Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20061029.htm
BIOGRAPHIES OF BIBLE SAINTS I. Hannah - Ministering As An Individual To Influence A Needy World A. Step One: Praying To God Over A Disturbing Personal Situation (1 Samuel 1:1-18)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

In wondering last Tuesday morning if I should begin a series of sermons on the life of Hannah showing how individual believers may influence their spiritually needy world for Christ, I drove my wife to work, silently asking God for His affirmation in the matter.

I didn't need to wait long -- the answer came in repeat doses!

(a) On the way, I was so closely tailgated by an SUVA that I had to pull over to let him pass just to concentrate on driving safely. The SUVA went around us and kept driving on ahead out of sight!

(b) I left my wife at work and headed toward Church, turning on radio am 610 to hear Brad Advise' talk show. Two callers called, telling of their dismay over the heckling that Senator Liberian faced the night before on the TV political debate. Both callers felt the hate in our country was as threatening as any terrorist threat from the outside!

(c) As I came to a stop light, I read the bumper sticker on the van in front of me admonishing the reader to "Save a Life Today". It was a Pro-Life sticker that countered the evil of abortion on demand.

(d) I arrived at the church and checked the mail to find a study guide promotion had come. It was entitled, The Blessing of Benjamin by Bill Mills and Peter Luisi-Mills, a study on Deuteronomy 33:12 NIV where the authors claim the verse's phrase, "rests between His shoulders" refers to Benjamin's being carried on God's shoulders like a father would carry his child. Bill Mills testifies in this book that he had never known his earthly father's approval, so he was blessed to find this verse showing God approved of him as his dear heavenly Father!

Though this idea is true, the authors had hurt their case by doing what so many others have done -- they had misinterpreted their key verse ! It predicts God's temple would sit at the edge of the land of Benjamin so that God would dwell "between the shoulders" of its hills! The verse does not describe of a father carrying his child as the authors of the book hold! ( The Wycliffe Bible Com., 1971, p. 202)

So, God CLEARLY confirmed my initial plan to begin a series on Hannah's life in view of the DARKNESS and EVIL we face at all levels! However, He did so in an intensely PERSONAL way, leaving me realizing the messages need to show HOW we can IMPACT our spiritually godless world when WE OURSELVES face it in our OWN personal "crucibles" of evil, dark trials!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "How can I impact my needy WORLD for the Lord when the needs in my OWN LIFE on handling evil are so INTENSE?!"

1. Israel's spiritual welfare was at a low point in Hannah's era, for the nation risked missing God's blessing due to its deep apostasy:
1. Just before Hannah's time, Israel had experienced the period of the Judges, a 300-year era marked by "political, moral, and spiritual anarchy and deterioration," Bible Knowledge Com., O. T. , p. 431.
2. That era had ended in civil war (Judges 19-21), and the High Priest's sons were set to be judged for their evil deeds, 1 Sam. 2:27, 29, 34.
3. Thus, Israel was close to being nationally greatly judged by God!
2. However, in GRACE, God LET Hannah face a GREAT TRIAL to DRIVE her to SCRIPTURE and PRAYER over her SITUATION as the FIRST step in SALVAGING ISRAEL from JUDGMENT:
1. Due to the corruption of even Israel's spiritual leaders in the temple, God wanted to use a holy man to lead Israel away from evil.
2. To do so, He permitted a "crucible" of a severe, evil trial to plague Hannah, leading her to pray for the production of THAT holy man:
1. Hannah was one of two wives of the man, Elkanah, 1 Sam. 1:1-2a.
2. She as his first wife had been childless, so Elkanah had taken a second woman to bare him children, 1 Samuel 1:2b; Ibid., p. 433.
3. Such a polygamous marriage was never God's ideal, and it always led to unhappiness according to the Scripture record!
4. Yet, the Bible also reveals that it was God Who had closed up Hannah's womb so that she could not bear children, 1 Sam. 1:5b.
5. Elkanah loved Hannah and tried to compensate for her barrenness in giving her special gifts, 1 Sam. 1:4-5 with Deut. 21:16-18.
6. Yet, this favoritism only angered the other wife, so she harassed Hannah about her childlessness, 1 Sam. 1:6. Hannah wept over this harassment regardless of Elkanah's effort to console her, 1:7-8.
7. Based on her trial and her memory of Scripture, Hannah vowed to God that if He gave her a son, she would give him back [in the temple] to serve Him [there] for life as a holy man, 1 Sam. 1:9-11:
1. Hannah recalled the Scripture on God's making a barren woman in the era of the Judges give birth to Samson, Jud. 13:2-3; Ibid.
2. God had told this barren wife of Manoah that her son would be a holy Nazarite from the womb: he was never to have his head shaved, to drink alcoholic drinks nor to touch dead bodies so he could serve God all of his life, Judges 13:4-5 with Num. 6:1-8.
3. Hannah also knew that as her husband, Elkanah was of levitical descent (1 Chron. 6:1, 27-28), were she to have a son, he could serve God for life as a Levite in the temple (Numbers 3:6-7)!
4. Thus, Hannah chose to vow that if God gave her a son as He had given Manoah's wife, she would give him to the temple to serve God for life as a Nazarite, 1 Sam. 1:9-11! (Ibid., p. 433)
5. This prayer shows Hannah would raise her son to be upright unlike the sons of the High Priest and even Samson who broke his Nazarite vow! Her vow fit the will of God for a holy man!
3. Thus, Hannah prayed out of her unjust "crucible" of trial, and the High Priest signaled God would hear her prayer, 1 Samuel 1:12-18.
4. From Scriptures elsewhere, we know this child would be Samuel, a man God used to be a blessing to Israel, 1 Samuel 1:20; Ibid., p. 431!
3. Now, viewing the SCRIPTURE Hannah used at Judges 13:3-4, we note the EVENTS of THAT passage had been TAILORED by GOD for HANNAH'S LATER use in producing SAMUEL:
1. When the Angel of the Lord (the Preincarnate Christ, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Judges 13:3 and Gen. 16:10) appeared to Manoah to announce his barren wife would give birth to Samson, Christ had not waited for Manoah to wed another wife to have children or for his first wife to pray in distress about having a son, but predicted she would bear a son who would be a Nazarite from birth, Judges 13:3-5.
2. Thus, the temporary barrenness of Manoah's wife was allowed by God not as much for the needs of Manoah or his wife, but for a desperate HANNAH who later would use this Scriptural precedent so that God could use her to produce the later needed Samuel!

