Transcription
I've been thinking about y'all for two weeks. I got a lot on my plate. I really shouldn't be thinking about you, but I've been thinking about you for two weeks. And it started because, uh, and I, I expect to cry at some point because I'm in a really fragile place.
But about two weeks ago, I was in a hotel room because I needed, I just needed space from my, my kids for a second. And I was praying on my face, and y'all came to my mind. And it wasn't like this deep, the, the Lord doesn't speak to me in these like long sentences. It's like these really strong unctions and ideas. And it was this sense that the Lord was like, "I want you to teach them to do this." Because particularly in this generation, we really think we can have the power of God without prayer.
It's really simple. And I think it's because so many of us have really weak prayer lives because we're just not that desperate. We're not. We think that it's mechanical. I just need to schedule it in. But if you were desperate, it doesn't, it wouldn't require a schedule because it becomes a necessity.
And so I'm not sure what idols you have that make you feel filled. I, I'm not, I'm not sure what vices you have that are keeping you from embracing being broken, but I think what God wants to do tonight, and what he's been doing, is to create a sustainable prayer life. And there are some of you who have had a prayer life and you grew weary. You, you've gotten tired of interceding. You've gotten tired of petitioning. You've even gotten tired of feeling your feelings with God and feeling like he won't respond. And so, even for you, I, I think God wants to reorient you and reset you back into a life of prayer.
One mechanism of prayer is petition. Petition is when you ask God for something. Uh, some of the first prayers we ever prayed were most likely in the form of petition. There, there was some need that you put before God with even the childlike faith that he would answer. When we were children, we might have prayed for Christmas to come earlier, unless you were raised Jehovah's Witness, and then that just wasn't even on your mind. As adults, we pray for wisdom and better credit scores. Sometimes, I, I, I pray about all the things. "Where are my keys, Father? I know you. I know. I, I, I know in your sovereign goodness, you know exactly where they are." We, we ask God, we ask God for stuff.
And tonight, I just, I just want us to listen and look and watch and learn from the petition of a woman named Hannah. Hannah is one of my favorite women in the book because I, I want to be like Christ, but I also want to be like Hannah. And then I pray that Hannah will inform our prayers. Let me pray.
Lord, we thank you. Lord, I'm, I'm aware of the fact that once upon a time, for people to approach you in this way, something had to die. There was no access to your throne without some kind of blood being shed. And so, God, I just want to start by saying I am grateful that you sent your son to die so that we can enter the most holy place. God, I pray for your people. I am really insufficient for this task. I just have a few loaves and I'm, I'm begging you to multiply. Father, I pray that you would fill the room with your spirit, and I pray that he would do the work that only he can do. God, I pray that he would grant the gift of illumination, that you would give everyone eyes to see, that you would give everyone ears to hear. I pray even for every hardened heart in the room that you would make them aware of it. And I pray that, God, that you would grant them the ability to experience a heart of flesh for the first time in their life. God, I pray for those who have been quenching conviction, that you would be merciful and compassionate and restrain them from being given over as Satan has asked you to. God, I pray that you would help us to repent. I pray that you would help us to trust. I pray for every older saint in the room who has been holding on and been clinging. I pray that you would pour out comfort. Paul said that you would comfort us in every affliction. And I pray that we would remember that "every" means every. So I pray that in every affliction, God, that you would comfort them. Lord, I pray, God, that you would bring to mind every care that we have for the sole purpose of our ability to cast them. I pray, God, as we learn how to petition, as we learn how to trust, that we would then experience the peace that just surpasses our understanding. That is a grace that I know you can offer. Fill me with your spirit. Grant me power. Give us intellectual grace to be able to listen and understand and believe. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Turn in your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 1. We must be, uh, clicking in phones, 'cause I, I don't, I don't hear a nan page. So, you should have got there very promptly. Uh, say amen when you got it.
Okay. 1st Samuel chapter 1, 1-18. I'm going to read all of it because I love you to understand the context by which we are communicating.
"There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim. I actually don't know if it sounds like that. You just got to say it confidently and then people think it's right. Ramathaim-zophim and be like, 'Oh, okay. She knows her work.' Uh, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, 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 Elkanah her husband said to her, 'Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?'"
I, I feel like men are, are like that. After they had eaten, it's like, "I'm, I'm just sad. Like, why? I got to be about you?" But anyway, after, 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 and said, 'Oh, 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.'
As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips moved, and 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 French 75, uh, martini, old-fashioned away from you.'
But Hannah answered, 'No, 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.'
Eli answered her, 'Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition, your petition that you have made to him.' And she said, 'Let your servant find favor in your eyes.' Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad."
