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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. This morning

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Speaker 1: we're starting a new series. For the next group of

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Speaker 1: weeks we're going to be working our way through the

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Speaker 1: book of 1 Samuel. I don't know if it's a

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Speaker 1: book that you're familiar with or not, but we're calling

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Speaker 1: this The Search for a King, and you're going to

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Speaker 1: see as we work our way through the book of

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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel that that's something that obviously the children of

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Speaker 1: Israel desire, but it illustrates a deeper desire to that's

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Speaker 1: in the heart of every person. We're searching for a king.

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Speaker 1: Now that satisfaction is only found when we find that king,

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Speaker 1: when we find that Lord and leadership through Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: And so ultimately that's our hope. And we're going to

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Speaker 1: be taking a look at how this process unveils during

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Speaker 1: the time of Samuel and Saul and David and those

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Speaker 1: that lived during that time with them. So if you

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Speaker 1: would take your Bibles and turn with me to 1

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Speaker 1: Samuel 1. And in 1 Samuel 1, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: start off just by reading the first eight verses, and

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Speaker 1: then we're going to look at a variety of other

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Speaker 1: verses from this chapter, a piece at a time. But

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Speaker 1: I'm going to read the first eight verses just to

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Speaker 1: set this up, and then we're going to actually look

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Speaker 1: at parts of 1 Samuel 2 as well, because in

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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel 2, we have a song that really points

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Speaker 1: our hearts toward the Lord in a powerful way. So

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Speaker 1: we'll start with 1 Samuel 1. I'm going to read

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Speaker 1: the first eight verses, and then, like I said, we'll

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Speaker 1: work our way through some of the other verses as well.

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Speaker 1: But it says this, starting with verse 1. It says,

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Speaker 1: there was a certain man of Ramathame Zophim of the

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Speaker 1: hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son

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Speaker 1: of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zoph,

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Speaker 1: and Ephrathite. He had two wives. The name of the

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Speaker 1: one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Penanah.

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Speaker 1: And Penanah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now,

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Speaker 1: this man used to go up year by year from

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Speaker 1: his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord

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Speaker 1: of Hosts, at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli,

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Speaker 1: Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the

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Speaker 1: day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah,

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Speaker 1: his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But

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Speaker 1: to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her,

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Speaker 1: though the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival

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Speaker 1: used to provoke her grievously, to irritate her, because the

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Speaker 1: Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year

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Speaker 1: by year. As often as she went up to the

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Speaker 1: house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore

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Speaker 1: Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah her husband

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Speaker 1: said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why

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Speaker 1: do you not eat? And why is your heart sad?

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Speaker 1: Am I not more to you than ten sons? Let's

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Speaker 1: pray together. Father, we thank you for this portion of

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Speaker 1: your word. We're thankful for privilege that it is to

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Speaker 1: be able to look at this together. And as we

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Speaker 1: begin this series, this study of the book of 1 Samuel,

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Speaker 1: we pray that you'd help us to understand the things

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Speaker 1: that we're reading in this book. We know, Lord, that

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Speaker 1: this is a book that has, it certainly has some

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Speaker 1: memorable passages. There's certain things in this book that have

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Speaker 1: been talked about ever since the time in which they

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Speaker 1: took place. But then there's also aspects of this book

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Speaker 1: that sometimes fall into just kind of the recesses of

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Speaker 1: our thoughts. We don't always think about them. And yet,

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Speaker 1: There's some powerful things here in these passages, in these

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Speaker 1: chapters that can truly point us toward you and help

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Speaker 1: us to grow in our walk with you and even

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Speaker 1: realize a variety of things about the longings of our

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Speaker 1: own hearts. And so, Lord, as we look at this

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Speaker 1: book together, we pray that you'd speak to us. We

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Speaker 1: pray that you grant us your understanding and your discernment.

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Speaker 1: And we commit this day and this series to you

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Speaker 1: and pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, let

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Speaker 1: me give you a tiny bit of... just background on

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Speaker 1: the book of 1 Samuel. I think the book of

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Speaker 1: 1 Samuel is a pretty interesting book in the Old Testament.

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Speaker 1: Don't know if it's a book that you've read before

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Speaker 1: or not. I'd certainly encourage you to read through it

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Speaker 1: because it highlights a major transition in Israel's history. Basically,

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Speaker 1: up to this point, Israel had been led by what

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Speaker 1: were called judges. And these were leaders, not just judges

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Speaker 1: in like a judicial sense, like we would think in

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Speaker 1: our era, but these were various leaders that God would

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Speaker 1: designate and raise up and select, and he would use

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Speaker 1: them to lead Israel, and he had done so for

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Speaker 1: quite some time, and that's how Israel was led. But

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Speaker 1: now they move from judges and being led by judges

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Speaker 1: to the establishment of a monarchy. The people want a king.

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Speaker 1: The book of 1 Samuel was originally connected with the

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Speaker 1: book of 2 Samuel as one single book. And if

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Speaker 1: you look at the events that take place in this book,

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Speaker 1: they take place basically over the course of about 100 years,

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Speaker 1: over about a century, from about 1100 BC, right around

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Speaker 1: to the year 1000 BC. And it's believed that the

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Speaker 1: details that we're reading here were probably compiled sometime after

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Speaker 1: 960 BC. But we aren't told the author directly. There's

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Speaker 1: no statement in here that gives us information about who

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Speaker 1: the author is directly. Now, it's believed by many people

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Speaker 1: that Samuel himself wrote portions of this book. And others

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Speaker 1: think that probably later contributions in the book, because there's

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Speaker 1: things that take place after the death of Samuel that

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Speaker 1: are included in here. And it's believed that possibly the

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Speaker 1: prophets Nathan and Gad may have written those sections a

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Speaker 1: bit later on. But the book of 1 Samuel records

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Speaker 1: the ministry of Samuel, at least initially, who is Israel's

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Speaker 1: last judge, right before the monarchy begins. And it also

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Speaker 1: records the rise of Israel's first two kings, Saul and David.

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Speaker 1: And what we'll see as we look at these events,

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Speaker 1: and as we watch all of this develop, this major

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Speaker 1: transition in Israel's history, we're going to see God's sovereign

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Speaker 1: guidance of his people. And we'll also see his faithfulness

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Speaker 1: as he accomplishes his purposes, even in spite of human

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Speaker 1: weakness and human failure, which is also very much front

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Speaker 1: and center when we read through this book. Now, as

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Speaker 1: I just mentioned, the book of 1 Samuel begins during

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Speaker 1: an important time in Israel's history, the period of the Judges.

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Speaker 1: As we said, it's coming to an end, and Israel's

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Speaker 1: going to actually start asking for a king. They're going

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Speaker 1: to look at the other nations, and they're going to say,

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Speaker 1: we want to be led like the other nations happen

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Speaker 1: to be, which shows that people of every generation have

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Speaker 1: a great habit of not being satisfied with the thing

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Speaker 1: that God's given them, and we just, as human beings,

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Speaker 1: like to covet what everybody else has. So have you

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Speaker 1: ever noticed that in your own life or in your

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Speaker 1: own heart, where you think, you know, everything's fine, but,

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Speaker 1: you know, and it seems like so-and-so has... this a

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Speaker 1: little bit better. Maybe this would be an option that's better.

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Speaker 1: And you look at ancient Israel and you discover that

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Speaker 1: they were really good at coveting. They looked at the

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Speaker 1: other nations around them and they thought they have a king.

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Speaker 1: We want to be led like they're led. So they're

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Speaker 1: going to start asking for a king. We're in the

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Speaker 1: prelude section before it gets to that request, but that's

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Speaker 1: about to come. And so before the book gets us

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Speaker 1: to Samuel himself, he's going to be this last judge

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Speaker 1: of Israel, Before it gets us to Saul, the first king,

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Speaker 1: and David, the second king, it introduces us to a woman,

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Speaker 1: and her name is Hannah. And her story begins with sorrow.

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Speaker 1: And we saw some of that in the verses that

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Speaker 1: we just read. But it moves from sorrow into prayer

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Speaker 1: and into faith, and then it actually concludes with one

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Speaker 1: of the most beautiful songs of praise that we find

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Speaker 1: in the Bible, one of the most beautiful songs of

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Speaker 1: praise ever. that we find specifically in the Old Testament. Now,

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Speaker 1: to recap some of the background that we just read,

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Speaker 1: Hannah was married to a man named Elkanah, but she

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Speaker 1: was unable to have children. She very much wanted to

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Speaker 1: have children, but she was unable to have children. Now,

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Speaker 1: the interesting thing about her inability to have children, maybe

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Speaker 1: she thought that this was medical, maybe she thought she

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Speaker 1: was being punished. Neither was the case. She wasn't being punished.

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Speaker 1: That wasn't why God said no. This doesn't appear to

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Speaker 1: be something medical. It seems that there was a spiritual

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Speaker 1: thing taking place here where the Lord wanted to demonstrate

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Speaker 1: something to humanity and do something that would be helpful

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Speaker 1: for all humanity through the child that he would eventually

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Speaker 1: give her. But also he was going to stretch her

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Speaker 1: faith in a good way. And I think that's useful

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Speaker 1: for you and I to notice right away as we

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Speaker 1: start this book, because I don't know what you pray

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Speaker 1: to the Lord about with regularity. Sometimes the Lord answers

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Speaker 1: prayers really quickly, and I'm grateful for that when he does.

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Speaker 1: And I can point to a variety of things in

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Speaker 1: my life where he answered really quickly. Then there are

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Speaker 1: other things that he took what felt like his sweet

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Speaker 1: old time answering. And then in retrospect, I realized, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think you wanted me to grow in this area

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Speaker 1: or that area. And I think there are certain areas

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Speaker 1: of faith that the Lord was attempting to develop in Hannah,

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Speaker 1: but also demonstrate to us through this time of waiting.

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Speaker 1: But she also dealt with ridicule in the midst of it.

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Speaker 1: We're told that Elkanah had another wife. And this was

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Speaker 1: common at the time. People would have more than one wife.

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Speaker 1: The other wife's name was Peninnah. And we're told that

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Speaker 1: Peninnah had sons and daughters. We're not told the exact

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Speaker 1: number here, but we get the impression that there was

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Speaker 1: a decent amount. She had sons and she had daughters.

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Speaker 1: And instead of being content with the blessing that the

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Speaker 1: Lord had given her, she would look at Hannah, treat

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Speaker 1: her like a rival, and she would mock her. And

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Speaker 1: she would provoke her because of her barrenness. So basically

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Speaker 1: taking the thing that would break Hannah's heart the deepest

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Speaker 1: and exploiting it. and saying, look at all the children

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Speaker 1: that I've been given. You haven't been given these children.

