to the middle, you'll see our text for today. We're going to be in 1 Samuel. This is the second week of our series in 1 Samuel entitled The Search or The Need for a King. We started this series last week actually out of the book of Judges to set the stage because this takes place right at the end of the period of the Judges. And by the way, I just want to say, it's cool doing two services and seeing all y'all here, and if you're wondering if the sermon is the same, I can say this because we're not filming, but I think it's better in the first service. My old church, we preached two sermons, and the first one, to me, always seems more crisp and organized, and the other one, I kind of wander a little more, so just know that this is supposed to be the same sermon, but I think you guys get the better part of it. The assessment at the end of the book of Judges was that in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. That's where we enter our text today. Will you pray once more with me as we go to God's word? Father, we come to you as we're about to hear the reading of your word, and your word is life and truth, and then the preaching of your word. We ask for your help, and we know that it is only by your help, through your spirit, living inside us, that we could even understand what's going on here. The Old Testament often seems like such a crazy, crazy section of scripture, and we see your grace and beauty in it. Help us to see that today as we would read. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. I'm gonna read verses four to 20. Please listen as I read God's word. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Penina, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than 10 sons? After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord, and she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but you will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord. all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. And she continued praying before the Lord. Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart only, only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered, no, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman. For all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. Then Eli answered, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. And she said, let your servant find favor in your eyes. Then the woman went away and ate, and her face was no longer sad. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord. Then they went back to their house at Ramah, and Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time, Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel. For she said, I have asked for him from the Lord. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So longer texts, and the Old Testament narrative books tend to be longer. I didn't even read the whole of the story. We'll cover a few more of the verses. And we'll continue with Hannah's story next week also. You know, as I survey the problems in our society today and the chaos, as I said last week, it looks a lot like the book of Judges. It could be said in those days there was no God in the United States and everyone was doing what was right in his or her own eyes. Perhaps every time feels like that. I know in my own life it feels like that. today like it hasn't felt like in the past. And all the institutions that the Lord has given us for our flourishing, for our benefit, to maintain justice and order and for human beings to thrive seem to be broken. Families, the church, and the government. And sure, while there's bright spots, and I know some of them, and some of them are in this room, that families are just doing well in the Lord, and there are churches that are on fire for the Lord, and doing and being what they're supposed to be. I pray Meadowview would be that. Seems like those are becoming more the minority. And when these institutions fail, the family, the church, and the government, We're not talking about faceless things here, we're talking about people's lives, and people are hurting. So we see that in individuals, and that's the indication that these things are not working as they should, as we see broken marriages, and strained relationships with kids, and problems with our kids, and addiction problems, financial problems. People are searching for meaning in what seems like a meaningless existence, but they're looking for that meaning and fulfillment in all the wrong ways. It's causing a mental health crisis. Our mental well-being is not right, in general, in our society. Is mental health important? Well, it's very important, and when you see people, what do you often say to people as they're greeting? Like, how are you doing? Do we really care how they're doing? What are we asking? We're asking how they're feeling, how is their shalom, is there shalom in their life? So people often say some physical indicators, maybe their health is going well, or maybe their job is going well, or whatever, but when there's problems, maybe their health isn't going well, what do we wanna know? How they're doing with it, how they're feeling, how they're handling it mentally. How are you mentally? How's your stress levels? How's your vibrance in your life? Do you feel worn out? Do you feel barren? Do you feel lifeless? What is plaguing you amidst the barrenness in our society today, causing you anxiety? And what is it for you and what would fix it? What's that thing, that one thing for you that if you had it would fix it? You think it would make it all better, would solve all the problems. For Hannah in our text today, it was a child. She thought a child would give her significance and purpose and meaning and would prove her worth and maybe gain the love of her husband. Maybe it would stop her rival from harassing her. 1 Samuel opens up as we see in a mixed up world. You're not meant to read this and think, oh, that's normal. Polygamy in the Bible, it's a problem for us. We don't know how to understand this. Like why does God put up with a husband having two wives? And yet we know that's not the norm, although many of the people in the Bible had the two wives, it