I just love this story. When we open up 1 Samuel, in the first few verses, we are welcomed into an interesting situation. We immediately learn about a man named Elkanah and how this man has two wives. One wife is named Hannah, one wife is named Peninnah. We aren't given a genealogy about these wives. We aren't given some family history about these women as we are with Elkanah. But we are given a piece of information that lets us into the particular family dynamic that they have, which is that Peninnah has children and Hannah does not. This, my friends, is a problem. Everybody say, "Problem."
I have three points for you today. The first one is the problem. Before we ever send up a petition towards heaven, it is usually because we have identified some kind of problem on earth. When we petition God for provision, usually the problem is some kind of financial lack. If we petition God for wisdom, the problem is is that we know enough about ourselves enough to know that we don't always know enough. If we petition God for humility, if we have the courage to ask that question, the problem we want to resist is pride. Every petition is a faithful attempt to overcome a problem.
In the second verse of this chapter, we learn that the problem in Elkanah's home is that Hannah, his wife, is barren. Infertility is a common occurrence in the Hebrew scripture, from Genesis to 1 Samuel, where it is. Barrenness is experienced by Sarah, by Rebekah, by Rachel, and now in this text by Hannah. Infertility is a problem in the sense that it usually precipitates an environment of internal shame, frustration, irritation, pain, grief in a woman, which is then quickly magnified by external shame and social stigmas that arise in communities where motherhood is viewed as the ultimate symbol of blessing. Some of that isn't altogether strange.
In Deuteronomy 28, one of the blessings that God offers for obedience is a fruitful womb. Curses are the reversal of blessing. So naturally, if you are cursed because of disobedience, then what you would get is barrenness. So then this puts people like Hannah in a situation because now she not only has to deal with the internal struggles and the internal grief and the internal things that she has to deal with, but now she has to carry and come against these religious assumptions that her barrenness is a consequence of her disobedience.
We, we are people who are prone to add meaning to ambiguity. Therefore, when women can't or don't bear children, fingers are always pointed somewhere. There had to be some reason why Hannah can't have children. To them, and maybe even to herself. If Hannah was the problem, or her womb was the problem, Hannah had to be to pray. I'm sure she started to ask herself questions like, "Maybe I didn't pray enough." People are most likely blaming Hannah for her own infertility. Hannah might be blaming herself for her own infertility, but who does the text point the finger at? Look at verse six. "And her rival used to provoke her grievously, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb." That's an answer to the question that doesn't necessarily feel good still, 'cause it's, it's one thing to feel like your circumstances are random. It's one thing to feel like the thing that you are wrestling through is mere coincidence, but when we serve a God who is sovereign and providential, then we have to wrestle with the idea of sovereignty and suffering at the same time. That situation is befuddling. I just like that word, so I'mma use it. It, it makes us struggle because sometimes it's difficult to comprehend how a God who is king, how a God who is good, how a God who calls himself love, could allow something in my life that hurts.
The temptation that happens when we start to deal with providence and pain, sovereignty and suffering, what has happening or happened or what will happen in you? It will happen in you. Especially when the pain gets deep and mysterious, is that you will be tempted to change your mind about God. Yeah. We have a habit of looking at a circumstance and defining God by the circumstance instead of defining God by the scriptures. We say, "This situation is bad. Therefore, if God allowed something bad to happen, he must not be good." It is so interesting to me how suffering and difficulty will make you your own false teacher. But we have to resist this temptation because our circumstances don't have that kind of authority. Our circumstances don't have the right to define God's nature. In the scriptures, God has always defined God. More specifically, it is Jesus who has expedited him. Meaning, Jesus has made him known. Therefore, when you're trying to make sense of stuff, the starting point must always begin with the nature of God as revealed in the scriptures. If, if and when we determine the nature of God according to what we go through, we will end up with a very inconsistent God to worship. A God who is good when everything is good. A God who is bad when everything is bad. But God's nature is immutable. Immutable, meaning he cannot change. See, a lot, a lot of our issue with the Lord is projection. Because God is immutable, he can't change. We are mutable. We can change. And that's a grace because if we couldn't change, we wouldn't be able to change. But the fact that we are mutable, what sometimes happens is that we forget that we are the ones that shapeshift when situations come up. We are the ones that get an attitude when so-and-so came in, when you was just fine 15 seconds ago. We are the ones that change according to our circumstances. But because we are so inclined to make God in our own image, we end up expecting God to act like us when he cannot and never will be anything other than himself. Unlike us, God is good all the time, and all the time God is. If that's the case, if that's true, that means that when life is hard, that means when life is insufferable, God is good. That means when life is confusing and mysterious and perplexing, God is good. When life is lifeing for 40 days and 40 nights, God is good. And there are some of you in here that probably ain't even suffering. But I need you to put this in your pocket because there will come a moment when you have to cling to this truth, or you will lose your life. Yes, the Lord. Yes, the Lord closed Hannah's womb. And it perhaps it might be that he is so good and he is so wise and he is so providential that he actually had every intention to birth something good in her heart before he ever birthed something in her body.