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Speaker 1: Sounds like a lovely lady, wouldn't you say? I noticed

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Speaker 1: this semester that I have a lot of new students.

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to get to know their names. I'm almost there.

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Speaker 1: But I noticed, and maybe some of you saw, I

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Speaker 1: posted this on Facebook the other day. It just kind

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Speaker 1: of occurred to me that if I know two girls' names,

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Speaker 1: I know like half my class. The name Madison very

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Speaker 1: popular name apparently 18 years ago. The name Isabella, also

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Speaker 1: a very popular name 18 years ago. So if I

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Speaker 1: just know those two names, now I know half the

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Speaker 1: female student population in my class. That's great. But you

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Speaker 1: see another name here in this portion of Scripture that's

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Speaker 1: also been a popular name, a name that my wife

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Speaker 1: and I used for our oldest child, Hannah. But how

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Speaker 1: many people do you know named Peninnah? No one names

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Speaker 1: their kid Peninnah. They may use Hannah, and Hannah at

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Speaker 1: one point was like the number one girl's name for

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Speaker 1: a little while. It's a beautiful name, but nobody uses Peninnah. Why?

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Speaker 1: Because nobody wants their daughter to act like Peninnah. Because here,

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Speaker 1: you look at this, Peninnah would literally provoke Hannah. She

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Speaker 1: would needle her. She was purposely, this is what we

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Speaker 1: see about her character, she was purposely trying to upset

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Speaker 1: Hannah about the thing that made her the most sad.

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Speaker 1: That's not nice. And it was more than just an

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Speaker 1: occasional irritation. Scripture tells us that this would happen year

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Speaker 1: after year after year, meaning she would try and take,

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Speaker 1: she would try and find like just the right moment

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Speaker 1: to You know, a celebratory moment as they're going to

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Speaker 1: Shiloh to worship, and she's like, oh, I don't know

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Speaker 1: if you're going happy, but let me ruin your time.

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Speaker 1: Do you ever think about the fact that you don't

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Speaker 1: have children, Hanana? She'd provoke her. She'd needle her. And

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Speaker 1: Hannah carried that burden for quite a while. But then

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Speaker 1: Scripture also tells us that Elkanah loved Hannah, and he

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Speaker 1: attempted to comfort her, He couldn't, in his mind, I

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Speaker 1: think he felt sad because it didn't feel like he

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Speaker 1: could give to her what she wanted most, but he

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Speaker 1: attempted to comfort her. And when the family traveled to

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Speaker 1: Shiloh to worship, we're told that Hannah's grief became particularly intense.

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Speaker 1: When you look at verse 10, it says this, she

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Speaker 1: was deeply distressed and she prayed to the Lord and

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Speaker 1: she wept bitterly. So it's trying to paint a picture

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Speaker 1: for us that this wasn't casual. She just wasn't irritated.

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Speaker 1: She was deeply distressed to the core of her being.

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Speaker 1: She prayed to the Lord and she wept bitterly. But

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Speaker 1: I do love this. Hannah brought her pain directly to God.

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Speaker 1: And she also didn't go through life pretending that every

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Speaker 1: single thing was fine. Sometimes people try to go through life.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes I've done this. Maybe you've done it as well.

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Speaker 1: Or you just try and pretend like everything is fine.

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Speaker 1: But here she doesn't pretend everything is fine. But she

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Speaker 1: also didn't allow her disappointment to drive her away from God.

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Speaker 1: In her sorrow, she was driven toward God Now, there's

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Speaker 1: two ways that we could operate when we go through

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Speaker 1: seasons of sorrow. Maybe you've seen these temptations in your life.

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Speaker 1: I mean, one is you can go toward the Lord.

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Speaker 1: The other is obviously you could go away from the Lord.

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Speaker 1: I've seen people do both. Over the course of my life,

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Speaker 1: I've seen people do both. Sometimes people in their sorrow,

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Speaker 1: they blame God for it, or they're just not interested

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Speaker 1: in talking to God because they're not certain that he's

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Speaker 1: going to do anything about their sorrow. Maybe it feels undeserved.

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Speaker 1: Maybe they resent it. Well, here in Hannah's context, she

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Speaker 1: did not allow her disappointment to drive her away from

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Speaker 1: God in the midst of her sorrow. She was driven

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Speaker 1: toward him. And again, I think there's something instructive here

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Speaker 1: about Hannah's response. I think it's worth noticing. Genuine faith

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Speaker 1: doesn't require us to deny where we're hurting. You can

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Speaker 1: have genuine faith, but also openly admit that something's hurting you.

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Speaker 1: I think biblical faith, if you look at what Scripture

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Speaker 1: is revealing to us, biblical faith actually shows us where

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Speaker 1: to take our pain. In fact, Scripture refers to the Lord.

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Speaker 1: He's called the God of all comfort. Scripture is showing

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Speaker 1: us where to take our pain. And so you look

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Speaker 1: at Hannah's situation here, and you look at the example

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Speaker 1: that she gives to us. She knew that her circumstances

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Speaker 1: were beyond her ability to do something about them. But

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Speaker 1: these were not circumstances that were beyond God's power. And

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Speaker 1: so she made a vow to God in the midst

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Speaker 1: of this context that if God gave her a son...

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Speaker 1: she would give him back to God for his service.

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Speaker 1: And she prayed this in verse 11. O Lord of hosts,

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Speaker 1: if you will indeed look on the affliction of your

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Speaker 1: servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but

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Speaker 1: will give to your servant a son, then I will

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Speaker 1: give him to the Lord all the days of his life.

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Speaker 1: I'll give him to the Lord all the days of

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Speaker 1: his life. Now she's praying this, There's sorrow, but also

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Speaker 1: faith mixed together as she's bringing this prayer before the Lord.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you've prayed prayers like this, but

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Speaker 1: I'd encourage you, whatever is on your heart, always feel

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Speaker 1: comfortable to bring it before the Lord. And she's doing this.

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Speaker 1: She's praying, and as Hannah's praying, she's now at Shiloh,

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Speaker 1: and so Eli the priest is there, and he's watching her.

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Speaker 1: He's seeing her pray, and he's seeing her lips move,

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Speaker 1: but he couldn't hear her voice. So he's seeing the

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Speaker 1: action that she's taken, but he can't hear what she's saying.

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Speaker 1: And he starts wondering, I think she's drunk. I think

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Speaker 1: she's drunk. He incorrectly assumed that she was drunk and

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Speaker 1: he actually confronted her about it. But then you get

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Speaker 1: to verse 15 and Hannah gives him an explanation. And

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Speaker 1: in verse 15, she says, no, my Lord, I'm a

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Speaker 1: woman troubled in spirit. I have not drunk neither wine

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Speaker 1: nor strong drink, but I've been pouring out my soul

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Speaker 1: before the Lord. been pouring out my soul before the Lord.

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Speaker 1: I love Hannah's description of prayer here, pouring out her

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Speaker 1: soul before the Lord. Do you ever hear prayers that

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Speaker 1: just feel very formulaic? And you wonder if the person

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Speaker 1: praying the prayer has like any heart behind it, or

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Speaker 1: are you just doing it because in your mind, these

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Speaker 1: are the words that you're supposed to say, you know,

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Speaker 1: before a meal, do you just have like a formulaic

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Speaker 1: prayer because it's going to taste better if, uh, You know,

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Speaker 1: if you say the formulaic prayer, whatever it may be.

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Speaker 1: I remember when I was a kid, my grandmother told me,

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Speaker 1: I asked her, I was like, why do we pray

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Speaker 1: before a meal? She's like, well, we give thanks to God.

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Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, well, that's good. And then

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Speaker 1: I also got it in my mind, it also must

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Speaker 1: make the food taste better if you pray. And so

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Speaker 1: I started telling her that. She's like, look, whatever. If

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Speaker 1: you feel like it tastes better, good. We're going to

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Speaker 1: pray before our meals. And I was like, that's fine.

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Speaker 1: And I remember once sitting out on her back porch

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Speaker 1: and she had made me a sandwich and there was

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Speaker 1: some iced tea there and she gave me a pickle.

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Speaker 1: I can still picture it all in my mind, and

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at that. And I snuck a taste right

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Speaker 1: before we prayed, not really sneaking it. I wanted her

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Speaker 1: to see it. And I took a taste, and I

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Speaker 1: was like, oh, oh, no. Oh, this is terrible. This

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Speaker 1: is terrible, which I'm sure she was delighted by. And

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Speaker 1: I was like, we got to pray. And then I

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Speaker 1: prayed for us, and then I took another bite, and

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Speaker 1: I was like, this is delicious. This is delicious. And

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Speaker 1: she used to mix, and I don't know if you'll

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Speaker 1: appreciate this or not, but I would encourage you to

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Speaker 1: try this. I asked her at one point, I said,

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Speaker 1: could you mix mayo and mustard on my sandwich? I

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Speaker 1: don't know if that's weird to you. That's what I did.

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Speaker 1: And she's like, that seemed weird. And she's like, but

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Speaker 1: I'll do it for you. And so she did that.

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Speaker 1: And then she tried it on her sandwich and for

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Speaker 1: the rest of her life had mayo and mustard on

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Speaker 1: her sandwich. And she always attributed that to kid me

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Speaker 1: saying that, but I think prayer had something to do

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Speaker 1: with it because now I'm convinced it tasted better. And

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Speaker 1: so you look at this here and Hannah's not just

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Speaker 1: being formulaic. She's not just like, going through the motions,

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Speaker 1: Lord bless this food, amen. It's not something like that.

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Speaker 1: The scripture gives us the description, she's pouring out her

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Speaker 1: soul before the Lord. She's pouring out her soul before

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Speaker 1: the Lord. Scripture oftentimes talks about the blessing of praying

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Speaker 1: in private. There are times we pray in a corporate sense,

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Speaker 1: in a public sense, but I think one of the

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Speaker 1: blessings of praying in private is that you feel a

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Speaker 1: bit at more liberty to pour out your soul before

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Speaker 1: the Lord. You know, it talks about this idea of like,

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Speaker 1: get in a closet, get in a private place, drive

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Speaker 1: somewhere in your car, do what you need to do.

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Speaker 1: Find a private place and pray with sincerity. Pour your

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Speaker 1: heart out before the Lord. That's the example Hannah gives

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Speaker 1: us here. She wasn't performing for anyone. She wasn't trying

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Speaker 1: to impress Eli. I don't even get the impression that

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Speaker 1: she fully realized that Eli was watching her. She was

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Speaker 1: just bringing the contents of her heart before the Lord.