certainly was not the norm in Scripture, and it wasn't what was prescribed in Scripture. As a matter of fact, wherever you see Two spouses in scripture, you always see trouble. Every time. Sarah and Hagar, Leah and Rachel, here in this home. Scripture does not condone this behavior. Somehow God allows it to exist, but we see even when Jesus is asked, and he's asked about the idea of divorce, what does he say? Well, Moses allowed you to get divorced because of the hardness of your hearts, but that's not the purpose. And anyone who divorces his wife and then remarries, that's like committing adultery. So you can be sure that it's an adulterous situation when there's two wives in the home, because in the beginning, God created the male and female. And he said, the two shall become one flesh. The two, not the three, not the many, not the multiple. The New Testament over and over says, be subject to your own husband or wife, one. Leadership in the church is limited to those who are husband of one wife. So I just wanted to lay that out there, that little sort of tangential thing, like scripture is not telling us it's a good thing, and we could see that it's not a good thing, that there's more than one spouse in the home. It's an indication that the family unit is broken. And just like in our own society, all these three institutions are broken because we see their religious institution, the Old Testament church is broken. Their priest can't even recognize true worship. He's so shocked that there's somebody actually praying at the, the word there is temple, but it's really the word for the house of the Lord. The temple had not been built yet, this is the tabernacle. He's not used to seeing people praying there. He scolds her, he thinks she's drunk. Later we'll meet his sons, they're evil people, the priests. And the government is broken. Actually, there is no real government to be spoken of. This is a loose affiliation of 12 tribes right now, and we see at the end of the book of Judges, they're warring against each other. All these institutions that God has given for humus flourishing are broken. And once again, it's being reflected in individual people's lives and their pain, as we see in Hannah. So let's look at this, and I have an outline there in your bulletin. Trouble in paradise, a hint of hope and remembrance and peace. I got the two points there mixed up, the last two. So in Israel's history, promises were made to the patriarchs. They become slaves in Egypt. God delivers them out of Egypt. The people don't believe. so they're not allowed to go into the promised land. Joshua brings them into the promised land, and they're supposed to have God as their king. God raises up judges to help guide them, and people will follow the judges, but like we said last week, it's like Israel's circling the toilet bowl. With each cycle, it's getting worse and worse and worse and more chaotic. People get worse than the previous generation. They might turn back for a second, when God raises up a deliverer, a judge, a savior, but then as soon as that person dies, they become worse than before. The next book is Ruth, which takes place during the period of Judges, then we come to 1 Samuel. It's like Judges is Israel's history, and then immediately following it is 1 Samuel, with the book of Ruth as a story in the book, taking place during the period of the Judges, one story. And so why I tell you that, because it's interesting, when you read the last verse of the book of Judges with the first verse of the book of 1 Samuel, you get an interesting picture. Because the last verse in the book of Judges says, in those days there was no king in Israel, and it says, our translation say, and everyone was doing right in his own eyes. The Hebrew says, and man was doing right in his own eyes. Because that's the way they would say it, mankind in other words. But when you pair that with the first verse in our text today, which is not in your bulletin, in those days there was no king in Israel, and man was doing what was right in his own eyes, 1 Samuel 1.1. There was a certain man. Does it give you hope? If man or mankind is devolving into chaos, and it's blamed on man or human beings, and then the next thing in the scripture is gonna tell you is, and there was a man, perhaps we don't have much hope for this people that God has called to be his own. And yet, buried in this man's identity, in his very name, we get a glimpse. His name is Elkanah. When you see the word El in a name, whether it be at the front of the name or the back of the name, El is God. Elkanah's name means God is creator. And so we're reminded that in the midst of the chaos and the darkness that God created. And still the question is, where is he? Where is this God that created? Is he like the God the deists pose, that basically he's the watchmaker, he designs the watch and winds it up and then just lets the watch run? Or is he involved in his creation? And so the next name gives us that hint. Hannah. It means grace or favor. See, this Creator God does care for His creation, and He offers us grace and favor to those He knows, and yet the same question could be asked. Where is this Creator God, and where is the grace? Because the third name that we are given tells us the problem. Henina. It means the head, or the jewel, or the chief. She is ruling the home. Not the grace of the Lord. This man is in a long line of men who are doing what is right in their own eyes, and he is divided between two women. This is a theme, and this is one of those things that we need to see in the Old Testament, and it takes some training to see, but there are themes in the Old Testament, and the Bible uses these rivalries between two women to teach us something. That's why it happens so frequently. And so you think of Sarah and Hagar, warring in the home. Rachel and Leah. And here, Hannah and Penina. You know the book of Proverbs is a choice between two women? Lady wisdom or lady folly, ending with what? The Proverbs 31 woman. The book of Revelation shows a war between two women. the lady Babylon, and the pure white virginal bride Jerusalem. What is scripture trying to tell us in that? Well, the