Point number two. Point number two is the pattern. It's one thing to have a problem that lasts for a couple hours. ChatGPT can help us with that. We can handle those quick problems. But what happens when God doesn't answer our petition as quickly as we prefer? When the pain continues, when, when the suffering doesn't let up, when the frustration persists, when, when you have prayed for days and then weeks and then months and then years go by before there is some kind of answer. It is really, really hard to trust God when your problem becomes a pattern. Everybody say, "Pattern." Pattern.
Hannah's infertility and everything that came with it wasn't a short-lived experience for her. I think sometimes we read in the book and we read the story in like 10 minutes, that we think that the situation lasted that long when, in fact, when you turn the page, five years happened. Her, her problem went on for years. How do I know? Look at the text. Verse three. "Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord." Elkanah is a consistent spiritual leader. The polygamy is a bit weird, a little awkward, but you know, he would take his people to church every year. He would, he would take his family to go worship. And according to the text, he did this year by year. And every year that they made that journey was another year that Hannah did not have a baby. Which means, year by year, her problem didn't just go away. She couldn't just get over it. She couldn't just shake it off. She, she had to endure this thing. And add the little caveat. Remember, it's the Lord who kept her womb closed year after year after year. And, and what makes it even more difficult is when you pay attention to the context by which he is constantly reminded of it. The text says that every time they went to Shiloh to worship, Peninnah used it as an opportunity to provoke and irritate Hannah about her childlessness. She probably used to say stuff like, "Haha, I got stretch marks and you don't. My pelvic floor is weak and yours ain't." Saying strange stuff. Strange stuff. You wouldn't understand. You wouldn't understand. I got five jumping jacks in me and I got to change my clothes. I'm sorry. It's just, you just wouldn't get it. I overshared.
Year by year, Hannah is enduring incredible grief. Year by year, Hannah is enduring intense shame. Year by year, I'm pretty sure Hannah is waiting on the Lord. But then she lives in a home with a woman who makes it her business to remind her of her childlessness. And she doesn't just do it when they're at home. She makes sure that she does it when they go to the place of worship. Imagine what it must be like when the place you go to worship becomes the place where you are reminded of what God is withholding from you. When you come into the house of God and you've been petitioning God for a baby, and you see people with pregnant bellies who didn't even ask for the child. When you see engaged couples, and you have been fasting and praying for one, and that girl's wig ain't even on straight, and she found a man. You don't know what to make. You don't know how to make sense of that. It ain't even on the scalp, and he likes her. It's confusing. There's somebody for everybody. I'm so tired that I have so many more jokes that I have to crack, but I need to be serious. When you go into church and you see families with present fathers, and you had to beg that man to just buy a pack of pencils. You, you, it's, it's irritating when you are around people who have constant man-up, constant provision, who don't seem to work as hard as you and hustle as hard as you and pray as hard as you and process and strategize as hard. They didn't even have to work for the bread. And it seems like every single month you are begging God just for the bare minimum. Stuff like that makes worship a bit complicated, doesn't it?
When Elkanah would go and worship, what would happen is he would go to the temple and he would sacrifice an animal. He would give an animal to the priests. They would take a portion of the animal and sacrifice it, and then they would get a portion of the sacrifice back to Elkanah to take back home to his family. He, he would bring the meal home, and his entire family would eat. So this meal is a deep meal. It's a sacred meal. It's a holy meal. This ain't just spaghetti on Thursday night. Like, this is functioning as a celebration of restored fellowship and thanksgiving to God. Catch this. Therefore, this meal is worship. Being the spiritual leader of his home, Elkanah would have been in charge of distributing the pieces of meat. Portions, according to tradition, were handed out according to what, how many children each wife had. So what would have happened is that Peninnah and her children would have gotten many portions, while Hannah would have gotten one. But because Elkanah loves his wife, he does not give her one portion. He gives her double. He gives her more than what she deserves. Yet, let's not forget, while all of this is happening at the table, Peninnah is zealous. And I don't know why he didn't check her, but that's, that's not my business. Peninnah is zealous in reminding Hannah of the children she doesn't have. She is constantly provoking her, constantly irritating her. So on one end, Hannah is in this situation where she is experiencing the love and the generosity and the care and the nurture of her husband, while on the other end, she is experiencing irritation and provocation and accusations from the wife.