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Speaker 1: And so in prayer here, She has a place to

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Speaker 1: express her grief to one who genuinely cares. She has

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to express the longing of her heart to

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Speaker 1: the Lord because she knows he genuinely cares. She also

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Speaker 1: has the opportunity here to express her disappointment because at

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Speaker 1: this season of life, she's disappointed that what she thought

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Speaker 1: would be the way her life would work out, it's

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Speaker 1: not working out that way. But even in the midst

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Speaker 1: of it, notice that she's also praying with hope. Let

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Speaker 1: me go back to verse 11. She's praying with hope.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you give me a son, I'll give

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Speaker 1: him to you all the days of his life. She's

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Speaker 1: saying that because she's praying with hope. And after hearing

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Speaker 1: Hannah's explanation, Eli blessed her. He realizes, okay, she's not

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Speaker 1: here inebriated. She's praying. And he blessed her. And in

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Speaker 1: verse 17, he said this, do this. He says, go

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Speaker 1: in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition

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Speaker 1: that you have made to him. Go in peace. And

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Speaker 1: may God grant that request that you've made. Whatever you've

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Speaker 1: been praying before the Lord, may God grant it. And

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Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting when you look at what takes

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Speaker 1: place here, because something changed in Hannah before her circumstances changed.

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Speaker 1: Her circumstances had not yet changed, but something changed in her.

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Speaker 1: Because verse 18 says that she went away, that she ate,

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Speaker 1: and that her face was no longer sad. She went away,

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Speaker 1: she ate, and her face was no longer sad. So again,

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Speaker 1: her circumstances had not yet changed. but something has changed

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Speaker 1: in her. And by the way, even as that's being

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Speaker 1: told to us, technically it doesn't reveal to us that

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Speaker 1: at this point she knew that she would have a child.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't give us those specific details. All she knows

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Speaker 1: is that her request has been heard, and the Lord

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Speaker 1: will answer as he chooses to answer. Do you ever

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Speaker 1: get irritated with God if he doesn't answer your prayers

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Speaker 1: the way you want him to answer them? I will

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Speaker 1: confess to you that there are times in my life

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Speaker 1: that I have felt not happy, at least in a moment,

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Speaker 1: with the way God chose to answer my prayers. And

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Speaker 1: then one of the things that he's been showing me

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Speaker 1: the longer that I walk with him is that if

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Speaker 1: he chooses to answer it different from what I expected,

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Speaker 1: that's the better answer. And that's what it also looks

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Speaker 1: like to pray in faith, where you can ask the

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Speaker 1: Lord something very specific. You could ask him for any

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Speaker 1: specific thing you want, as long as you pray in

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Speaker 1: accordance with his will. And then you trust whether he

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Speaker 1: says yes, no, or wait a while. Just trust whatever

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Speaker 1: he decides. I remember discussing this with a family member

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Speaker 1: of mine some years ago, and I'd asked her to

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Speaker 1: pray about something specific, and she said to me, I

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Speaker 1: don't pray for specifics. I just ask God whatever his

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Speaker 1: will is. And I said, well, yeah, like, Obviously, we're

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Speaker 1: going to trust his will, but I do think we

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Speaker 1: can ask him for specific things and then see what

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Speaker 1: he decides. And then we accept whatever he decides. Hannah

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Speaker 1: here is asking God specifically for a son. And at

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Speaker 1: this point, she still didn't know she was going to

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Speaker 1: have a son. But we're told that she has peace

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Speaker 1: here in the midst of this. She brings the request

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Speaker 1: before the Lord. Her face was no longer sad. She's

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Speaker 1: actually able to go away from this experience where she's

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Speaker 1: had a heavy heart. She's been mocked, all of that.

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Speaker 1: And she has joy. She has peace. She's able to

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Speaker 1: eat again. The Lord hadn't even given her Samuel yet,

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Speaker 1: but Hannah entrusted her request to God, and then she

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Speaker 1: left it with him. And again, that's one of the

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Speaker 1: great privileges that you and I have in prayer. Prayer

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Speaker 1: does not always produce an immediate change in our circumstances,

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Speaker 1: and I think we can have peace with that. But

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Speaker 1: it does remind us that our circumstances, we have now

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Speaker 1: entrusted them over to the Lord. Our circumstances are in

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Speaker 1: God's hands, and we can be content with that. But

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Speaker 1: now in Hannah's case, God chose to answer her request

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Speaker 1: exactly as she requested it. Look at what we're told

427
00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:11,790
Speaker 1: in verse 20. Verse 20 says, and in due time,

428
00:22:12,570 --> 00:22:16,850
Speaker 1: Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his

429
00:22:16,950 --> 00:22:20,790
Speaker 1: name Samuel. For she said, I have asked for him

430
00:22:21,869 --> 00:22:23,390
Speaker 1: from the Lord. Now, do you know what the name

431
00:22:23,430 --> 00:22:26,830
Speaker 1: Samuel means? It means God has heard. It's basically saying,

432
00:22:26,890 --> 00:22:28,990
Speaker 1: it's like looking at that boy and saying, you are

433
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,510
Speaker 1: an answer to prayer. You are an answer to prayer.

434
00:22:32,570 --> 00:22:35,210
Speaker 1: God has heard. He said, I asked for him from

435
00:22:35,250 --> 00:22:38,820
Speaker 1: the Lord. Now, here's something Hannah couldn't have known in

436
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 1: the moment. Samuel's birth was going to affect much more

437
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,500
Speaker 1: than just Hannah's family. Because what God was doing here

438
00:22:47,540 --> 00:22:50,550
Speaker 1: in this context, God was preparing a prophet who would

439
00:22:50,609 --> 00:22:53,810
Speaker 1: lead Israel through one of the most important transitions in

440
00:22:53,950 --> 00:22:57,340
Speaker 1: Israel's history. Samuel was going to be raised up to

441
00:22:57,380 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 1: be a man of influence, a prophet, a judge in

442
00:23:01,300 --> 00:23:03,699
Speaker 1: the nation of Israel. And he's actually going to be

443
00:23:03,740 --> 00:23:05,939
Speaker 1: the one that the Lord uses to anoint two kings.

444
00:23:05,980 --> 00:23:08,080
Speaker 1: The first king of Israel, Saul, is going to be

445
00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,119
Speaker 1: anointed to that position, designated to that position, as the

446
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:14,580
Speaker 1: Lord uses Samuel to do so. He's also going to

447
00:23:14,660 --> 00:23:18,760
Speaker 1: anoint David to be Saul's successor. But in this moment here,

448
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:20,979
Speaker 1: Hannah appears to be little more than just a grieving

449
00:23:21,050 --> 00:23:25,469
Speaker 1: woman praying at Shiloh. And yet she couldn't see that

450
00:23:25,510 --> 00:23:31,090
Speaker 1: God was preparing. The son that she had requested was

451
00:23:31,130 --> 00:23:33,330
Speaker 1: going to come from her and he was preparing her.

452
00:23:33,350 --> 00:23:35,830
Speaker 1: And you could even say in some respects, preparing the

453
00:23:35,869 --> 00:23:38,820
Speaker 1: nation for what was about to come next, because Samuel

454
00:23:38,859 --> 00:23:40,699
Speaker 1: was certainly going to be a man of influence in

455
00:23:40,740 --> 00:23:43,540
Speaker 1: his generation. And I'll tell you what, and I know

456
00:23:43,580 --> 00:23:45,300
Speaker 1: some of you know this, but I'll just say this

457
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:49,680
Speaker 1: as a testimony. God often accomplishes purposes that extend far

458
00:23:49,740 --> 00:23:53,209
Speaker 1: beyond what we can see in our present circumstances. There

459
00:23:53,230 --> 00:23:54,970
Speaker 1: are all sorts of things that I brought before the

460
00:23:55,010 --> 00:23:58,530
Speaker 1: Lord and all sorts of things that over time, the

461
00:23:58,590 --> 00:24:00,570
Speaker 1: longer he allows you to live, the more you start

462
00:24:00,609 --> 00:24:02,689
Speaker 1: to see some of the things that he's accomplished. Some

463
00:24:02,710 --> 00:24:04,889
Speaker 1: of the things he's doing in our midst have far

464
00:24:04,970 --> 00:24:10,110
Speaker 1: greater consequences, far greater impact than we could have possibly imagined. Here,

465
00:24:10,170 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 1: Hannah is just praying for a son. And I imagine

466
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,320
Speaker 1: to some respect, she's just looking for someone to love,

467
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,179
Speaker 1: but she's also probably feeling embarrassed and wants that embarrassment

468
00:24:19,220 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 1: to be taken away because Peninnah is mocking her constantly.

469
00:24:22,900 --> 00:24:26,379
Speaker 1: She has no idea the far-reaching consequences of the birth

470
00:24:26,420 --> 00:24:31,760
Speaker 1: of this son, which means God was accomplishing purposes that

471
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:34,859
Speaker 1: extended far beyond what she could see in her present circumstance,

472
00:24:34,900 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 1: but I believe that he's doing that same thing for

473
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,850
Speaker 1: you and for me as well. You know, in the

474
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,070
Speaker 1: midst of the things that we're praying for, he's got

475
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:43,270
Speaker 1: plans that are beyond what we can even imagine, and

476
00:24:43,330 --> 00:24:46,770
Speaker 1: it's amazing that he actually invites us to partner with

477
00:24:46,810 --> 00:24:49,570
Speaker 1: him in any of those things. Because I look at that,

478
00:24:49,609 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: I think, Lord, you could do this stuff without us,

479
00:24:51,369 --> 00:24:55,310
Speaker 1: and yet you choose to incorporate us into it. Well,

480
00:24:55,490 --> 00:24:57,290
Speaker 1: Hannah made a promise to God in the midst of

481
00:24:57,310 --> 00:24:59,850
Speaker 1: the prayer. She had promised, Lord, if you give me

482
00:24:59,890 --> 00:25:01,449
Speaker 1: this child, if you give me a son, I'm going

483
00:25:01,470 --> 00:25:02,629
Speaker 1: to give him back to you. He's going to be

484
00:25:02,690 --> 00:25:07,550
Speaker 1: dedicated to you. And she kept that promise. After Samuel

485
00:25:07,590 --> 00:25:09,620
Speaker 1: was weaned, she brought him to the house of God

486
00:25:09,650 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 1: at Shiloh, and she presented him to Eli. And she

487
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,900
Speaker 1: said this in verses 27 and 28. She said, For

488
00:25:15,940 --> 00:25:19,659
Speaker 1: this child I prayed, And the Lord has granted me

489
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,780
Speaker 1: my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have

490
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,680
Speaker 1: lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives,

491
00:25:24,740 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: he is lent to the Lord. So she brings him

492
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,490
Speaker 1: to Shiloh. Once he was able to just operate and function,

493
00:25:32,530 --> 00:25:34,450
Speaker 1: he was still young, but he's weaned at this point.

