Pleasure to be back with you all again this beautiful Lord's Day. Good to see many of you on the mend. I know several were sick last week and thankful everybody seems to be turning that corner. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers. I'm thankful that we were able to see my mom this morning and enjoy spending some time with them even yesterday. If you have your Bibles, we're going to be going to 1 Samuel, but first let's go to 1 Kings, chapter 22. And as we, I have, I don't know how many of these I'm going to read. I have a lot of these, but you're going to see a pattern emerge here. In 1 Kings chapter 22, let's look at verse 42 through 44. Jehoshaphat was 30 and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 20 and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azeba, the daughter of Shilli. And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father. He turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, for the people offered the burnt incense yet in the high places. And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. And over in 2 Kings chapter 14, in verses 1 through 3, 2 Kings 14, beginning in verse 1, in the second year of Joash, son of Jehoaz, king of Israel, reign Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah. He was 20 and 5 years old when he began to reign, and reigned 20 and 9 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jehoadun of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like David his father, he did according to all things as Joash his father did. So I have several more. Maybe we'll just do one more in chapter 15 in verses 1 through 3. Jeroboam, king of Israel, began Azariah, son of Amaziah, king of Judah, to reign. Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned 20 and 50 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done." So we see a pattern start to emerge here as we read these passages. that we see the phrase, and his mother's name was, or the name of his mother was. So I think it goes without saying here that obviously mothers have a great influence on their children. In the examples that we read, we found that they did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. And we see that pointing phrase there referencing their mothers. Moms play a big role in the lives of their children and I thank God for my godly heritage and the wonderful example that my mom still is to me and the older I get, the more grateful I am for it because not everybody has had that blessing and privilege. I thank God for my mom. Now, trust me, she has made mistakes. Please don't tell her I said that. I am still very much afraid of her. She will bend me over her knee very quickly. But she loves the Lord. She's very faithful. She's very prayerful. And we are going to discuss that at pretty great depth here this morning. And as I thought about mothers, I thought about, you know, not only am I thankful for my godly mother, there are several, you know, women that have been in my life, especially when I was growing up, those that went to my church, they were kind of like mothers to me. They weren't, we were just related through Christ that way. We weren't blood relation, but I was friends with their kids and they were like mothers to me. In fact, if you have, if you can turn to Romans chapter 16, the apostle Paul actually had a relationship like that. Romans 16 and verse 13, salute Rufus chosen in the Lord and his, excuse me, his mother and mine. So she wasn't his biological mother, but she was like a mother figure to him. Played a huge role, obviously, in the life of the Apostle Paul. And I think that just goes to show the warmth and support that he received from her, the hospitality, the care, probably a lot of mentoring she gave to him. And I think it just reflects deeply the familial nature that we have as Christians and as members of one of his churches. This is a family that takes care of one another. And that's how a church should function, like a family, providing practical and emotional support to one another while we spread the gospel. And I think it's important to recognize and honor faithful servants. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that at all. The Old Testament is filled, the New Testament, the whole Bible is filled with so many great role models. And I know we spend a lot of time, we focus in and preach about a lot of the men, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, but there are a lot of women. Faithful women mentioned in scripture and we're gonna look at one in particular here this morning over in 1st Samuel chapter 1 We're gonna look at Hannah who's the mother of Samuel We'll go into the background of kind of what's going on as we approach 1 Samuel chapter one here in just a little bit when we get to the topic on prayer. But Hannah was a woman of faith who had a real problem. And that's what we find is women of faith have real problems. We find here in 1 Samuel chapter one beginning in verse number one, Now there was a certain man of Ramatham, Zopham, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, son of Jeraham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, and Ephrathite. And he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, the name of the other, Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of the city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. We'll talk about those two in a little bit later. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb." So we find quite a situation here. We have Elkanah who had two wives. Hannah mentioned first, meaning she was more than likely his first wife, but as we kept reading, we found that she was barren, was unable to have children, what we see there in the latter part of verse five, but the Lord had shut up her womb. So this is a culture, this was a society in which women felt a lot of pressure to have children. And when she was unable to have children, men wanted to have children as well. When she was unable to have children, along came Penina. We find that she had children. And you have a household with two wives, you're probably going to have some trouble. You have a household with two wives, one of them unable to have children and the other one able to have children, you're going to have a whole lot of trouble. And that's exactly what's going to happen. Hannah, he gave a worthy portion to. He loved her so much, but she did not have children. So this is going to cause Penina to be very, very jealous of Hannah, even though Penina had children, right? So we find here in verse six, and her adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she, So she provoked her, therefore she wept and did not eat. And Elkanah her husband, then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? So we see Penina's actions highlight just that painful reality of infertility in a culture where childbearing was a significant source of honor for women. And this was devastating to Hannah. She was unable to have children, that's bad enough, but to have an adversary come after her and cause her such pain as a result, her sorrow is going to grow. It's going to be very, very profound. Her husband, Elkanna, attempting to comfort her, asks her, am I not better to thee than ten sons? That shows his love and concern. He was concerned for her. He could see, I'm sure it was written all over her face, how upset she was that she could not have children. We see how profound her sorrow was in her inability to eat. It just shows the depth of her grief. Hannah's pain's not just emotional. It's not just a physical pain either. It is spiritual. It's affecting her all the way to her core as she deals with, we see year after year here in verse seven. Year after year. The same story year after year. Yet we find that even though, and of course other, you know, Hannah's barrenness was the result of divine providence. This was all part of God's plan to begin with, just like Sarah's was in Genesis chapter 16 and Rachel's in Genesis chapter 30. But I think God allows this kind of thing to happen to show his sovereignty. to help us to rely on him more, to look to him in all things. And there's lessons we can learn from Hannah and how she dealt with this, how she dealt with this. Year after year, she worshipped. Year after year, she was faithful. Year after year, she worshipped God. We should not let others discourage our trust in the Lord. Hannah could have used this misfortune or this situation that she had, this mistreatment that she was enduring, as an excuse to be angry at God. Why are you allowing this to happen to me? But she did not do that. She doesn't lash out at God, she worships. She has faith in him. We're going to find out she has so much faith. She's so faithful in prayer here just momentarily. She doesn't lash out at Elkanah. She doesn't lash out at Penina. She doesn't lash out at the children that Penina had with Elkanah. She could have easily done that as well in her frustration. But she doesn't take it out on any of them. Year after year, she continued to pray. There, as we read in verse seven, when she went up to the house of the Lord, year after year, she wept sore. That brings us to verse number 10 here. And she was in bitterness of soul. You ever been there? You ever been in bitterness of soul, just the weight? of trials and tribulations upon you. Imagine the weight she was dealing with, with the situation she was in. And she was in bitterness of soul. But what did she do? And prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. So despite these years of barrenness, despite the provocation, As she endured, she committed herself to the Lord. She prayed and prayed and prayed. This demonstrates her unwavering faith and absolute dependency on Almighty God. While God had closed Hannah's womb, again, this was not an act of cruelty, but a part of his sovereign plan. He had plans for Hannah. and the son she is going to bear." God doesn't always work on our timetable. He doesn't always answer things in the manner in which we would like Him to answer them. Sometimes I think we think we know better than God, but God ultimately sees the big picture. He knows what's going to happen, and we don't. And He places us in these situations so he can get the honor and glory out of it. He has a purpose and a plan for everyone. Her suffering is going to set the stage for God's intervention leading to the birth of Samuel, who's going to be very pivotal in Israel's history. This is a time The period of judges in Israel and the situation in Israel was extremely difficult. Samson had died, and with the death of Samson, there was no great leader in the land. I mean, just take a look at Eli here, and take a look at his sons, Eli being the high priest, his sons being priests as well. Notice Eli's lack of spiritual discernment. Let's continue reading, beginning in verse 11. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me, and not fret thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. God's about to do something here. We are setting the stage for God to perform an amazing feat in her life. So she is with this bitterness of soul and she is weeping sore. She is praying to the Lord and she is vowing that if you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you. He will be a servant for you. A razor will not touch his head. And I'll give him to the Lord all the days of his life. What a prayer. This is a godly, faithful mother. But continue here in verse 12, And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. You know, I like the fact that she's not speaking out loud, which typically people prayed out loud in this kind of situation, but she said such heaviness of heart, bitterness of soul and was weeping bitterly. She was just, her lips were moving. She was praying, but no audible words were coming out. And it just makes me think of groanings which cannot be uttered. You know, God hears the prayers of our hearts. When we can't even make the words come out of our mouth, he hears the prayers of our hearts. And that's exactly what she's doing here. But Eli, who's plopped down here, sitting next to a pillar by the temple, sees her and automatically just assumes that she's drunk. And honestly, this is, I think, a very sad commentary about the spiritual condition, especially in regards to the high priest and his two sons, who were priests that they were not doing right. Eli had two sons that were wild and out of control, and profaning the house of God, and doing horrible wickedness on the steps of the house of God, and not honoring the sacrifices that were to be made, and taking portions that did not belong to them, and even taking their portion before it was even burnt. Doing wrong, wickedness, defiling the worship of God. And he sees someone that is truly, sincerely worshiping the Lord, and he just assumes she's drunk because of all the sin and debauchery going on around the temple at this time. Israel needs a leader. Israel needs a leader. There is no great leader in this land at this time. And Eli, while reprimanding Hannah and not knowing what's going on and not bothering to get up and ask what's going on, he reprimands her but allows his two sons to do all the things that they were doing. If you look in chapter 2 of 1 Samuel in verse 12, we see a description of the sons of Eli. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord, sons of Belial, wicked men, whatever you want to call them. That's what that means. They were wicked men, so wicked that they knew not the Lord. And that's who, you know, being priests, really? And he does nothing, Eli does nothing to try to stop his sons. With Hophni and Phinehas, as we read in the first few verses of 1 Samuel 1, they end up dying. They are killed. because through divine judgment, of course. They die on the same day during a battle with the Philistines, which is a fulfillment of God's prophecy against Eli's household because of all of the things Eli had allowed to happen as the high priest and with his sons. And upon hearing of their death, we find Eli still plopped down In chapter 4 of 1 Samuel, still plopped down in his chair, easy chair, and he gets the news of what happened in the battle with the sons. And look at verse 18. And it came to pass when he made mention of the ark of God that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck break and he died. And he was an old man and heavy and he had judged Israel 40 years. So he just plopped back and died. Those are your leaders. So a godly leader is much needed here in this state of turmoil and confusion and wickedness. So there's a desperate need in this chaos and sinfulness of that day. This brings us to this vow that she makes here in verse 11. She makes this heartfelt vow, pledging that if God grants her a son, She will dedicate him to the Lord's service his entire life. I think this vow to dedicate her son to the Lord reflects Hannah's deep faith and her deep commitment to God. She understood that God alone can alter her situation. She knew that God alone was the only one who can give her a son, not just her husband, but it comes from God. And every child is a gift from God. She understood this. She had complete understanding. We'll talk more about this more towards the end of the message. She had a complete understanding of God's sovereignty. She knew he was sovereign and all powerful and in complete control. Let's notice a few things about her prayer. She prays with persistence. We find here again in verse 12, and it came to pass as she continued praying, so she kept praying and praying and praying. We can go back to verse seven, year by year, she was so faithful and going and worshiping and praying, she prayed and prayed and prayed. She prayed with her heart, we find in verse 13. She spake in her heart. It's not just words that come out of your mouth, but when you pray, you are to pray with your heart. I'm glad the Lord understands the prayers of the heart. She prays with her soul. In verse 15, Hannah answered after, let's go back to verse 14, Eli said to her, how long wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee, in verse 15, and Hannah answered and said, no, my lord, excuse me, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, which, if you remember, Eli's sons were called the sons of Belial, wicked ones. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. So she just, she was pouring her soul out. Go back, read verse 11 again. She was pouring her soul out. She wanted a child so badly. And she just let it all out. When's the last time you just let it all out when you were praying? just didn't hold anything back. Sometimes we hold things back, right? When the Bible says, cast all of your care upon him, that's what it means. Sometimes we think, I don't want to bother God with this, or I'll just give him the big things, and I'll keep carrying the small things. He wants it all. Cast all of your care upon him, for he careth for you. That's what she was doing here. Every burden she had, every emotion she felt with her barrenness and with her home situation, she was pouring it all out unto the Lord. She prays with faith in faith of God's promise. Verse 17, then Eli answered and said, go in peace. And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. So he kind of changes his tune here a little bit. If he'd have bothered of asking beforehand, hey, are you okay? And gotten some more information, he might not have jumped to the conclusion in which he jumped to, to begin with. So quite the change of opinion here, verse 18, and she said, let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat. And her countenance was no more sad. So she had faith. She was able to cast all of these cares upon God. And we can see the change in her demeanor at this point. And that signifies her true faith. After pouring her heart out to God, she trusts that he heard her. And even though there's no immediate change to her situation, her whole demeanor has changed. We see that she went her way and did eat where she was not eating before, and her countenance was no more sad. You know, Philippians chapter four. Philippians four, verses six and seven. Be careful for nothing. Careful means anxious. Be careful for nothing. Sometimes that's easier said than done, right? But you don't understand what I'm going through. Well, God does. It says, be careful for nothing. Don't be anxious about anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication, so it's OK to pray about your problems. Hannah did. She poured her heart out to God. But notice here in this verse, with thanksgiving. That's important too. It's not enough just to ask for things, but we can need to thank God for his blessings. With prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So this is what Hannah was feeling here after she poured her heart and soul out to God. She was given the peace that passeth all understanding. God, and she knew God had heard her and he will comfort her and answer her prayer. I don't know how the world goes through life without God. and to be able to go to Him in prayer and to look to Him and have faith in Him and to pray to Him and knowing He's gonna take care of us, all things work out for good to those that love God and those who are called according to His purpose. He loves us and has what's best for us lined out for us. May not be the way we want it to go, may not happen when we want it to happen or happen exactly how we want it to, but God knows what's best and always, always provides what we need. So prayer can bring this peace that just transcends understanding. The world should look at us and say, how are you at peace all the time with everything going on? And we should be able to say, I have the peace that passeth all understanding because I know the Lord. So pray. Pray fervently. Pray without ceasing. Colossians 4.2 says, continue in prayer. Just do it. Continue. Pray faithfully. So all of this, everything that's taken place so far here in 1 Samuel, her prayer, her barrenness, everything that's happening with Hannah is all part of God's sovereign plan. And let's notice the provisions right after verse 18 where she went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad. Verse 19, and they arose up in the morning early and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to their house to Ramah and Elkanah, knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her. Israel needed a leader. And God had placed Hannah in this position to be the mother of Samuel, the leader that is needed here. And it's appropriate that this woman of faith and prayer is going to be the mother of Samuel, who God is going to use in a great and mighty way. This is by no accident or coincidence. Verse 20, wherefore it came to pass When the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his name Samuel saying because I have asked him of the Lord and the man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow. So we find in verse 19 here the Lord remembered her. This signifies God's sovereign intervention here. This reminds me of the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord Unto Me. I'm sure Hannah's going to sing something very, very similar. As I think about this answer to her prayer, this answer to Hannah's prayer, As I was thinking about it, I was reminded of Rachel's grandmother who lived to be 98 years old in Virginia. And she actually started out writing poems and then one day she figured out one of the poems that she had written went to the tune of a hymn. And it turned out a lot of her poems would end up going to the tune. So then she started writing poems and turning them into songs and writing them to the tune of various hymns. And she has written enough. She had one book printed. I