. We need God in His truth. We should want to be ruled by God. It's good. A key passage, if you're looking at the 1 and 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel 7. You see there that key transition in the Bible where David is established as the king. He wants to give God a house. And what God says is, no, I'm going to build you a dynasty. I'm going to establish your line forever on the throne. I will be like to your son a father, and he will be like to me a son. And that's clearly an allusion to Jesus Christ and his forever reign. As we look at how God has set this up, we look at the woman Ruth and how her faith is used by God. Really, we're looking most specifically at Hannah and how her faith is used by God to bring us Samuel, the prophet. Today, the message is simple. God hears us. That's really good news. He hears us. He's not a distant God. He's a, he's a God who is listening, and personally present, and longs to hear us. God hears us. We have a very rich story, so let's walk through this. The first part we see in the story is the problem. The problem. If you're taking notes, Your first point is the problem, verses one to eight. There was a certain man of Ramatham, Zopham, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jerom, son of Eluhu, son of Tohu, son of Zuth, son of Ephrathrite. The key is to make it sound like you know how you're saying these words. He had two wives, the name of one was Hannah, the name of the other was Peninnah. and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from the city to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phanias, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Akana, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons? Well, Hannah's problem is, at least here, threefold. She has no child. She's being bullied by someone living in her own home. And her husband really says things that are pretty unhelpful. We want to look at these in order. Now, one of the first commandments in Scripture is, fill the earth. Right? One of the great blessings God has given us as image bearers is to procreate other image bearers. It is a great blessing and honor to be privileged to be able to procreate the dignity and honor that is image bearers. In Genesis 128, he says, fill the earth. We're to multiply. to be very clear, women have a very unique blessed position in this role. To carry the child, to wean the child. It's sad that in our culture this is seen as an unhelpful burden. A child is seen as an unwanted consequence of sex, when really it's one of the greatest blessings of two becoming one flesh. To bear children. To fulfill God's commandment to fill the earth. A baby is not a consequence of sex. It's a huge, amazing blessing that God gives us. Image bearers begetting image bearers. Procreating people is designed to worship God. Now, ahead of time, they didn't have the confusion we have. And ahead of time, they understood that a barren woman was not the way it's supposed to be. Childbearing was purposeful. It's part of the creation mandate. And if you look, Genesis 3, as God is listing out the consequences for sin, Genesis 3, 16. There will be pain in childbearing. Now that doesn't just refer to the pain of giving birth. I believe that refers to the closed womb. The miscarriage. Some of the most devastating and difficult things to go through in life. The, the pains that someone might have carrying a child. The pains that someone might have weaning a child. These are devastating and painful experiences. They're part of the fall, part of the curse that's, that's, that's corrupted God's good creation. Now, we need to remember, Hannah is not the first woman in Scripture to suffer a closed womb. First, there was Sarah, the original wife and mother of the promise, Abraham. Her womb was closed, and remember, what was the very nature of the promise to Abraham? You'll have more children than you can count the sand on the shore. You'll have more children than the stars in the sky. womb's closed. And Abraham, he continues to falter by faith and trying to figure out a way to get a son outside of Sarah. Then you have Rebecca, who gives birth to Jacob, who's renamed Israel. You have Rachel, whose son is Joseph. Over and over again, God is intentionally seeking to show that his promise is overcoming the curse of the barren or closed womb. He's a God who's undoing the curse. And he does so intentionally by choosing women who have a closed womb to, to open it. Think about it. The son of Sarah is Isaac. The son of Rebecca is Jacob. Who is the God we worship? The God of Abraham. Jacob. Isaac and Israel. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. His very, His very designation is that He's the God who has brought forth these promised miracle children. He attacks the curse with promise. Here we see Hannah. She sees the burden. It's, the text is, is very clear. Look at verse two. But Hannah had no children. Verse 5, but Hannah, he gave double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. It is a consequence of the fall that Hannah's womb is closed. I said that very precisely, and I want to make sure you hear exactly what I said. It was a consequence of the fall that caused Hannah's womb to be closed. Nowhere does it say it was because of her personal sin. Do we hear that? That the closed womb is a consequence of the fall. It never says because Hannah was a, had sinned, or her parents had sinned. It is not something personal. It is a, it is a way in which the fall has affected some women and not others. That's important to remember. It's a physical problem that, that seems to be in line with what's happening in John 9. If you remember the blind man, and they take him to the religious leaders, and first they can't figure out, like, maybe he wasn't blind, or maybe this is a different guy, and, well, we think this guy was blind because of his parents' sin. And Jesus says, this man's blindness was for the glory of God, so that I can show you I am the one who helps make seed. I believe her closed womb is a consequence of the sin under the sovereignty of God, for the glory of God. So that you can see he's a God who gives life. And he changes stories. She carries a heavy burden. The culture would have looked on her with contempt. She