494
00:25:34,470 --> 00:25:36,869
Speaker 1: She brings him there and she says, Lord, you answered

495
00:25:36,910 --> 00:25:39,810
Speaker 1: my prayer. He belongs to you. When I read this

496
00:25:39,869 --> 00:25:42,330
Speaker 1: portion of scripture, it always reminds me of a story

497
00:25:42,369 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 1: that my mother told me when I was growing up.

498
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: When I was born, I was my parents' first child,

499
00:25:49,140 --> 00:25:51,859
Speaker 1: and I was 10 pounds, three ounces when I was born.

500
00:25:51,900 --> 00:25:53,619
Speaker 1: And those of you that knew my mother when she

501
00:25:53,660 --> 00:25:55,690
Speaker 1: was living know that my mother was a tiny lady.

502
00:25:56,109 --> 00:25:58,389
Speaker 1: And every time people hear that, they always try and

503
00:25:58,430 --> 00:26:01,030
Speaker 1: do the math. They're like, a 10 pound, three ounce

504
00:26:01,109 --> 00:26:05,330
Speaker 1: baby in that frame do not match. So right away,

505
00:26:05,350 --> 00:26:10,990
Speaker 1: I was a burden to that woman. But in the hospital,

506
00:26:11,130 --> 00:26:13,590
Speaker 1: so you could see God providentially making it so I

507
00:26:13,630 --> 00:26:16,450
Speaker 1: had A few extra pounds, a theme I have kept

508
00:26:16,630 --> 00:26:23,609
Speaker 1: for my whole life. Stop it. But while I was

509
00:26:23,650 --> 00:26:25,850
Speaker 1: in the hospital, I actually got a staph infection. And

510
00:26:25,869 --> 00:26:29,229
Speaker 1: it was so bad, I started losing weight really quickly. Now, thankfully,

511
00:26:29,270 --> 00:26:31,990
Speaker 1: I had the extra weight to lose. But my mother

512
00:26:32,030 --> 00:26:34,490
Speaker 1: was like, what's wrong? And so they eventually sat my

513
00:26:34,530 --> 00:26:37,060
Speaker 1: parents down and they said to my parents, they're like,

514
00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: a brand new infant does not typically recover from something

515
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,900
Speaker 1: like this. And so they told my mother, they said,

516
00:26:45,100 --> 00:26:46,899
Speaker 1: our recommendation, we're just going to keep him here in

517
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,880
Speaker 1: the room. And the direct quote was, spend as much

518
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: time as you can with him because he's probably not

519
00:26:53,340 --> 00:26:56,100
Speaker 1: going to survive this. So that's what my mother was told.

520
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,580
Speaker 1: And so she said, all right, well, I have no

521
00:26:59,619 --> 00:27:01,680
Speaker 1: control over this other than prayer, but I'm going to

522
00:27:01,740 --> 00:27:03,859
Speaker 1: see if I can get as many people to pray

523
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 1: for you as I could. That's what she told me.

524
00:27:06,580 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 1: So she sent word out. She said, I had people

525
00:27:08,619 --> 00:27:11,700
Speaker 1: praying all over the place for your recovery. But then

526
00:27:11,740 --> 00:27:14,020
Speaker 1: she said, I made a deal with God. Now, I

527
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:15,980
Speaker 1: don't know if you think prayer works that way. I'm

528
00:27:16,020 --> 00:27:17,859
Speaker 1: going to encourage you. You don't have to make deals

529
00:27:17,900 --> 00:27:21,420
Speaker 1: with God. But that's what she did. And she said, Lord,

530
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: I promise. I promise that if you let him live,

531
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,680
Speaker 1: that I will take him to church his whole life.

532
00:27:31,700 --> 00:27:34,109
Speaker 1: I will always take him to church. We will not skip.

533
00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:36,210
Speaker 1: I will take him to church. He will be in church.

534
00:27:37,450 --> 00:27:40,369
Speaker 1: And that was her pledge. And she kept the pledge.

535
00:27:41,300 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: At the time, my dad was not yet a believer.

536
00:27:43,380 --> 00:27:45,680
Speaker 1: He didn't become a believer until my senior year of college.

537
00:27:46,330 --> 00:27:48,070
Speaker 1: And I would also say at that time, I wouldn't

538
00:27:48,270 --> 00:27:51,610
Speaker 1: characterize my household growing up as a very strong household

539
00:27:51,650 --> 00:27:55,109
Speaker 1: of faith. My mother's faith became much stronger later in

540
00:27:55,150 --> 00:27:56,990
Speaker 1: her life than I feel like it was at that point.

541
00:27:57,070 --> 00:28:00,169
Speaker 1: But she kept that promise seriously. And I remember when

542
00:28:00,210 --> 00:28:02,900
Speaker 1: I tested it. I remember when I was 12 years old,

543
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm just done with church. Like, If

544
00:28:07,980 --> 00:28:09,439
Speaker 1: you told me when I was 12 years old that

545
00:28:09,460 --> 00:28:11,419
Speaker 1: I would be standing before you as your pastor, that

546
00:28:11,460 --> 00:28:13,700
Speaker 1: I'd be serving in pastoral ministry, I'd be like, that

547
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:19,139
Speaker 1: sounds terrible. Because I really didn't like going. I was

548
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,790
Speaker 1: at a point where I was like, I don't like this.

549
00:28:21,810 --> 00:28:24,950
Speaker 1: And I was a wise guy and a loud mouth,

550
00:28:25,310 --> 00:28:28,650
Speaker 1: and I had lots of opinions. Those have all changed, thankfully.

551
00:28:30,730 --> 00:28:33,619
Speaker 1: And I remember one Sunday morning, My mother woke me

552
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,420
Speaker 1: up to go to church and I was 12 years

553
00:28:35,500 --> 00:28:37,120
Speaker 1: old and I said, I'm not going. And she's like,

554
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,430
Speaker 1: excuse me? And I was like, no, I'm not going.

555
00:28:40,530 --> 00:28:41,910
Speaker 1: And she's like, you don't have the option to tell

556
00:28:41,930 --> 00:28:43,450
Speaker 1: me you're not going. And I was like, I've just

557
00:28:43,570 --> 00:28:45,890
Speaker 1: exercised that option and I'm not going. And she's like,

558
00:28:45,950 --> 00:28:49,370
Speaker 1: I'm going to kill you right now. Get up and

559
00:28:49,410 --> 00:28:51,690
Speaker 1: go and get ready. We are going to church. And

560
00:28:51,750 --> 00:28:53,330
Speaker 1: I fought her and I fought her and I fought

561
00:28:53,350 --> 00:28:55,380
Speaker 1: her until it was basically time for church to start.

562
00:28:55,730 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: And she's like, I got to go. And she's like,

563
00:28:57,540 --> 00:28:59,700
Speaker 1: oh my goodness. And I remember her crying and it

564
00:28:59,740 --> 00:29:02,050
Speaker 1: was such a fight that morning. And I got out

565
00:29:02,070 --> 00:29:06,070
Speaker 1: of going to church that morning at the expense of

566
00:29:06,170 --> 00:29:09,950
Speaker 1: severely upsetting my mother. Severely. And I was like, well,

567
00:29:10,570 --> 00:29:12,920
Speaker 1: I hope I enjoy this because this is one and done.

568
00:29:12,980 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 1: I remember even in the midst, I was like, this

569
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:17,820
Speaker 1: is not worth this fight. I didn't fight her about

570
00:29:17,860 --> 00:29:20,020
Speaker 1: it ever again. And then I remember by the time

571
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:21,860
Speaker 1: I was 15, when I was 15, I started taking

572
00:29:21,900 --> 00:29:24,540
Speaker 1: my faith very seriously. And when I was 16, I

573
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,530
Speaker 1: started driving the family to church. And like, I didn't

574
00:29:28,630 --> 00:29:30,750
Speaker 1: want to leave. And so I looked at that and

575
00:29:30,770 --> 00:29:32,390
Speaker 1: I think, parents, I don't know if your kids ever

576
00:29:32,430 --> 00:29:35,070
Speaker 1: give you grief about coming to worship or anything like that.

577
00:29:35,110 --> 00:29:37,310
Speaker 1: Make them come anyway. They don't get to call the shots.

578
00:29:37,330 --> 00:29:38,850
Speaker 1: You're the one that gets to call the shots. You're

579
00:29:38,890 --> 00:29:43,870
Speaker 1: the parent. You decide. That's just how it is. They'll

580
00:29:43,890 --> 00:29:45,930
Speaker 1: catch up later and they will thank you. I'm at

581
00:29:45,950 --> 00:29:47,510
Speaker 1: the season of life where my kids have blessed me

582
00:29:47,570 --> 00:29:49,930
Speaker 1: by thanking me for things I made them do when

583
00:29:49,950 --> 00:29:51,760
Speaker 1: they didn't want to do it. I remember later in

584
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,540
Speaker 1: life thanking my mom. I was like, I really did

585
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: not want to go and you made me go. She said,

586
00:29:56,580 --> 00:30:00,300
Speaker 1: here's the deal. I made a promise to God and

587
00:30:00,340 --> 00:30:02,460
Speaker 1: I did not want to break it. And I think

588
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: about it every time I read this portion of Scripture.

589
00:30:05,610 --> 00:30:07,440
Speaker 1: I think about my mom every time I read it.

590
00:30:08,390 --> 00:30:11,290
Speaker 1: She said, for this child I prayed, and the Lord

591
00:30:11,330 --> 00:30:14,310
Speaker 1: has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore,

592
00:30:14,330 --> 00:30:15,530
Speaker 1: I have lent him to the Lord. I'm going to

593
00:30:15,610 --> 00:30:17,590
Speaker 1: keep the pledge. Do you think that was hard for

594
00:30:17,630 --> 00:30:22,010
Speaker 1: Hannah to do? It had to be. It had to be.

595
00:30:22,050 --> 00:30:25,110
Speaker 1: She finally has the son she's been praying for. She's like,

596
00:30:25,170 --> 00:30:28,410
Speaker 1: all right, he ultimately belongs to the Lord as long

597
00:30:28,430 --> 00:30:30,580
Speaker 1: as he lives. He is lent to the Lord. I

598
00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 1: think Hannah understood something important about the gifts that God

599
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: gives us. Samuel belonged to God before he belonged to Hannah.