Application: To impact a needy WORLD for Christ, (1) may we trust in Christ as Savior from sin to become sons of God, John 1:12-13. (2) Then, may we (a) see from Scripture God's answer to OUR needs (Romans 15:4), and (b) PRAYERFULLY APPLY it (like Hannah), (c) pouring our hearts out to God from what unjust "crucible" we face, Psalm 34:18; 51:17. (3) In doing so, not only will we OURSELVES be blessed, but, by God's gracious foreknowledge (2 Timothy 1:9), make us a blessing to OTHERS!

Lesson: The Lord ARRANGED for Hannah to face the STRESS of an UNJUST, DISTRESSING PERSONAL SITUATION to DRIVE her to God's SCRIPTURE that was TAILORED for HER and her resulting PRAYER as the FIRST step in salvaging His blessing for ISRAEL.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

Several years ago, God provided a "crucible" as He did for Hannah to direct me to be more productive for Him in a matter:

At the time, I had stopped trying to get my Divine Election manuscript published. Sure, I knew it solved the key doctrinal and resulting spiritual problems in our era of history (Revelation 3:14-22), but obstacles had always blocked its being printed. Also, disparaging remarks I had heard for many years from Calvinist believers about all who did not hold to their view left me tired of wanting to work on the project. Yes, the idea of reducing the work to lesson format for the web had since arisen, but by then I lacked any will to pursue it.

On top of this, our daughter had just experienced the last of several difficult brain surgeries, and my wife and I had been shaken by her pain; the sutured muscles behind her scalp left unconnected by a surgeon in another hospital were now in spasm under her incision!

I planned to drive back to the ministry here in Connecticut, so, still reeling from Connie's surgery, I had left my wife with her at the Long Island hospital to drive home the next night. However, after crossing the Whitestone Bridge out of Queens, I had made a wrong turn and started heading west on the Cross Bronx toward Manhattan!

I then left the highway to turn around only to get confused, and ended up stopped in a parking lot in the night somewhere in the Bronx!

As I sat there in the car emotionally numb and wondering why God had let all of this trouble arise, the idea of putting the Election manuscript onto the web came abruptly to mind! I had made 2 wrong turns -- one at the Whitestone Bridge and the other in not pursuing the web idea, so I rapidly told God I would put the work on the web!

No sooner had I finished praying than I was spurred to drive out of the parking lot, make 2 turns, and, in no time was back on the Cross Bronx headed east! For the rest of the trip home, all I could do was reflect on the import of what had just occurred back there in the Bronx!



As you can imagine, I soon started reducing the manuscript for the web! It is now posted there, and God has given His peace about it!

Our web master, Louis Leigh, reports this Election file alone now receives hundreds of "hits" per month from people all over!

So, may we respond to the "crucibles" of even unjust trials God lets us face in prayerful action based on His Word. Then we can see Him bless in our own lives and use us to edify others!