And I think if you step into the text, all she really wants to know is why she can't have a baby. If she is blessed or if she is cursed, if she is loved or if she is hated, if she is seen or if she is invisible. If you step into the text and put yourself in Hannah's shoes, you can imagine how emotionally chaotic that feels in that place. The text says that Hannah does what we all do when life feels too emotionally heavy to handle. It says she wept and would not eat. Don't hear that as saying Hannah just wasn't hungry. That Hannah didn't have an appetite. Remember, this meal is a portion of the sacrifice. Remember that the priest gave them this meat back for them to fellowship. Remember that this meal is sacred. Remember that this meal is holy. Remember that this meal has everything to do with God. So it isn't that Hannah doesn't want food. It isn't that Hannah isn't hungry. It isn't that Hannah is fasting. It is that Hannah cannot worship. David once said that "my tears have been my food day and night." There are times when your problem is so big and so heavy and so loud and so persistent and so unwavering that your body don't even got the energy to be hungry. That your body don't even have the capacity to think about a meal. That your body and your mind, all it wants is relief from God, from joy. It does not want anything because all you have energy for is grief. I don't know if you've been there. I have. This, this is what happens. This is what happens when year after year after year the problem becomes a pattern that it seems like God is not in a rush to fix.
There's a story in John 11 about a man named Lazarus. He and his sisters were friends of Jesus. Lazarus gets sick, and while Jesus is away, some people come to Jesus and they say, "Hey, man, your friend is sick." Jesus does something really interesting to me. The text says that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. I, I don't, y'all not irritated enough of me. I'm going to say it one more time. They just said, "Your friend is sick." Buck up. And it says in the text that Jesus loved Lazarus and loved his sisters. So when he heard the news, he stayed a couple more days. That is strange. That is weird because the text is obviously highlighting that his staying, that his carrying, that his, that his situation was precipitated by his love for them. So his timing is being dictated by his love. I, I, I guess for me, it doesn't make sense because if Jesus loves him, they should, he should have more urgency, right? If Jesus loves them, he should be in a hurry to heal his friend because if he heals his friend, then they don't have to grieve. If they, if he heals his friend, then they don't have to suffer. If he heals his friend, they don't got to book no funeral and find no casket and fill out the obituary and say that he got baptized when he was seven, when it was really when he was 15. Like, he, it's his waiting. It's his waiting that makes everything worse.
Imagine your prayers, your petitions, entering heaven, reaching God's throne with the angels carrying the bowls of incense that represent the prayers of the saints, and the angels saying, "Hey, Father, she's been asking you this for a long time. She, she's been wanting you to heal this. She's been wanting you to restore this. She's been wanting you to deliver this. She's been wanting you to save this. She's been wanting you to add to this. She's been wanting you to break this. She's been wanting you to restore this. She's been wanting you to complete this. She's, she's even just been asking for wisdom, and you said you would give it, but it's limited. She doesn't, she doesn't see beyond tomorrow. She's just asking if you could just tell her what next week will be like. And, and she's just asking for this." And God says, "And they say, 'God, do you want us to move? Do you want us to respond? Do you want us to do anything?'" And God says, "Stay still. Because I might not come when she wants me to, but I will be on time."
We forget that time is a creature. We forget that time is on God's leash. We forget that God is not like us. He is not controlled or constrained or or submissive to time in the same way that we are. He exists above time. What does that matter? Because how many of us are struggling with God because you don't like his timing? You don't like how he is using his own creature in your life. Do you understand what I'm saying? God made time. Time belongs to him. He is time's creator and lord, and he uses time not to serve you ultimately, but to serve his purposes. So when Jesus stayed for two whole days, for 48 hours, for two nights and two mornings in the place where he was, while Lazarus got sicker, while Lazarus died, while his sisters grieved, while his body began to decompose, while they picked him up and placed him in a tomb, he had to walk all the way from Bethany to Jerusalem. Like, all of that took time. But Jesus wasn't being negligent with the clock. He was being loving. Every minute, every minute that they had to wait, he was working for their good. Why? Some miracles just take time. And not merely, not merely the miracle of a resurrection body, but the miracle of revelation that he is the resurrection. They would not have seen him correctly. They would not have seen his glory if he did not make them wait.
You will gather a lot of idols if you don't make, if you don't accept that truth, because you will find other things to make you cope with God's timing. What? What if God? What if God, hear me? What if God took his time in delivering you from hard seasons because he had glory in mind? What if God took his time so that circumstances got so complicated, so difficult, so impossible? Because he knows you're intuitive. He knows you're smart. He knows you're resourceful. He knows you know your way around things. He knows that about you. So, he's making you wait to humble you. He knows. He knows that you have to wait because he knows that when you wait and the mountain does move, guess who you will glorify? Not yourself, not your job, not your boss, not your resources, not your education. You will give him all the glory and all the honor because he made you wait.
What if, what if when you came to Christ, you'd entered into a relationship where God's priority was that you would change, and that you would be in fact conformed into the image of his son? I say that because what if in the waiting, what if in the difficulty, God is actually more committed to your sanctification than he is to your comfort? What if Hannah's womb had been closed year by year, and there isn't much that she can do about it. But in the meantime, God is setting the stage for his glory to be revealed.
Point number three is the petition. Look at verse number nine. "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 and said, 'Oh, 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.'" She was specific. "'Then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.'"