600
00:30:41,020 --> 00:30:44,510
Speaker 1: Have that perspective toward your children as well. Your children

601
00:30:44,550 --> 00:30:46,530
Speaker 1: belong to God before they belong to you. You are

602
00:30:46,550 --> 00:30:50,210
Speaker 1: a temporary steward of their well-being, but ultimately they belong

603
00:30:50,250 --> 00:30:51,770
Speaker 1: to God. And by the way, I think that's an

604
00:30:51,810 --> 00:30:54,950
Speaker 1: important principle for every category of life because everything we

605
00:30:54,990 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: possess ultimately comes from God and belongs to him. everything.

606
00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,300
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter the category. It could be your family.

607
00:31:03,140 --> 00:31:05,420
Speaker 1: It could be your abilities. It could be your opportunities.

608
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 1: It could be things like your resources. It could be

609
00:31:08,140 --> 00:31:10,780
Speaker 1: your career. It even just be the years of life

610
00:31:10,820 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 1: that the Lord chooses to give you. It all belongs

611
00:31:14,700 --> 00:31:16,940
Speaker 1: to God. It doesn't really belong to us. It is

612
00:31:16,980 --> 00:31:19,620
Speaker 1: lent to us for a season. Ultimately, it belongs to God.

613
00:31:19,980 --> 00:31:22,420
Speaker 1: So gratitude, if you and I are expressing gratitude to

614
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: the Lord, we're saying, Lord, I'm grateful to you. You

615
00:31:25,140 --> 00:31:27,280
Speaker 1: are the giver, and I'm going to seek to be

616
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,890
Speaker 1: faithful with the gift of so that I use it

617
00:31:29,930 --> 00:31:35,320
Speaker 1: for your purpose, not for my own covetousness. Not everybody

618
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 1: gets that. Your time belongs to the Lord. Your resources

619
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:41,370
Speaker 1: belong to the Lord. Years ago, I don't think he'll

620
00:31:41,380 --> 00:31:42,550
Speaker 1: listen to this, but I'm going to take a little

621
00:31:42,570 --> 00:31:45,010
Speaker 1: bit of a risk. We had a really unsavory neighbor

622
00:31:45,550 --> 00:31:47,370
Speaker 1: years ago. He moved years ago. I don't think he

623
00:31:47,410 --> 00:31:49,810
Speaker 1: listens to the live stream. If so, sir, you just

624
00:31:49,830 --> 00:31:54,950
Speaker 1: were not nice. And I remember a few houses down,

625
00:31:55,030 --> 00:31:57,430
Speaker 1: one of the neighbors, last week, I apologize to you

626
00:31:57,450 --> 00:32:00,590
Speaker 1: for not mentioning my lawn care pattern. So two weeks

627
00:32:00,630 --> 00:32:03,010
Speaker 1: in a row, you get it. My neighbor noticed. She's like,

628
00:32:03,050 --> 00:32:05,390
Speaker 1: your lawn looks good. My lawn looks like garbage. What

629
00:32:05,410 --> 00:32:07,010
Speaker 1: do I do? And I was like, let me take

630
00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:08,970
Speaker 1: a look at it. I walked over there and she's like, also,

631
00:32:09,010 --> 00:32:11,390
Speaker 1: I have family members coming soon. I want my lawn

632
00:32:11,430 --> 00:32:12,969
Speaker 1: to look good by the time they come. I was like,

633
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:14,300
Speaker 1: I don't know if we have enough time to do that,

634
00:32:14,380 --> 00:32:17,479
Speaker 1: but we will try. I said, this is what you do.

635
00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 1: This is what you do. And I watched on her face.

636
00:32:19,180 --> 00:32:21,460
Speaker 1: She's a single mother. And I watched on her face,

637
00:32:21,530 --> 00:32:23,550
Speaker 1: like she's scratching her head and she's like hearing the

638
00:32:23,590 --> 00:32:25,890
Speaker 1: list of things. And then I finally just said, do

639
00:32:25,910 --> 00:32:28,270
Speaker 1: you want me to just do it? She's like, you would?

640
00:32:28,310 --> 00:32:30,510
Speaker 1: I was like, I got it. I got this. I'll

641
00:32:30,530 --> 00:32:32,950
Speaker 1: take care of your lawn. And so I decided to

642
00:32:32,970 --> 00:32:35,830
Speaker 1: start doing that. And then the nasty neighbor noticed that

643
00:32:35,850 --> 00:32:38,650
Speaker 1: I was doing that. And he yells across the street

644
00:32:38,670 --> 00:32:40,290
Speaker 1: and he's like, what are you doing? I was like,

645
00:32:40,310 --> 00:32:43,820
Speaker 1: I'm fixing her lawn. What do you want? And he said, nothing.

646
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:45,860
Speaker 1: She's just taking advantage of you because you're a pastor

647
00:32:45,900 --> 00:32:47,820
Speaker 1: and she knew that you would say yes. And I

648
00:32:47,820 --> 00:32:51,370
Speaker 1: was like, no, she is not doing that. I offered

649
00:32:51,450 --> 00:32:54,010
Speaker 1: to do this. He's like, nah, nah, she just knew

650
00:32:54,050 --> 00:32:56,820
Speaker 1: that you'd say yes. And so he criticized the donation

651
00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,440
Speaker 1: of my time and my efforts to do that. So

652
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:01,780
Speaker 1: sometimes you'll do that and people will have, they'll look

653
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 1: at that and they'll mock you trying to be a

654
00:33:04,140 --> 00:33:06,600
Speaker 1: steward of something that the Lord gave you. I looked

655
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: at that as being relatively new in the neighborhood. I

656
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,660
Speaker 1: remember thinking how grateful I was for that opportunity because

657
00:33:13,700 --> 00:33:15,890
Speaker 1: I thought, I don't know how I'm gonna connect with

658
00:33:15,930 --> 00:33:18,190
Speaker 1: my neighbors, but I want them to have a taste

659
00:33:18,230 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 1: of the fact that I love Jesus Christ And that's

660
00:33:20,820 --> 00:33:24,420
Speaker 1: gonna be demonstrated in neighborliness. So I looked at that

661
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 1: as an opportunity to serve someone else and be a

662
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,840
Speaker 1: steward of that time for the Lord's glory. But of course,

663
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:34,140
Speaker 1: Satan loves to mock people and he loves to use

664
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 1: people to mock people. Peninnah mocked Hannah, but Hannah wanted

665
00:33:38,020 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: to be a good steward of God's blessings. You might

666
00:33:40,620 --> 00:33:42,300
Speaker 1: get mocked if you're trying to be a good steward

667
00:33:42,340 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 1: of God's blessings. So what? It's happened historically. It is

668
00:33:46,620 --> 00:33:50,350
Speaker 1: what it is. And then chapter one tells us that

669
00:33:50,410 --> 00:33:53,830
Speaker 1: Hannah worshiped God. It ends with Hannah worshiping God, and

670
00:33:53,850 --> 00:33:56,640
Speaker 1: then you get into chapter two, and it records a

671
00:33:56,670 --> 00:34:00,180
Speaker 1: beautiful just prayer of praise, a song of praise, that

672
00:34:00,220 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 1: Hannah starts exclaiming before the Lord. Look at what it

673
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 1: says in 1 Samuel 2, verse one. She says, my

674
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,060
Speaker 1: heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in

675
00:34:08,100 --> 00:34:12,209
Speaker 1: the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice

676
00:34:13,290 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 1: in your salvation. Now notice where Hannah's joy was centered. Obviously,

677
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 1: she rejoiced over Samuel, but her song is primarily about God.

678
00:34:22,660 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 1: It's not a song that's primarily about Samuel. It's a

679
00:34:24,540 --> 00:34:27,580
Speaker 1: song that's about God. She praises God's holiness. Look at

680
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,890
Speaker 1: verse 2. There it says, There is no one holy

681
00:34:29,930 --> 00:34:32,629
Speaker 1: like the Lord, for there is none besides you. There

682
00:34:32,690 --> 00:34:37,390
Speaker 1: is no rock like our God. Hannah's circumstances taught her

683
00:34:37,430 --> 00:34:41,690
Speaker 1: something about God's character. She discovered that God is faithful.

684
00:34:41,830 --> 00:34:45,390
Speaker 1: You'll discover God's faithful. Walk with him enough time, you'll

685
00:34:45,430 --> 00:34:48,739
Speaker 1: discover he's faithful. She discovered he's faithful. She discovered that

686
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,779
Speaker 1: he's powerful. You'll discover the same thing. She discovered he's

687
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,170
Speaker 1: in control. He's sovereign. She discovered that. You'll discover that.

688
00:34:55,710 --> 00:34:58,090
Speaker 1: And she also discovered that God is able to reverse

689
00:34:58,130 --> 00:35:03,590
Speaker 1: circumstances that seem impossible to reverse. And that theme of reversal,

690
00:35:03,710 --> 00:35:08,610
Speaker 1: God reaching into something and changing it, reversing it, it

691
00:35:08,670 --> 00:35:11,350
Speaker 1: runs throughout Hannah's song. Look at what she says in

692
00:35:11,370 --> 00:35:15,260
Speaker 1: verse 4. She says, the bows of the mighty are broken,

693
00:35:16,060 --> 00:35:20,070
Speaker 1: but the feeble... Bind on strength. Look at verse 5.

694
00:35:20,070 --> 00:35:22,790
Speaker 1: Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

695
00:35:23,070 --> 00:35:25,850
Speaker 1: but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. So

696
00:35:25,870 --> 00:35:29,130
Speaker 1: you see a reversal. Look at verse 8. He raises

697
00:35:29,230 --> 00:35:32,700
Speaker 1: up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy

698
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 1: from the ash heap. Do you see the theme in

699
00:35:36,020 --> 00:35:40,060
Speaker 1: those verses? She's saying God reverses things. He takes circumstances

700
00:35:40,100 --> 00:35:43,339
Speaker 1: that look like they are impossible to reverse, and He

701
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:45,799
Speaker 1: reverses them. And that's the theme of our song. And

702
00:35:45,820 --> 00:35:47,739
Speaker 1: it becomes one of the central themes, by the way,

703
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,360
Speaker 1: of this entire book. You're going to see that same

704
00:35:51,420 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 1: theme all throughout the book of 1 Samuel. God takes

705
00:35:54,700 --> 00:35:59,180
Speaker 1: circumstances that seem impossible to reverse, and he reverses them.