apostle Paul in the book of Galatians actually tells us how to understand one of these groups of women. Galatians chapter four, in talking about Hagar and Sarah, he says, tell me, do you desire to be under the law For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. And the son born of the slave was born according to the flesh. And the one born of the free woman was one according to the spirit. Now look at this. Now this may be interpreted allegorically. It's Paul's words. One woman representing Mount Sinai and the other representing slavery. So in Galatians, tells us how to interpret Sarah and Hagar as flesh and spirit. Here, these two women are being used to show something. A heart divided. And just as Elkanah is divided between two women, Israel is divided between Yahweh and the gods of the surrounding peoples. And the God of grace, Yahweh, is not bearing out. Remember grace, meaning Hannah. But they have another panina, another head. The gods of the Canaanites. And so this family, what's going on in this home, is an indication of what's going on in society. As a matter of fact, that's what the book of Judges said, right? That was what we studied last week. It says that they're playing the harlot with the other gods. They're not being blessed as a result of it, right? Hannah is barren. Where's all of this man's fruit in the other woman? And that's what it is with Israel. They're bearing fruit to their other gods, all the sins. Where's the grace? It's a divided home, it's just a reflection of what's going on in a divided society. Outwardly saying they love Yahweh, just like Elkanah is telling that to Hannah. All the while serving the gods of the nations, making them Peninnah or the head of them. We also see that barrenness is a theme that the Bible uses over and over. Like you come across that all the time. I have it in your bulletin there at the bottom. I have some of these notes. the warring wives one, I left off the Proverbs analogy and the Revelation analogy, the barren brides, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Manoah in the book of Judges, Hannah I left out of here because we're studying her, and Elizabeth in the New Testament. And so barrenness also is used in the lives of these women to reflect what's going on in society. Once again, if you think I'm making this up or I'm spiritualizing the text, we can go and find a place in scripture Multiple places in scripture. Isaiah 54. Sing, O barren one who did not bear. Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor. For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married, says the Lord. Talking Israel. Isaiah 35. I preached on this. in the beginning of this year. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. God brings life out of barrenness, life out of death. And so when we see these women who don't have children, it's a reflection of what's going on in society. Israel is spiritually barren, bankrupt. It's not meant, in this case, to bring shame on anybody. People can't have children. That's okay, but we know in that society, that did heap shame on them. Women got it tough, y'all. The Book of Judges shows some of the worst, most horrendous things I've ever read in my life happening to women at the hands of men. And here, we're seeing how cruel women could be to other women. as she's being plagued and harassed by Penina, the same way Hagar did to Sarah, the same way Rachel and Leah did to each other. For Hannah, she is desperate and alone. There's trouble in paradise. It's supposed to be paradise, right, the promised land? Does it feel like such a good place to be? And look at the words of the text, so graphically trying to paint a picture. If you look in your bulletin, I bolded most of them. Hannah wept. Hannah, why do you weep? Why is your heart sad? Verse 10, she was deeply distressed and wept bitterly. Talks about her affliction. Verse 15, she's troubled in spirit, pouring out my soul. She has great anxiety and vexation. Like, what could she say? They say, like, there's real trouble in this woman's life. Emptiness. She cries out to the Lord. She feels no purpose or reason for living. Her husband is no comfort. Her rival wife is a thorn in her side. And she's being mocked by the priest. And yet, what we know, because when you learn to see these patterns, you can see a hint of hope in the story. Because her barrenness is meant not to cause you to give her pity, although we do, but to say God is about to do something. Because when the barrenness is mentioned, or when the two wives are mentioned, we know God's about to enter history, this creator God, and offer grace, Hannah, into the situation. See, there's always a remnant. And we see that even in this family, in this broken, messed up, whacked out family. They're going to worship. They're going to worship Yahweh. They're actually worshiping year after year. Somehow, somebody in Israel has remembered to worship, even if it's not permeating their own lives the way it should. Hannah is indicative of a true worshiper. Eli the priest, he should be guiding his people, but he can't recognize worship when he sees it anymore. His ignorance, though, doesn't reflect on her. Because it's not reliant on the priest to determine who is good and pleasing and right in the eyes of the Lord. Her prayers go to the Lord. He thinks she's drunk and mumbling. She's not drunk or mumbling, she's pouring out her heart, not through her dingbat husband, or this wayward priest, but straight to God. And in that, she's a prototype of the New Testament believer. She's going boldly to the throne of grace, y'all. You say, wait a minute, don't they have to sacrifice and are they allowed to do that? Well, yeah, she doesn't enter the Holy of Holies or anything like that. She does sacrifice. But see, when you read in the Scriptures, when it says, I do not desire your sacrifices, I am not pleased by your sacrifice, because people are coming, dropping off their sacrifice and leaving. She is pouring out her heart to the Lord. She knows she needs a sacrifice. But then on the basis of that sacrifice, she knows that God is a God of grace who hears his people. And she doesn't care that