After dinner, remember Hannah wept, would not eat. Hannah gets up and goes to Netflix. Hannah gets up and goes to the bottle. Hannah gets up and goes to the blunt. No, Hannah gets up and goes to the temple. And in the temple, she begins to pray. What I love about the Bible is that the Bible is not just helping us be good Christians. The Bible is helping us be real humans. Do you see all the emotions on display in the text? It says, "Deeply distressed, wept bitterly, troubled in spirit, pouring out my soul, great anxiety and vexation." The writer uses six different phrases to describe the emotional range of Hannah's distress as she talks to God. Dan Allander calls emotions the language of the soul. And I think there are many of us that that might be the reason why we don't pray is that we don't want to feel our feelings with nobody, let alone God. But, but the thing about emotions are, we live in this world where we want to compartmentalize ourselves. So some of us want to just bring our brain to God and not our whole self. But when you bring your emotions to God, when you bring your feelings to God, when you bring your anger to God, when you bring your rage to God, when you bring your irritation to God, I think freedom would even come for some of y'all if y'all just told God, "I don't want you. I don't want you. I don't want you." Because that is where deliverance happened because that's called confession. Our problems are too big. Our feelings are too strong for us to enter into God's presence with anything less than honesty. He is called the Counselor for a reason. He is called the Comforter for a reason. He is called the Helper for a reason. I have had times even in the last two weeks where I have nowhere else to go. So I, you, God is not everything until he becomes everything.
Hannah is feeling a lot, and rightfully so. Remember, the very first thing we, we learned about Hannah is that Hannah had no children. So there's internal shame, there's social stigma. And all of that has driven her to this point. I was, I was talking to this dude, uh, this is like a year ago. He wanted some advice about some stuff that he was wrestling with, and he was saying how he's been fasting, and he's been praying, and he's been studying, and he's just been really diligent with his spiritual disciplines and all the things, but he was getting frustrated because he was doing all the things, but some of the stuff wasn't lifting. He didn't understand why he was still struggling while fasting, or he was still struggling while praying, or he was still struggling while doing all the things. And I was like, he was like, "I just don't understand why God just won't deliver me." And I said, "Well, have you ever considered that if God delivered you now, you wouldn't be this desperate?" Have you, have you considered that maybe you need those thorns so that you can experience actual strength and weakness?
There are some times where God puts us in seasons and in circumstances where he is drawing into us some level of desperation, which is what I said in the beginning. If you are not desperate, I can suspect it is because you are idolatrous. There is something else sustaining you. There is something else strengthening you. There is something else helping you. There is something else keeping you. But it is only a broken sister, and it will not last. It will not give you joy. It will not give you peace. It will not, it will actually hinder every ministry God has called you to. I think we think that we can walk in our gifts effectively and still be unholy. It does not work like that. When you walk in righteousness, it clarifies your gift. And there is a blessing and a favor and a hand that God grants so that yokes actually break, and people don't just clap. There's a difference. There's a difference. That's not in my notes. I don't know where I am.
Hannah, Hannah's desperate. She, she's desperate. She's come to the temple for this reason, to present her problems to the Lord. What I love about this prayer is how she begins it. She doesn't start with addressing the problem. And sometimes you do. Sometimes I don't got all that time for the rigmarole. "Hey God, this is, this is what's happening." She, she doesn't start by addressing the problem. Sometimes you got to, "Hey, hey, this been happening a long time now. I've been, I've been talking to you about a good two weeks and it ain't, it ain't shifted." But, but she starts her petition by addressing a person. She says, "Oh, Lord of hosts." That's intriguing to me when you know the book. When you know the book and you read Genesis, and you read Exodus, and you read Numbers, and you read Deuteronomy, the books before this one, you don't see that name anywhere. You would expect her to call on Elohim or call on Yahweh, a name that's familiar already. But through her suffering, Hannah reveals a name of God that Abraham or Moses didn't even tell us about. She says, she says, "Oh, Lord of hosts." You're getting me excited. I feel nervous. I feel nervous. Lord of hosts is a military name of God. It communicates the idea of God being sovereign over cosmic and earthly hosts, angels, demons, everything in between, all of which God can use and or overcome on behalf of his covenant people. Follow me. Why did Hannah begin her prayer with that name? Why not use the name Hagar used, El-Roi? I mean, she's in a situation where you want to be seen, right? He's the God who sees. Why not use the name Abraham used, Jehovah-Jireh? But why? I mean, you're in a situation where you want to be provided for. She would clearly benefit from calling on a God who sees her and calling on a God who would provide for her. But instead, she calls on the Lord of Hosts. It's because the name of God we employ in prayer can function as a reminder to the soul in relation to your particular circumstance. I'll say it one more time. The name of God we employ in prayer can function as a reminder to the soul in relation to our particular circumstance. Meaning, if you have a good grip on God as Lord but not Father, maybe you need to change the way you begin your prayers. If you see God as somebody you're supposed to just work for and not abide with, you might need to change the beginning of your prayers. If you are a person that loves Jesus as savior and not as Lord, maybe you need to start calling him big things when you talk to him. Almighty God and King God and holy God and righteous God and faithful God. If, if, if you're struggling with any because what it does is, it's a form of meditation. It reminds your soul about what is true, which then forms your petitions. Does it make sense?