706
00:35:59,420 --> 00:36:02,779
Speaker 1: We see it all throughout the book. And there's something

707
00:36:02,860 --> 00:36:04,319
Speaker 1: else that's worth noting that you're going to see as

708
00:36:04,390 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 1: a theme throughout this book as well. People look at

709
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:10,310
Speaker 1: outward strength, and God looks at the heart. People look

710
00:36:10,330 --> 00:36:12,089
Speaker 1: at what's going on on the outside, and they think

711
00:36:12,130 --> 00:36:13,830
Speaker 1: things will be a certain way because of how they

712
00:36:13,850 --> 00:36:17,800
Speaker 1: look visibly. And God sees what's going on on the inside. Now, Israel,

713
00:36:17,900 --> 00:36:20,700
Speaker 1: in short order, is eventually going to choose a man

714
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,009
Speaker 1: named Saul. We're going to see Saul be the first king.

715
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,469
Speaker 1: The Lord ultimately designates him. But Saul's a man who

716
00:36:28,130 --> 00:36:30,870
Speaker 1: looks like a king. When we get to those chapters,

717
00:36:30,890 --> 00:36:33,710
Speaker 1: you're going to notice that. He's tall. He's impressive. He's

718
00:36:33,770 --> 00:36:36,350
Speaker 1: physically commanding, even though when he first gets selected, he

719
00:36:36,410 --> 00:36:38,490
Speaker 1: hides in the midst of the luggage of all the people.

720
00:36:39,290 --> 00:36:41,509
Speaker 1: But he was hard to hide because he was tall, impressive,

721
00:36:41,610 --> 00:36:45,819
Speaker 1: physically commanding. God will later choose David. David was the

722
00:36:45,860 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 1: youngest son of Jesse, and his own family didn't consider

723
00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,489
Speaker 1: him a candidate for the kingship, but God chose him.

724
00:36:53,150 --> 00:36:55,190
Speaker 1: And you look at Hannah's song here, and it prepares

725
00:36:55,250 --> 00:36:57,049
Speaker 1: us for all those things that are about to come

726
00:36:57,570 --> 00:37:02,270
Speaker 1: in future chapters. Before Saul and before David appeared, we're

727
00:37:02,310 --> 00:37:05,170
Speaker 1: told that God doesn't evaluate people according to the standards

728
00:37:05,210 --> 00:37:08,850
Speaker 1: that human beings typically use. He raises up the poor

729
00:37:08,930 --> 00:37:11,609
Speaker 1: from the dust, the needy from the ash heap. He

730
00:37:11,690 --> 00:37:17,140
Speaker 1: reverses circumstances that look impossible to reverse. Hannah's song prepares

731
00:37:17,219 --> 00:37:19,560
Speaker 1: us for all of this. Now, 1 Samuel is a

732
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,060
Speaker 1: book that's ultimately about kingship, and Hannah's prayer is also

733
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:24,799
Speaker 1: going to show us something here that I want you

734
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,030
Speaker 1: to notice. I hope you won't miss this. She introduces

735
00:37:28,070 --> 00:37:31,290
Speaker 1: that theme of kingship even before Israel has a king.

736
00:37:32,510 --> 00:37:34,569
Speaker 1: Keep in mind, they're still ruled by judges while she

737
00:37:34,630 --> 00:37:37,650
Speaker 1: makes this statement in verse 10. And I believe that

738
00:37:37,690 --> 00:37:40,069
Speaker 1: that final verse of her prayer here, the final verse

739
00:37:40,110 --> 00:37:43,209
Speaker 1: of her song, is particularly important because she says this.

740
00:37:43,790 --> 00:37:47,450
Speaker 1: The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces.

741
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,600
Speaker 1: Against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will

742
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:54,620
Speaker 1: judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength

743
00:37:54,719 --> 00:38:00,300
Speaker 1: to whom? His king. And exalt the horn of whom?

744
00:38:01,260 --> 00:38:06,940
Speaker 1: His anointed. Strength to his king. Exalt the horn of

745
00:38:06,980 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: his anointed. I think that final statement is supposed to

746
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,310
Speaker 1: stand out to us. She's saying something that's prophetic here. Again,

747
00:38:13,350 --> 00:38:15,790
Speaker 1: at the time that Hannah is speaking and singing and

748
00:38:15,850 --> 00:38:19,150
Speaker 1: praying these words, Israel doesn't have a king yet. So

749
00:38:19,190 --> 00:38:21,930
Speaker 1: what on earth is she even talking about? The Lord

750
00:38:21,969 --> 00:38:26,320
Speaker 1: speaking prophetically through her. But keep in mind, Saul hasn't

751
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,780
Speaker 1: been introduced yet. David hasn't been born into the story.

752
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: He'll come later. And yet Hannah speaks about a king.

753
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:35,859
Speaker 1: and about God's anointed. Notice that word in the midst

754
00:38:35,900 --> 00:38:39,239
Speaker 1: of that as well. Now, the Hebrew word that's translated

755
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:44,230
Speaker 1: anointed here is Mashiach. You ever hear that? It's the

756
00:38:44,270 --> 00:38:48,290
Speaker 1: word that we get Messiah from. So when she's using

757
00:38:48,330 --> 00:38:52,210
Speaker 1: this word anointed, she's using the word Mashiach, Messiah. She's

758
00:38:52,250 --> 00:38:55,469
Speaker 1: speaking about the Messiah. In Greek, the corresponding word is Christos,

759
00:38:56,150 --> 00:38:59,989
Speaker 1: which we get Christ from. What's her prayer ultimately trying

760
00:39:00,010 --> 00:39:05,219
Speaker 1: to help us see? It's always Jesus-focused. And she doesn't

761
00:39:05,260 --> 00:39:07,879
Speaker 1: even fully understand all these details yet, but the Lord's

762
00:39:07,940 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: speaking through her and giving a prophetic clue about where

763
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:15,740
Speaker 1: this is all going. Hannah's prayer is intentionally pointing us forward.

764
00:39:15,780 --> 00:39:18,290
Speaker 1: It's been inspired by the Spirit of God. Now, in

765
00:39:18,310 --> 00:39:21,290
Speaker 1: the immediate storyline, it anticipates kings that are going to come,

766
00:39:21,989 --> 00:39:25,029
Speaker 1: particularly David, you would say. But David won't be the

767
00:39:25,090 --> 00:39:28,010
Speaker 1: final king that God's people need. David's going to sin.

768
00:39:28,510 --> 00:39:30,710
Speaker 1: And we're told, as the Scripture keeps, going on, his

769
00:39:30,750 --> 00:39:34,250
Speaker 1: descendants will fail. And eventually Judah, where he reigns, will

770
00:39:34,290 --> 00:39:38,130
Speaker 1: be conquered and Jerusalem will fall. And the Davidic monarchy

771
00:39:38,210 --> 00:39:39,989
Speaker 1: is going to look like it's going to come to

772
00:39:40,050 --> 00:39:43,219
Speaker 1: an end. But God's promise isn't something that has the

773
00:39:43,260 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: capacity to fail. So this story here is we're opening

774
00:39:46,739 --> 00:39:48,340
Speaker 1: up the book of 1 Samuel and we're looking at

775
00:39:48,380 --> 00:39:51,380
Speaker 1: this woman named Hannah, and she's praying for a son.

776
00:39:52,100 --> 00:39:54,110
Speaker 1: As she's praying for a son, this story is actually

777
00:39:54,130 --> 00:39:59,770
Speaker 1: trying to point us toward another son. Centuries later, let

778
00:39:59,790 --> 00:40:02,189
Speaker 1: me connect this with the Gospel of Luke because there's

779
00:40:02,230 --> 00:40:06,609
Speaker 1: a direct connection. Centuries later, an angel would come to

780
00:40:06,650 --> 00:40:10,170
Speaker 1: a young woman named Mary and would tell her that

781
00:40:10,210 --> 00:40:12,390
Speaker 1: she was also going to give birth to a son

782
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:18,130
Speaker 1: through God's supernatural interventions. Gabriel said this of Jesus in

783
00:40:18,170 --> 00:40:21,110
Speaker 1: Luke 1, verse 32. He said, he will be great

784
00:40:21,950 --> 00:40:24,790
Speaker 1: and will be called the Son of the Most High,

785
00:40:25,310 --> 00:40:27,590
Speaker 1: and the Lord God will give to him the throne

786
00:40:28,550 --> 00:40:32,049
Speaker 1: of his father David. By the way, there's even similarities

787
00:40:32,090 --> 00:40:35,110
Speaker 1: between Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2 and the song

788
00:40:35,140 --> 00:40:39,140
Speaker 1: that Mary sings in Luke 1. Both women praise God

789
00:40:39,219 --> 00:40:44,490
Speaker 1: for reversing human expectations. both celebrate God lifting the humble

790
00:40:44,810 --> 00:40:48,110
Speaker 1: and bringing down the proud. And both women recognize that

791
00:40:48,150 --> 00:40:54,450
Speaker 1: God's working through circumstances that might initially seem small to

792
00:40:54,489 --> 00:40:56,390
Speaker 1: most people that were looking at them. But he's doing

793
00:40:56,430 --> 00:40:58,969
Speaker 1: that to accomplish his great purposes through people that you

794
00:40:59,010 --> 00:41:02,779
Speaker 1: wouldn't expect him to do great things through. Then you

795
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:04,460
Speaker 1: come back to Hannah's story and you realize that it

796
00:41:04,500 --> 00:41:07,780
Speaker 1: helps establish a pattern that's going to continue all throughout

797
00:41:07,820 --> 00:41:11,410
Speaker 1: the rest of Scripture. That God works through people that

798
00:41:11,430 --> 00:41:15,800
Speaker 1: this world might overlook. That's got to be a comforting

799
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,460
Speaker 1: thought to someone this morning, that God works through people

800
00:41:18,500 --> 00:41:24,200
Speaker 1: that this world might overlook. That could be you. That

801
00:41:24,219 --> 00:41:26,340
Speaker 1: God works through people that this world may overlook. You

802
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,590
Speaker 1: don't have to be impressive by the world's standards. You

803
00:41:28,610 --> 00:41:32,090
Speaker 1: don't have to be a giant. You don't have to

804
00:41:32,130 --> 00:41:33,870
Speaker 1: be a person of influence. You don't have to be

805
00:41:33,910 --> 00:41:38,190
Speaker 1: somebody with every degree title. God works through people that

806
00:41:38,210 --> 00:41:42,089
Speaker 1: this world might overlook. He brings strength from weakness. He

807
00:41:42,190 --> 00:41:46,430
Speaker 1: raises the humble, and he accomplishes his purposes in ways

808
00:41:46,469 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 1: that human beings don't necessarily have the capacity to predict.