have a PDF of it. And then she has enough written to make a second book. And it is her faith. Rachel and I got to sit down with her And I took out a camcorder and we went to visit her. And we just, we did the same thing with brother and sister Pyle. We just asked them to tell their story, right? Just tell us the story of you all. And she did that. And it was just such a blessing to hear her testimony and how God had provided for her. And one of the stories that she told was one day she was at home and her husband was out at work. Rachel's grandfather was out at work. And she went to the pantry, to the kitchen, and looked in it, and there was no food. None. Zero. Nothing in the house. Didn't have a speck of food anywhere in the house. And she said, oh, what am I going to do? I don't know what I'm going to do. And she did the only thing that she could do. She sat down and prayed. And she prayed, God, please. My kids are hungry. I just, I want to be able to feed my kids. I don't care if I eat, please provide food somehow for my kids. And in her mind, she thought, well, maybe, you know, my husband will get paid today and he'll be able to go to the grocery store and be able to purchase some groceries for the house and we'll be able to have dinner tonight. That's not quite how the Lord answered that prayer. While she was praying, she was praying out loud, one of her kids heard her praying and mentioning that there was no food in the house. So one of the kids, of course they lived in a very rural community and ran a fair distance to the neighbor's house and said, my mom's over at the house praying because we don't have any food. And so the neighbor who had an abundance of food said, here, and loaded up some food for the kid. And said, here, you take that back home to your mama, and you'll all be able to eat today. And so the kid said, thank you, and just ran home, right? And said, mama, look. And all that food, she goes, well, where did you get that from? And so the kid said, I ran to the neighbor's house, and they gave me all this food for us to eat. She felt so embarrassed and was ashamed. And that's not how she wanted God to answer that prayer. She didn't want people to know they were struggling, right? But then she stopped herself and said, you know what? God answered my prayer. I can't react this way. God put those neighbors there and gave them enough food to give to us. God answered my prayer. Not exactly how she wanted it, but God answered the prayer. I love that story. I think about that story actually pretty often. God heard Hannah's prayer, and she named her son Samuel. And you know what the name Samuel means? It means heard by God. God had heard her prayer. And that's a good way to start dedicating your son to the Lord, right? Naming him heard by God. You know, Matthew 6, 33, it says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. That's what she was doing. She was seeking God first. I referenced it a moment ago, but Romans 8, 28, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are the called according to His purpose. In Hannah's case, she received that for which she asked. But she had made a vow. She was going to keep that vow. We find in verse 22, but Hannah went not up For she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever. And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou have weaned him. Only the Lord establish his word. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, one ephah, a flower, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young, and they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord had given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also, I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. So here she is going, giving her son to the Lord. God had given Hannah a son she had requested, and she's giving the gift back to the giver. She's gonna keep this promise. And Samuel's gonna be used in a great and mighty and magnificent way. And she goes on in chapter two to express her praise. And Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none besides thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more, so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bowels of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them, excuse me, inherit the throne of glory where the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall give strength unto the king and exalt the horn of his anointed. And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. So we see that Hannah took time to praise the Lord for his help. And all throughout this prayer, you see her recognition of God's sovereign power. He killeth, he maketh alive, he bringeth down, he bringeth up, he maketh poor, he maketh rich. God does what he wants, with whom he wants, how he wants to do it. He is sovereign in absolutely all things. I said, the scripture, pray without ceasing, real close to that, it says rejoice evermore. And that's exactly what Hannah's doing here. She is rejoicing in the Lord because he had answered her prayers. So what a wonderful example she is, a woman of faith, of conviction, of understanding God's sovereignty, a prayerful woman, a faithful woman. a woman that keeps her vows, and a woman who praises the Lord. That's Hannah. What a wonderful example Hannah is. What a blessing. So happy Mother's Day to the mothers. We pray God's blessings upon you all. We pray the Lord will bless His word this morning.