If, if God is the Lord of hosts, what that implies is that he is sovereign. What that implies is that he is powerful. What that implies is that he is in control. And if that is the case, then there is no circumstance that Hannah can bring to God that he does not have the power to change. There is no demon in hell that he cannot fight. There is no angel in heaven that he cannot send in this moment in this temple. Hannah realizes that what she needs right now, today, is the military God. Hannah needs a warrior God. Hannah needs a God who can box. Hannah needs a God who can fight. Hannah needs a God who is strategic. Hannah needs a God who is decisive. You know, later in this book, later in this book, hold on. Hold on. Y'all see that? There, there's this story. There's this story that we're going to come across with a giant named Goliath. All of Israel is scared of the man. He's real big. He, he's big. Even the king is scared of the giant until a shepherd boy named David shows up. They try to tell David that the battle was too big. They, they try to tell David that the, the, the challenge is too strong. They try to tell David that it's impossible to win. And what I love about David's response is that he says, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in whose name?" In the name of the Lord of hosts. The rocks didn't win the battle. God did. In this temple, Hannah understands that the God she is talking to will not only fight giants and fight Philistines and fight armies. He will go to war on her own body to ensure that it works according to its design. Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes I have to call on the Lord of hosts to fight my mind. Sometimes I have to call on the Lord of hosts to fight every demon against my marriage. Sometimes I have to fall on the Lord of hosts when my children wake up hearing voices in their sleep. Sometimes I have to. Tired. I'm tired. God has every resource at his disposal. If he created the body, he can heal the body. If he is life, he can give life. And, and, and, and with his ability to do all this and more, and even if he doesn't do it, even if her womb remains closed for the rest of her days, the Lord of hosts is able to give joy where there should only be grief. Have you ever met somebody that's been through things in your life and you don't understand how they're able to float? And you don't understand why they're in their right mind. And you don't understand why they're able to praise. And you don't understand why they're able to persevere. It's not that they're strong. It's that they met with the lifter of their head in their sorrow.
But I do have to say this. You might have to journal about this one day. Are you ready for what happens when you discover that God's will is different than yours? Do you have the spiritual muscle yet to accept when his will is in fact no? I want to give you permission to grieve obedience. People don't talk about how much it hurts to surrender. People don't talk about how hard it is when God tells you to lay aside something that ain't even unrighteous. It's just not good for you. God. God. People don't talk about when you decide to obey, laying aside every weight and the sin that's so easily entangled so that you can just run the race that's set before you. I want you to learn how to grieve with God. He was a man acquainted with grief. And so, even when it comes to working that nevertheless into your soul, don't neglect God in your pain.
Referring to God as Lord of Hosts, I'm almost done. And herself as servant. She petitions God, and she makes a vow. Look at verse 11. "Oh, 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." We understand the petition. She's a childless woman, and that is the source of all her turmoil. You can come back now. I'm not sleeping no more. I think he heard me. Hey, it's the way you turn this on and it feels anointed all of a sudden. But 'cause God forbid they play Beethoven, and it wouldn't feel like the spirit is in here. It would just be a little awkward, like, "What is this about?"
She's a childless woman, and so she petitions God for a son. If she's going to ask God for anything, it's going to be for what will stop the pain. But Hannah does something unexpected. She petitions God for a son and then vows to give the son back. You would expect a girl to just ask for the gift, and that's it, like my kids do. But for her to ask for the gift and then promise to give the gift back to the giver is crazy. But this is very much a parable, very much a metaphor, very much a helpful map for what we are all called to do. Every single thing you have is a gift. Your children are gifts. Your money is a gift. Your marriage is a gift. Your friendships are a gift. Your body is a gift. The ability to speak and walk and dance and sing and reason and preach. Everything is a gift from the Father of Lights. Some of which you receive because you ask God for it. A lot of which you receive just because God is generous. And that is why some of our prayers remain unanswered. Because we are asking God for gifts that we have no intention on returning. Some of us are asking God for idols and wondering why he won't give you your golden calf. God loves you too much to give you the thing that will keep you from his face. For some of us, God might be saying no because you don't have the character to carry what you want. Maybe God is developing you. Maybe God is preparing you. Maybe God is processing you. Maybe God is being good to you as you wait. We have to think more highly of God. Whenever God answers our prayers, giving us what we asked for, we are under a covenant to give it all back to God. Nothing is ultimately ours to keep.