would be considered cursed. And then, not only does she not have children, that joy she longs for, she has a rival. Verse 6. who used to provoke her and irritate her. Not only does she carry this burden, but the woman she shares a home with, she's constantly nagging at her and reminding her of her burden. She's provoking her and irritating her. But I know she's seeking to make her pain worse. Now, just to make clear, The other wife, her main problem is that she's pretending and boasting that her children are of her work. She's not recognizing that God is sovereign over them. She is not recognizing that God has blessed her with these children. She's boasting! Not only does she have a rival who provokes her, she has a husband who's just unhelpful. Look at verse 8. Okay, the first question's a good one. Why do you weep? Okay, maybe you want her to eat for her own healthfulness, but why is your heart sad? It's kind of obvious. And then this statement. Am I not more to you than 10 sons? No, you're not. We see here the male instinct to solve a problem just played out in the most unhelpful way, right? Just look at me, dear. Am I not more lovely than all the sons you could ever want? No, really, really unhelpful. Just a side point. When someone's suffering, be careful what you say. Pray that you wouldn't be Job's friends, right? Pray you wouldn't be Job's friends. It's incredible how unhelpful people can be even when they're trying to be helpful. I trust he really is trying to comfort her, but that's just adding to the misery. More to the point, here's a woman. She feels unwhole. She feels incomplete. She's all alone in it. Her husband's not helpful. Her, her, her, the other woman in her home is unhelpful. There is a real revelation in God's Word that, that shows us this problem is not the way, this world's not the way it's supposed to be. We have trials. We have difficulties. We have suffering. And, and God wants us to face those head-on with his Word. He's not afraid of our trouble. He's not afraid of, of us recognizing. We should not be afraid of recognizing the real difficulty that this world has, and to take that difficulty to the God who can help. This world is full of real problems and we should look up to God who provides real solutions. Our second point. Verses 9 and 11. The petition. The petition. We've seen the problem. She's suffering. She's suffering from the consequence of the fall. She's suffering from being in a home where she doesn't know one to comfort her. Verse 9, the petition. After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow. There's a woman pouring out her heart to the Lord. O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. Now we see there's a commitment that he's a, he's like Samson, no razor shall touch his head. He's gonna take a certain vow to be in a certain service to the Lord. But I wanna look at the details. It's very important to recognize how she begins this prayer. O Lord of hosts, the King of kings, the God of all the angels, the God who reigns over the heavens and the earth, the God who is great and mighty. She's already beginning with worship. Notice the request. If you will look on my affliction. If you will remember me and not forget. She wants the attention of the Lord. She feels as if God has forgotten, ignored, not assisted her, not put His favor upon her. And she's asking for Him to turn to her. In three different ways. Look on my affliction. Remember me. Do not forget me. Turn your attention to me, O God, in my distress. If you will give your servant a son. That, that's the request. That is the one supplication she's asking for. Notice it's very specific. She's asking for a child. She's asking for a son. She's asking for a specific son. And then, She simply declares, I will give him to the Lord. If you give me a son, I will give him to you. Now, it's important here, this is not bargaining with God. We probably maybe have done this kind of prayer before where we say something like, God, if you'll help me right now, then I'll serve you more obediently. God, if you just help me with this right now, then I promise I'll be more faithful. That's not what she's praying. She's not saying, I'll be more faithful in worshipping you if you give me what I ask for. She's saying, I'll give it back to you. She is worshipping. She's already began by declaring, you're the Lord of hosts. You're the Lord Almighty. She's not trying to bargain like a pagan. I'll give you this if you give me that. No, she's recognizing the sovereign power of God. You are the God who opens the womb. You're the God who blesses. You're the God who gives. And if you give to me this son, I will give him to you. The weaning years, the youngest years will be enough, and I'll know he's yours. She wants the burden of barrenness lifted. She's not seeking something selfish. She's seeking to make much of God in her request. Notice it's not just a request, it's a vow. I will give your son back to you. Our third point, verses 12 to 18. Peace. We've seen a problem, we've seen a petition, now she receives peace. P-E-A-C-E. As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart only, and her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. We could add this to the problem section. Her pastor does not have any inclination or any understanding of what's actually going on here. He assumes the worst. In the middle of her pouring her heart out, somebody comes and says, how long are you gonna be there drunk? She's all alone. Except for the Lord who hears her. Verse 15, Hannah answers. My Lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. She gives an answer. It's important not to always assume the worst about someone. To actually ask a question before making a comment like, how long will you go on being drunk? That's an accusation question, not a clarifying question. In her great vexation, in her anxiety, in her disturbed soul, in her loneliness, she's explaining, I'm pouring out my heart. Notice what Eli says, and Eli's an interesting character, especially as we see him more in the next few chapters. But he is a functioning priest, unlike his sons. He's speaking on behalf of the Lord as a priest. He answers her, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. She said, let