809
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 1: I think in the past 100 years, one of the

810
00:41:53,140 --> 00:41:59,500
Speaker 1: most well-known people that the Lord has used to proclaim

811
00:41:59,540 --> 00:42:02,379
Speaker 1: his gospel... Well, let me just quiz you, all right?

812
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:04,540
Speaker 1: Take the risk to say a wrong answer right now.

813
00:42:04,940 --> 00:42:06,919
Speaker 1: See if you can predict who I'm thinking of. Who

814
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,299
Speaker 1: do you think in the past 100 years has had

815
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:12,930
Speaker 1: the opportunity face-to-face to preach the gospel to more people

816
00:42:13,469 --> 00:42:16,569
Speaker 1: than anyone else. Billy Graham. Do you know how Billy

817
00:42:16,590 --> 00:42:19,060
Speaker 1: Graham actually... I was talking about this with a class

818
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:21,840
Speaker 1: a few days ago. Billy Graham decided to put a

819
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,480
Speaker 1: tent on a corner in Los Angeles when he was

820
00:42:25,540 --> 00:42:28,779
Speaker 1: about 30 years old. He rented a tent. It was

821
00:42:28,820 --> 00:42:30,710
Speaker 1: a circus tent. And he put it on the corner

822
00:42:30,750 --> 00:42:32,750
Speaker 1: and he said, we're going to have revival services for

823
00:42:32,790 --> 00:42:36,150
Speaker 1: three weeks. And he started preaching there. And since it

824
00:42:36,170 --> 00:42:38,489
Speaker 1: was in Los Angeles, he's near, you know, it's Hollywood,

825
00:42:38,550 --> 00:42:42,930
Speaker 1: all that. And so a particular... movie star of the time,

826
00:42:43,030 --> 00:42:44,910
Speaker 1: came to one of the services and got saved. He

827
00:42:44,950 --> 00:42:47,210
Speaker 1: came to faith in Christ, and then that started making news.

828
00:42:47,810 --> 00:42:49,720
Speaker 1: At the same time, there was a man who owned

829
00:42:49,739 --> 00:42:54,680
Speaker 1: a vast majority of newspapers throughout the United States. His

830
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:57,020
Speaker 1: name was William Randolph Hearst. Do you ever hear that?

831
00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,299
Speaker 1: He had a newspaper empire, and he caught wind of this,

832
00:43:00,460 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 1: and he sent two words to his editors throughout the country.

833
00:43:04,739 --> 00:43:09,700
Speaker 1: Two words. He said, Puff Graham. Puff Graham. And they

834
00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:13,490
Speaker 1: knew what that meant. Puff Graham, meaning give him the

835
00:43:13,550 --> 00:43:15,970
Speaker 1: treatment here, put him on the front page, talk about

836
00:43:16,010 --> 00:43:18,739
Speaker 1: the service. Those revival services that were only supposed to

837
00:43:18,780 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 1: go three weeks ended up going eight weeks because more

838
00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: and more people kept coming and kept coming. And then

839
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,820
Speaker 1: from there, Billy Graham became somebody that presidents from Truman

840
00:43:28,340 --> 00:43:30,739
Speaker 1: right on up to the current president, because Billy Graham

841
00:43:30,780 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 1: passed away in 2018 during Trump's first term, but right

842
00:43:34,700 --> 00:43:38,540
Speaker 1: up through the current president, they sought his counsel. Many

843
00:43:38,580 --> 00:43:42,049
Speaker 1: of them invited him to pray at their inaugurations, and

844
00:43:42,090 --> 00:43:45,879
Speaker 1: during the course of his ministry, he preached face-to-face to

845
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:50,020
Speaker 1: 210 million people, but through his radio ministry, his books,

846
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,640
Speaker 1: it's estimated that, I believe, that he connected with at

847
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,600
Speaker 1: least a billion. And so you look at that and

848
00:43:55,620 --> 00:43:57,910
Speaker 1: you think, wow, that's a pretty interesting opportunity, and he

849
00:43:57,950 --> 00:44:01,710
Speaker 1: couldn't have orchestrated it himself. He rented a tent, he

850
00:44:01,750 --> 00:44:04,470
Speaker 1: started preaching the gospel on a corner in Los Angeles,

851
00:44:05,469 --> 00:44:07,589
Speaker 1: and the Lord took care of the rest. Movie star

852
00:44:07,630 --> 00:44:12,180
Speaker 1: gets saved, word gets out, you know, to a media

853
00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:15,080
Speaker 1: magnet finds out about it, sends two words to his editors,

854
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:17,300
Speaker 1: Puff Graham, and before you know it, he's a national

855
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,560
Speaker 1: figure for the rest of his life, proclaiming the gospel

856
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:24,020
Speaker 1: to hundreds of millions of people. And so I love

857
00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:26,650
Speaker 1: looking at stuff like this, and you can't help but

858
00:44:26,690 --> 00:44:29,470
Speaker 1: realize God works through people that this world might overlook.

859
00:44:30,610 --> 00:44:35,110
Speaker 1: And nobody embodies that more perfectly than Jesus himself. Because Jesus,

860
00:44:35,150 --> 00:44:38,609
Speaker 1: who is God, who took on flesh, what did he do?

861
00:44:38,690 --> 00:44:41,840
Speaker 1: He embodied this perfectly in How was he born? He

862
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:45,700
Speaker 1: wasn't born in a palace. He's the Lord over all creation.

863
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:48,240
Speaker 1: He spoke creation into existence, and yet when he enters

864
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:52,140
Speaker 1: his creation, he wasn't born into a palace. He was

865
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:54,640
Speaker 1: born in a manger. He was born in a stable.

866
00:44:54,969 --> 00:44:58,290
Speaker 1: He was born into an ordinary family, placed in a

867
00:44:58,410 --> 00:45:03,850
Speaker 1: feeding trough. He didn't gather political power. He didn't command

868
00:45:03,890 --> 00:45:05,850
Speaker 1: an earthly army or do all the things that people

869
00:45:05,890 --> 00:45:08,380
Speaker 1: probably would have expected him to do. And it's interesting

870
00:45:08,390 --> 00:45:10,759
Speaker 1: when you look at what the prophet Isaiah foretold about

871
00:45:10,780 --> 00:45:13,980
Speaker 1: the Messiah. He said this about him in Isaiah 53

872
00:45:13,980 --> 00:45:16,380
Speaker 1: verse 2. He said he had no form or majesty

873
00:45:16,420 --> 00:45:19,060
Speaker 1: that we should look at him. When Saul becomes king,

874
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:20,930
Speaker 1: we're going to notice people are like, oh, the guy's tall.

875
00:45:20,969 --> 00:45:23,489
Speaker 1: He's impressive. He looks like a king. When people looked

876
00:45:23,510 --> 00:45:26,509
Speaker 1: at Jesus, they didn't think anything of his appearance. He

877
00:45:26,550 --> 00:45:28,910
Speaker 1: just looked like a guy, just a regular guy. It

878
00:45:28,950 --> 00:45:36,040
Speaker 1: was all on purpose. The promised king, Jesus himself, he came.

879
00:45:37,260 --> 00:45:39,140
Speaker 1: but he had no form or majesty that we should

880
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:41,939
Speaker 1: look at him. God works through people that the world

881
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 1: might overlook. And by the way, when we talk about reversals,

882
00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:50,920
Speaker 1: the cross, that represents the greatest reversal of all. To

883
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,879
Speaker 1: those who are watching Jesus die, his crucifixion looked like

884
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 1: a defeat. They thought he was defeated. His enemies mocked him.

885
00:45:57,820 --> 00:46:02,090
Speaker 1: Hannah was mocked by Peninnah. Christ was mocked by his enemies.

886
00:46:02,550 --> 00:46:03,989
Speaker 1: When they called him king of the Jews, they were

887
00:46:04,010 --> 00:46:07,170
Speaker 1: doing so in a mocking fashion. We know his disciples

888
00:46:07,250 --> 00:46:09,529
Speaker 1: scattered and then his body was placed in a tomb,

889
00:46:09,570 --> 00:46:13,049
Speaker 1: but then he rose from death. So the one who

890
00:46:13,090 --> 00:46:17,790
Speaker 1: was humbled was exalted. The rejected king became the victorious

891
00:46:17,850 --> 00:46:22,070
Speaker 1: king in his resurrection. And in his resurrection, sin was defeated.

892
00:46:22,730 --> 00:46:26,870
Speaker 1: Death was conquered. Satan was defeated. Salvation was secured for

893
00:46:27,030 --> 00:46:30,310
Speaker 1: everyone who would trust in Jesus Christ. Again, going back

894
00:46:30,350 --> 00:46:33,210
Speaker 1: to what Hannah prayed and sang in her song, she

895
00:46:33,290 --> 00:46:36,030
Speaker 1: said that God raises up the poor from the dust.

896
00:46:37,170 --> 00:46:39,629
Speaker 1: and lifts the needy from the ash heap. She said

897
00:46:39,670 --> 00:46:43,650
Speaker 1: that back in verse 8. Well, the gospel shows us

898
00:46:43,710 --> 00:46:48,239
Speaker 1: the fullest expression of God's gracious reversal. We come to

899
00:46:48,300 --> 00:46:54,180
Speaker 1: Christ spiritually helpless. We come to Christ unable to rescue ourselves.

900
00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,739
Speaker 1: And God doesn't save us because we're impressive. He doesn't

901
00:46:58,780 --> 00:47:01,180
Speaker 1: save us because we're powerful. He doesn't save us because

902
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:05,069
Speaker 1: we're worthy. He saves us by grace through faith in

903
00:47:05,150 --> 00:47:08,750
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Meaning if you place your trust in Jesus Christ,

904
00:47:08,790 --> 00:47:11,850
Speaker 1: your sin is completely eradicated. It is wiped away. It

905
00:47:11,910 --> 00:47:14,090
Speaker 1: is not held to your account any longer. The righteousness

906
00:47:14,130 --> 00:47:16,629
Speaker 1: of Christ is added to your account and you will

907
00:47:16,670 --> 00:47:22,980
Speaker 1: live in the kingdom of God forever. Hannah's story reminds

908
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:25,840
Speaker 1: us of that by pointing us forward. The gospel explains

909
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 1: it even more clearly for us. But here's the other

910
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,629
Speaker 1: thing that Hannah's story reminds us of as we open

911
00:47:30,670 --> 00:47:33,010
Speaker 1: up this book of 1 Samuel and start studying it together.