Hannah makes this vow, gives her son as a Nazarene to God, mothers him until he's weaned, and then he goes to the temple to live in service to God for all of his life. We understand what Hannah was saying because the text said it, but Eli didn't have any idea what she was saying because he thought she was drunk. That tells me she was a smidge Pentecostal. She was praying so, she was praying so intensely that he misread her heart because he's not the great high priest. He wasn't able to accurately discern her motives and intentions, but we have one. He corrects his presumption, blesses her. So look at verse 18. It says, "He said, 'Let your servant find favor in your eyes.' Then the woman went her way and ate." It means different when you know the context. "And her face was no longer sad." The Hannah that walked into the temple, it's not the same Hannah that walked out. Before, she was vexed and she was anxious and she was distressed. And now her face, not just her heart, her countenance has changed. And I'm sure you noticed if you read it, her prayer hasn't been answered. She ain't went home and did nothing with that man. Her son is not in her womb. Wow. Her boy is not in her hands. She has not made a registry or had the baby shower yet. She has joy anyhow. How? How? How? One commentator said, "Hannah had cast her burden upon the Lord, so her own spirit was relieved of its load." It's amazing to experience a burden being lifted all by virtue of you being honest with God about what you need.
Prayer, hear me, this will change your life. Prayer and petition is more than just getting what you want. It is communion with God. It is at his right hand where there is fullness of joy. And we know this. We churched. We, we watch all the podcasts. We listen to all the songs and say, but we are still so anxious, still so distressed, still so vexed on most days. And I bet, I argue that I believe is that
Because we're not desperate enough for the temple. We are going everywhere else but the temple. And by temple I don't mean a building. By temple I don't mean a synagogue. By temple I don't mean a church. By temple I mean his feet. I mean the place that Isaiah saw in Isaiah chapter 6 where he saw the Lord who was holy, holy, holy. And the earth was full of all of his glory.
When Hannah, when Hannah leaves the temple, she's not sad anymore because she got what she wanted. Or before she got what she wanted, she got what she needed. Hannah thought she needed a son when all Hannah needed was the son. Hannah thought she needed a son when all Hannah needed was the sun. It's at his feet where you will get what you need, which will always transform what you want. I'm talking about delight.
When we delight ourselves in the Lord, don't be surprised when your petitions change. When you start to say things like, "All I want is you. All I need is you. All I want is you." Like, "Help me, God. Be with me, God. Help me." Like, when God becomes your only resource, your prayers become desperate. When we delight in the Lord, don't even be shocked when your expectations begin to shift because delight is the secret of contentment in every circumstance. It is knowing that at the bottom of your greatest desires is the desire for God. It's good to want marriage, but let God be your deepest source of intimacy. It is good to want a higher paying job, but let God be your deepest source of security. It is good to want healing, but let God speak to your deepest desire for strength. And I'm not saying don't knock. Don't hear me say that because God tells us to make our petitions known. But what I am saying is that when God becomes our greatest delight, it changes everything.
And when he gives us by his will what we have asked for, we are better positioned to receive his answer as a gift to be stewarded and not an idol to be worshiped. When you realize that sometimes what you want ain't what you need, is when you will find God. Hannah thought she needed a son when she needed the son. I'mma close with verse 19. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord. Then they went back to their house at Rama and Elkanah knew his wife and the Lord remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the Lord." I love that sentence. And the Lord remembered her. He hasn't forgot about you. He can't. The only time we see God forgetting anything in scripture is when he throws our sins into the sea of forgetfulness.
You know, before Jesus was about to die for our sins, he went to a garden to pray. And in the garden, he petitioned God and he asked God that if possible that God would remove the cup from him. This cup was a metaphor, Old Testament metaphor for the wrath of God. All Jesus knew was God's pleasure in him because all he had ever been is righteous and holy. The reason he doesn't want to experience the cup is because he doesn't want to experience the Father's wrath. It's a holy request, but it's a request that he surrenders. And what I love about it, one, I love that God said no. 'Cause if he didn't, none of us would be alive. You know, some no's are in consideration of the people that God will use you to save.
In Luke 22, it says, "And when he came to the place, he had said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation." And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him. I want to point out two things. I'm gonna point out the second and I'm get out your way. The reason why I believe God wants us to have a deeper and more significant prayer life is that for you to obey God and all that he's called you to do in the scriptures and through his people and with the gifts that he's called you to, you need strength. And you will not get that strength if you do not pray. God told him no and still strengthened him. He still had to go to the cross. He still had to endure the pain. He still had to do the suffering. But it was when he prayed to his Father that he received the strength to endure the call on his life. Your marriage may not work if you don't get strength. Your petitions may not endure if you don't get strength. Your sexual sins keep taking you out because you will not go and get strength.