your servant find favor in your eyes. she went away and she ate and she was no longer sad. She received peace. It's important here, she received peace not because her circumstances were immediately changed. We see that right? The peace she receives is providential. She heard the promise of God and it changed her. She heard God's promise. She held on to God's promise, and that's what changes her posture. She's no longer sad. The Lord has heard her prayer. She trusts the man that's standing there on behalf of God, speaking God's truth, and she has received the declaration, go in peace. The Lord has heard you. He will grant your request. Now that's all good news. She's been promised something, She has peace before receiving it. She has peace by merely trusting the promise of God. Too often we think we only have peace when our actual circumstances are changed. We try to change what's going on, and that's ... we're setting ourselves up for more failure. True peace is only providential. It's concerning as we think about this passage. Too many Christians ... We walk around with open wounds, ignoring the one who can actually give us healing. We seek all kinds of different coping mechanisms. We try to figure out how to find favor and distraction and some kind of numbing agent in this world. All along, if we actually follow the model of this broken woman, you actually will get peace. There's trouble. There's real trouble, and there's a real solution, but we have to have the humility to go to the one who can actually solve that trouble. I'll leave you the words of Christ from John 14. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Christian, do you have peace, or do you have open wounds that you just refuse to let Christ heal? If you think about it, are we so focused on gratifying the desire of the flesh that, that we just can't seek God's peace? We're seeking some kind of other distraction. There is no peace if you're living in the flesh. Here is a woman modeling godliness for us. Taking her trouble to God and receiving peace. Our fourth point, provision. Provision. This is verses 19 to 28. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord. Then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her, just as she asked in verse 11. In a due time, Hannah conceived and bore a son. She called his name Samuel. For she said, I have asked for him from the Lord. The man Ocana and all his house went up to the altar of the Lord, the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, as soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever. Ocana and her husband said to her, do that what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord establish his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her along with three-year-old bull, an effa of flour, and a skin of wine. And she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, they brought the child to Eli, and she said, O my Lord, as you live, my Lord, I am the woman who is standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord, for this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord." There. God remembered her. God granted her request. God showed her favor. And, and, and, it's interesting. Even if you think about the, the story of Mary. We read the Magnificat earlier. Mary's prayer. There, that little moment with this, this young teenage girl, God reveals Himself in such a dramatic way. Reveals His plan of salvation in such a robust way. And her faith changes the world. She trusts the promise. She carries God in her womb to give birth to the Messiah who will take away the sins of the world. In the same way here we see this woman and, and, and this little moment of faith, this moment of, of praying and, and vowing and trusting the Lord. It changes the history of Israel. I believe her husband is saying more than he understands in verse 23. May the Lord establish His Word. If you flip over to 1 Samuel 3, look at verse 1. And the Word of the Lord was rare in those days. God's people need to hear the God who speaks. God's people need His Word for true worship, for true comfort, to know who they are and what they're supposed to do. Notice what's going to happen next, and we'll look at this next week. The Word goes from being rare to chapter 4, verse 1. And the Word of Samuel came to all of Israel. Through this woman Hannah, Samuel is born, and Samuel is the prophet that God is going to raise up to be the prophet that allows all of Israel to hear God's Word. He's going to be the mediator to bring about the king they want, Saul. He's going to be the mediator to bring about the king they need, David. Next week we're going to see how important it is that God speaks. This week we need to recognize first, God hears. God is listening. God wants us to speak to Him so that He can help us. Here's the hard truth that we need to wrestle with this morning. Even if you're not speaking to God, He still hears you. The challenging question I have for us, what does God hear coming off our lips? What kinds of things does God hear? He doesn't just pay attention when we're praying. He's constantly listening. He's longing to hear confession of sin. He's longing to hear words of praise. He's constantly here thanksgiving the things we should be saying. But what does God's ears actually hear? Are we more like the wife who provokes? and irritates. Or are we like Hannah? Broken, and contrite, and seeking the Lord's provision. Dude, do we pray with hope that God actually changes us and others? Do we pray so that God's Word sinks deep into our own soul and so we're rooted in Him? There's a truth about God we need to just embrace here. God hears us. He longs to hear us, as our own parents would long to hear from us as children. He longs to hear from us. Are we too busy to speak with him? The last section is praise. We see here Hannah continues and she responds now in her more well-known prayer. She's made a vow before. Now here is her prayer. I have like a few observations about this prayer. It's a prayer of response. She's recognizing she's asked the Lord for something. He has given it to her and now she is exalting in the Lord. Notice how personal it is in verse 1. My heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. Horn there is a word for power. She's recognizing that, that what the Lord has done for her is personal. Her story has been changed. And it's only changed because of verse 2. She's turned to the one true God. There's no one like Him. There's none beside you. You're, you're the one rock. And then three through eight. Notice how God changes stories. Notice the actions she gives God credit for. Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. He is the true, just God who knows what we've said and knows what we've done. The bowels of the mighty are broken. The feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hived themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to shale and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and He exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on Him He has set the world. He is the one God who is perfect, righteous, just, and powerful. And notice what He does with His power. He changes stories. The low are made high. The high are brought down low. Those who have many are forlorn, but those who are barren are given many children. Most specifically here, He kills and brings to life. He is sovereign and is the God of life. He brings down to shale and raises up. He's the life-giving God. I believe here we see an allusion to the Resurrection. How much more do we know He's the God who raises up? Because Christ died for sinners to identify with us. Christ rose from the dead to give us new life. This prayer can be made anew and afresh by us because of what God has done in Christ. He brings low and He exalts. Big question. If you're not a Christian, you need a change. The real trouble here that you need to wrestle with is that God does weigh our actions with perfect righteousness. And if we come to Him face to face in His perfect weighing of our actions, there's no boasting. There's nothing to say. We're judged. We're condemned. He will practice perfect punishment for sin. The only hope we have is that His own Son has come to live the life we could not live. He died for the sins we have committed, taking on the punishment we deserve. And He rose again so that we can have hope. You must believe in Him. You must recognize the anxiety of coming face to face with a just God. who weighs with perfect justice who we are and what we've done. Your only hope is Jesus Christ. If you're not a Christian, we have to keep believing in the God who changes stories. We have to keep believing in this God who gives life to the dead. We have to keep believing and trusting that God changes lives, our lives and those we pray for. We must continue in faith. We see here a powerful example of what prayer does. Hannah trusted the Lord. She took her concern to the Lord. She prayed to the Lord. She made a vow to the Lord, and the Lord answered her. The power of prayer is clearly demonstrated. You can pray to God in trouble. You can pray to God with tears. We pray to God with perseverance, knowing and trusting His perfect time. Remember, this happened year after year, and then God heard her. Pray to God with confidence that He hears you. Notice we go back and we look at how she addresses God. God Most High. The only God. That is by God's grace that she knew from Moses that God alone was the true God, and that she could go to Him and make a request known to Him. How much more Christian do we have confidence in prayer on this side of the resurrection? We don't call God, God most high. How does Jesus instruct us to pray? Father. He's not a distant God. We are invited in to not just the God who most high, who hears, but the God who calls us son and daughter. the God who's postured Himself and positioned Himself by sending His Son, so that we can come to Him and, and say, Father, here's, here's my concerns. Here's my, here's my anxiety. And He listens as the perfect, loving Father. How much more should we trust the power of prayer? Even more than that, how do we talk to the Father? We come and we make our request known in the name of Jesus. He who has died, who has risen, and is now at the right hand of the Father, seated, having perfected salvation, having accomplished His work. We get to go and make our request known in the name that is above all names. How much more should we trust the power of prayer? And then there's the Spirit. The Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ who indwells us. The Spirit who lets us call out Abba Father. The Spirit who Himself calls out reminding us we are children by crying out Abba Father. The Spirit who intercedes for us when we don't know how to pray. Those are all from Romans 8. How much more assurance should we have that we can go to God in prayer and He's listening He's listening to us, and He wants to help us. How much sure should we be that He's hearing us, and He's bringing about a salvation for us in whatever concern we have? That's one of the hymns we sang earlier. You know, I sometimes answer prayer in a way that we don't expect. I ask for prayer that I might grow in faith and grace. And the way God did that was to show the evils that lurk in my own heart so that I would depend upon him all the more. Christian, the challenge of James rings true. We do not have because we do not ask. We need to turn to the God who hears us, the God who loves us, and the God who can help us. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You that You are the good God who has spoken the Word so that we have assurance of who You are, how You love us, how we can come to You in the name of Jesus. Father, we thank You that we can come and make our requests known to You now. Lord, I pray for those who are reminded of their burdens. I pray for those who are right now in the mix of anxiety and vexation. Lord, as they seek counsel from other brothers and sisters, may we give words of encouragement and good counsel. Lord, we pray most of all that they would take their concerns to you and you would grant wisdom. Lord, you promise you are the good God who gives every good and perfect gift. Thank You that we can come to You. Thank You that we can ask for wisdom to count all trials, joys. Thank You, Lord, that You hear us. Help us to be more faithful in talking to You, in listening to You, in prayer. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let us stand.