912
00:47:33,580 --> 00:47:36,470
Speaker 1: God may be doing far more through your present circumstances

913
00:47:36,489 --> 00:47:38,950
Speaker 1: than you may even realize. You may just look at

914
00:47:38,989 --> 00:47:41,549
Speaker 1: yourself and you're like, who am I? I'm nobody. Who

915
00:47:41,650 --> 00:47:43,669
Speaker 1: am I? I'm just some regular person. Nobody even knows

916
00:47:43,730 --> 00:47:46,110
Speaker 1: my name. Who am I? I'm just, you know, someone

917
00:47:46,130 --> 00:47:47,660
Speaker 1: living for a short time and then I'll be with

918
00:47:47,700 --> 00:47:49,319
Speaker 1: the Lord and no one's even going to remember that

919
00:47:49,380 --> 00:47:51,740
Speaker 1: I was here. And then you look at Hannah's story

920
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:54,500
Speaker 1: and you realize that God has a habit of taking

921
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:58,640
Speaker 1: people who don't think they're anything special and he raises

922
00:47:58,700 --> 00:48:01,230
Speaker 1: them up and he uses them in ways that would

923
00:48:01,270 --> 00:48:04,049
Speaker 1: surprise them. And I imagine some of the ways that

924
00:48:04,090 --> 00:48:06,549
Speaker 1: the Lord used Hannah, she didn't even realize during the

925
00:48:06,610 --> 00:48:10,910
Speaker 1: course of her life. But from the perspective of eternity,

926
00:48:10,950 --> 00:48:13,160
Speaker 1: I imagine she looks at these things and just says,

927
00:48:13,239 --> 00:48:16,660
Speaker 1: why me? And that's the same thing for any of us.

928
00:48:16,700 --> 00:48:21,200
Speaker 1: Why any of us? It's just how God is. Scripture

929
00:48:21,219 --> 00:48:24,200
Speaker 1: tells us in three different places. We're told this in Proverbs,

930
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:25,670
Speaker 1: we're told this in the book of James, and we're

931
00:48:25,690 --> 00:48:30,109
Speaker 1: told this in 1 Peter. God opposes the proud, but

932
00:48:30,150 --> 00:48:33,380
Speaker 1: gives grace to the humble. God opposes the proud but

933
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:35,060
Speaker 1: gives grace to the humble. There are many people in

934
00:48:35,100 --> 00:48:38,020
Speaker 1: this world who will never be used by God to

935
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:39,960
Speaker 1: the capacity that they could be used because they're so

936
00:48:40,100 --> 00:48:43,580
Speaker 1: full of themselves. So they will never be used by

937
00:48:43,620 --> 00:48:45,540
Speaker 1: God to the capacity that they could have been used.

938
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:50,089
Speaker 1: They will live in opposition to their creator. And then

939
00:48:50,130 --> 00:48:53,650
Speaker 1: there are those who look at themselves and recognize, you

940
00:48:53,690 --> 00:48:55,870
Speaker 1: know what, Lord, apart from your intervention, what would I be?

941
00:48:55,930 --> 00:48:59,350
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even be alive. Apart from your intervention, what

942
00:48:59,370 --> 00:49:01,340
Speaker 1: would I be? None of these things would be the

943
00:49:01,380 --> 00:49:06,219
Speaker 1: case in my day-to-day life apart from your intervention. Don't

944
00:49:06,260 --> 00:49:09,820
Speaker 1: be surprised if God does something pretty special through your life.

945
00:49:10,610 --> 00:49:12,469
Speaker 1: And don't be surprised if you don't even find out

946
00:49:12,510 --> 00:49:15,730
Speaker 1: about it until you're in heaven. In the meantime, just

947
00:49:16,170 --> 00:49:19,330
Speaker 1: trust him. If your face is downcast right now like

948
00:49:19,350 --> 00:49:21,910
Speaker 1: Hannah's was, if your heart is heavy like Hannah's was

949
00:49:22,350 --> 00:49:24,569
Speaker 1: because she looked at her present circumstances and she was

950
00:49:24,610 --> 00:49:26,410
Speaker 1: feeling like, Lord, I don't know how you could sift

951
00:49:26,450 --> 00:49:28,839
Speaker 1: through this mess and make something of it. I just

952
00:49:28,880 --> 00:49:31,399
Speaker 1: know that I'm hurting. Bring that before the Lord. Pour

953
00:49:31,420 --> 00:49:35,299
Speaker 1: it before the Lord. And then walk away trusting that

954
00:49:35,360 --> 00:49:37,980
Speaker 1: God can do something with what you've just entrusted to him.

955
00:49:38,630 --> 00:49:40,290
Speaker 1: that he could comfort your heart, that he could do

956
00:49:40,330 --> 00:49:43,070
Speaker 1: something miraculous, and that maybe you'll see what he does

957
00:49:43,090 --> 00:49:45,940
Speaker 1: with it in your lifetime, or maybe you won't, but

958
00:49:45,980 --> 00:49:48,259
Speaker 1: trust that he will honor the prayers that you bring

959
00:49:48,300 --> 00:49:52,819
Speaker 1: before him in sincere faith. That's what Hannah got to experience,

960
00:49:52,860 --> 00:49:55,060
Speaker 1: and here you and I are, men and women who

961
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 1: are blessed by how the Lord used her life. It's

962
00:49:58,260 --> 00:50:00,900
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. In the coming weeks, we're going to

963
00:50:00,940 --> 00:50:03,980
Speaker 1: watch Israel search for a king. We're going to watch

964
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,580
Speaker 1: them recognize we need a king. Their hearts long for

965
00:50:06,620 --> 00:50:09,130
Speaker 1: a king. But don't forget that this whole book is

966
00:50:09,150 --> 00:50:11,180
Speaker 1: trying to point you and me to Jesus Christ, the

967
00:50:11,260 --> 00:50:14,399
Speaker 1: ultimate king. He's the one that Israel needed and he's

968
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:16,580
Speaker 1: the one that we need as well. And when we

969
00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:19,500
Speaker 1: recognize that Christ is that king, that deepest longing that

970
00:50:19,560 --> 00:50:22,720
Speaker 1: you and I have, just as Israel had, it's fully

971
00:50:22,780 --> 00:50:28,790
Speaker 1: satisfied and it's fully met in him. Let's pray. Lord,

972
00:50:28,810 --> 00:50:31,330
Speaker 1: thank you so much for the blessing that it is

973
00:50:31,390 --> 00:50:32,990
Speaker 1: to be able to look at a portion of scripture

974
00:50:33,050 --> 00:50:36,089
Speaker 1: like this and just see some of the amazing things

975
00:50:36,130 --> 00:50:41,920
Speaker 1: that were taking place over 3,000 years ago, in the

976
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:45,020
Speaker 1: lives of people that we haven't met face to face,

977
00:50:45,060 --> 00:50:47,660
Speaker 1: and yet, Lord, we rejoice in what you did in

978
00:50:47,700 --> 00:50:50,700
Speaker 1: and through them. Father, thank you for starting off this

979
00:50:50,780 --> 00:50:56,319
Speaker 1: book with the humble life and prayers of Hannah, and

980
00:50:56,430 --> 00:51:01,330
Speaker 1: how as she entrusted her life to you, you did

981
00:51:01,410 --> 00:51:03,529
Speaker 1: something with the life that she entrusted to you, and

982
00:51:03,570 --> 00:51:07,700
Speaker 1: you did something with her son, And Lord, here we

983
00:51:07,860 --> 00:51:11,250
Speaker 1: are as men and women who are genuinely blessed. Lord,

984
00:51:11,290 --> 00:51:14,590
Speaker 1: her life absolutely did not look like what she envisioned

985
00:51:14,650 --> 00:51:16,569
Speaker 1: probably when she was a little girl and she thought

986
00:51:16,590 --> 00:51:19,630
Speaker 1: about what life was going to be like. But in

987
00:51:19,670 --> 00:51:22,140
Speaker 1: many respects, Lord, and in all respects, we could look

988
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:24,200
Speaker 1: at that and say what you gave her was better

989
00:51:24,239 --> 00:51:27,319
Speaker 1: than what she envisioned for herself. She had to learn

990
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:29,440
Speaker 1: some things along the way. There were some hard lessons

991
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:33,090
Speaker 1: that she had to be tempered by. And Lord, I

992
00:51:33,150 --> 00:51:35,410
Speaker 1: suspect that you're doing the very same thing for us.

993
00:51:35,810 --> 00:51:38,609
Speaker 1: I can absolutely testify that that's exactly what you've been

994
00:51:38,630 --> 00:51:43,410
Speaker 1: doing in my life, testing me and teaching me through

995
00:51:43,450 --> 00:51:48,540
Speaker 1: things that are not always easy things, but they're good things.

996
00:51:49,620 --> 00:51:51,860
Speaker 1: And so, Lord, I'm grateful for those lessons. I'm grateful

997
00:51:51,900 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 1: that the end result is deeper trust in you. And so, Father,

998
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:56,799
Speaker 1: I pray for each of us as we go through

999
00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:59,820
Speaker 1: whatever we're going through. Maybe right now we're in the

1000
00:51:59,860 --> 00:52:02,400
Speaker 1: midst of a respite and not going through anything all

1001
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:04,859
Speaker 1: that major. Maybe we just came through something. Maybe we're

1002
00:52:04,880 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 1: about to go through something. Whatever it is, Lord, we

1003
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:10,340
Speaker 1: just entrust our lives over to you, and we're grateful

1004
00:52:10,380 --> 00:52:12,660
Speaker 1: for the reminders that you give to us in your

1005
00:52:12,719 --> 00:52:15,750
Speaker 1: word that you're working all things out for your glory

1006
00:52:15,870 --> 00:52:19,509
Speaker 1: and for our good. We see how these stories, we

1007
00:52:19,570 --> 00:52:23,290
Speaker 1: see how these examples were ultimately pointing people to your son,

1008
00:52:23,370 --> 00:52:25,870
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, as we look at the

1009
00:52:25,950 --> 00:52:28,640
Speaker 1: opening chapters here of the book of 1 Samuel, we

1010
00:52:28,680 --> 00:52:30,859
Speaker 1: pray that our hearts would be pointed toward your son

1011
00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:33,700
Speaker 1: as well, the anointed one, the ultimate king that our

1012
00:52:33,760 --> 00:52:37,879
Speaker 1: hearts need. Help us to find ultimate satisfaction in your

1013
00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:40,890
Speaker 1: son and to walk with you daily. Father, thank you

1014
00:52:40,910 --> 00:52:43,089
Speaker 1: for all these things. Please remind us of these things

1015
00:52:43,190 --> 00:52:45,770
Speaker 1: regularly as we lift up our hearts before you in prayer.

1016
00:52:46,290 --> 00:52:50,040
Speaker 1: And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.