The second thing I want to point out is that when Christ prayed to the Father, he did not pray how the rabbis pray. The way the rabbis pray and most Jews is they stand up and they lift their head towards heaven. But the Bible says that Jesus knelt down to pray. If we want to develop desperation in our hearts, sometimes we have to do it first in our bodies. When the Lord kept bringing y'all to my mind, I felt like he kept bringing this image of y'all kneeling before him. Whether on your knees or prostrate or physically able, I'm going to ask us all to get on our face before the Lord and we are going to talk to him. I'm not going to guide you. I'm not going to force you. But I am going to ask you to meet with God. Give him your feelings. Give him your fears. Give him your emotions. Give him your sins. Give him your pride. Give him your anger. Give him your addictions. Give him the things that you are trying to control. Give him all the sources of your anxiety. Give him your children. Give him your marriage. Give him your mind. Give him your money. And call him by the name that you need him for. You don't have to say a "God help me" is sufficient. Be honest with the Lord. Cast your cares. Give your emotions. Feel your feelings. If your children are with you, lead your children in how to pray. Help your children seek the face of the Lord. We don't want them to buy a stand.
God, we thank you. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your power. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for revealing yourself as king. We thank you for revealing yourself as Lord. We thank you for setting your Son apart for such a time as this. We thank you for reconciling us back to yourself. We thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to fill us and to help us and to comfort us and to keep us all the days of our life. I pray for your church. I pray that your church would be a church that is only powerful because they pray. I pray that we would be a church that finds our strength in you, our joy in you, our contentment in you, our delight in you. I pray that you would help us to find the peace that surpasses our understanding only when we seek your face. I pray that we would seek your face. I pray that we would seek your face. I pray that we would seek your face. I pray that we would seek your face more than we seek your hand. I pray that we would seek your face. God, hide not your face from us. Help us to enjoy you more than we enjoy our sin. Help us to love you more than we love our lusts. Help us to trust that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
I pray for everyone who is under any demonic intimidation where they are hearing lies about what you think about them and how you see them and their ability to overcome. I pray God even now for divine and supernatural courage to fight. God, you are the Lord of hosts. You are able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. I pray that you would pour out power. I pray that you would pour out power. You did it at Pentecost. I pray that you would do it now. I pray that you would pour power for us to love. Power for us to forgive. Power for us to be kind. Power for us to do all the things that you've called us to do.
God, I don't know who's grieving in the room. I don't know if it's the loss of a friendship. I don't know if it's a death in a family. I don't know if it's a loss of a job or a dream, but I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would comfort them in their grief. They've been sad for a long time. So, I pray that you would comfort them in their grief. That you would bear them up on eagle's wings. That you would give them the oil of gladness, that you would give them joy in the Holy Ghost, that you would comfort them in this affliction so that their ministry would be a ministry of comfort. I pray for repentance in the room. There is a wave of dullness. Father, I pray that you would grant conviction. Where there is numbness, that you would grant feeling. That where there is blindness, that you would grant sight. That where they are deaf, that you would grant healing. And I pray against every scheme of the evil one where they would think that they have to do all the things to receive your forgiveness. God, I pray for confession. I pray that they would tell you the truth. I pray that they would be honest with you because you love them and you are more than able, more than willing, and more than ready to cleanse. I pray as confession goes forth that you would cleanse their guilty consciences.
Lord, you are good and you are great and we give you all the glory and we give you all the honor and we give you all the praise for there is no one like you in all the earth. You are the King of kings. You are the Lord of lords. You are Jehovah Jireh. You are Jehovah Nissi. You are the Lord who sanctifies. You are the Lord who will glorify. You are the Lord who justifies. You are all that we need. You are all that we desire. We thank you God that you have written your law on our hearts. We thank you, God, that you have filled us with your Holy Spirit. We thank you, God, that you have given us the scriptures so we know how to walk according to your way. We thank you, God, for pouring out all of your gifts so that we could grow in maturity. I pray for maturity in the room, God. I pray that we would be dissatisfied with staying a child for 10 years. I pray that we would choose to mature. I pray that we would choose to walk righteously. I pray that we would choose to walk holy. I pray that we would do what you are calling us to do no matter how much it costs us. And I pray God that you would give us oil because of it.
Father, I pray that you would help us to love you. I pray that you would help us to honor you. I pray that you would help us to enjoy you. I pray that you would help us to hear you. I pray that you would help us to love our neighbors. I pray against hatred in the room and jealousy in the room and envy in the room and covetousness in the room. I pray that we would be quicker to apologize. What I love about you, Lord, is I know you hear us. I know you hear us. I know the bowl of incense has reached you already. And I pray that it gives you honor. I pray that it gives you glory. And I pray God that by the power of your Spirit, you would give us the patience to wait on you. You said in your word that you would renew the strength of those who wait on you. And we expect our strength to be renewed. And so we thank you. We praise you. We love you. We enjoy you. We delight in you. We want to know you and be anchored in you. To you who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we have asked and all we will ever think in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.