she looks like a hysterical, out of control woman. She's going to her father. And she's not relying on ritual to earn her favor with God. She's not relying on the fact that she traveled far to sacrifice, that she made the right sacrifice. She doesn't say, look, I've sacrificed to you, Lord. She knows she has sinned, they make the sacrifice, but then she turns to do business with God. It's on the basis of the sacrifice that represents the cleansing that she asks the Lord in faith to do a new work in her life that's barren. To touch her, to remember her, she says. Next week we'll look at Hannah's song, it's beautiful, and the songs in scripture tell us something. And in that song we see that she's relying on God for salvation, that's in the song, in faith that looks forward to the Messiah. It's all in that song, it's so evangelical. It's so New Testament. It's on the basis of Jesus Christ, the final sacrifice, that we come boldly to the throne of grace. She's doing it through the Old Testament system, bringing her sacrifice, but then going and pouring out her soul, it says, to the Lord, and we do so on the base of a sacrifice that Jesus made. Boldly. He is the good and faithful high priest, not like Eli. who misses the point, who can't recognize worship. Jesus sees into the heart. She explains to the priest that she's not some worthless woman, or it's the word belial, which stands for evil or wickedness, or Satan himself. I'm not some evil, wicked woman. The irony in that, in two weeks we're gonna meet Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, and they're called worthless men. Priest upholding his worthless sons and judging this daughter of the king. See, this is what you can expect in the Bible when you meet a woman who is barren, that God is gonna touch her heart and do a new thing. Despite the fact that they're circling the toilet bowl in their own sin. God is about to do something great in the life of Hannah. But more than that, he's about to do something great in the land for his people. Does great things through barren women. Barren Sarah ends up having Isaac, who carries on the line of promise. Barren Rachel has Joseph, who delivers the whole land from a famine. Barren Manoah has Samson, the great deliverer of the book of Judges. Here, you could smile because God's about to do a new work in Israel through Hannah's son, Samuel. Because God remembers his people and his covenant. God gives them the heart to cry out to him and then he hears them. She says, remember me, verse 11. Remember me, don't forget me. Verse 19, and the Lord remembered her. And we read that, we often think, does that mean God forgot? No, that's covenantal language. It harkens back to actually Noah. Get that parallel. It says that Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. That's the word for Hannah. Got grace, Noah did, and the Lord remembered him. And here this woman named Favor or Grace, the Lord remembers her, faithful to his covenant to his people. She does exactly what we learned in the book of Philippians. Did you see it? She says, I have great anxiety and affliction, vexation. What do we hear in Philippians? Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And what? And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Is that not what happens here? Right after it says she has great anxiety, and she gave that up to the Lord, the priest says what? Go in peace. And does she? The woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Those are indicators that she went in peace. When you eat, you never see people eating when they're in peace. They fast when they're in peace, not in peace. And her countenance was lifted, that's the face. Her face was no longer sad. She's joyful. It was good enough to give her rest. She thought, Somehow through that prayer, and this is the beauty of prayer, we give our anxieties to the Lord. He helps us reframe the problem. She no doubt realized that she didn't have the undivided affection of her husband, that the priest viewed her as worthless and a mess and hysterical. Society viewed her as a shame because she doesn't fit the societal expectations of a woman, but she came to the realization that if God knows me, that if God remembers me, that if I'm his child, that is good enough for her. It's good enough. Romans 8, why is she falling back into fear for her self-worth when she is a children of God, child of God? The priest says, go in peace, God's gonna do for you what you've asked. She's been asking this for years. She leaves in peace before she even has the child. It's good enough for her, and then what we see in the next verses. Lost the page there. Lost my glasses. That she does have a child and she weans the child. And you know what? She goes back to that priest. Verse 26. Oh my Lord, as you live my Lord, I am the woman who is standing here in your presence praying to the Lord. Remember that worthless woman? You called a worthless woman. For this child I prayed and the Lord has granted my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there, that being Samuel. She said a razor would not touch his head, that's an indication in the Bible of what's called the Nazarite vow. Samson was a Nazarite, John the Baptist is a Nazarite. Doesn't mean you're from Nazareth, it was a vow that they made. And this vow that she made was less about bargaining with God and more of a realization that after years and years of prayer and not getting what she's praying for, that she had actually done to God what her husband had done to her. Her husband was saying, I love you, but all the while he's loving another woman. And she's telling God, I love you, I love you, but all the while her heart and her affection are for her unborn son. And she realized that she was using that vision of having a child as a mini idol or a savior. And she says to the Lord, if you've given me what I've prayed for you all these years, this thing that I've made an idol, you're enough for me, Lord. I will give him back to you because I'd never have him if you didn't give him to me first. So what is it in your life that if you think you just had that thing, and you're crying out to the Lord for it, and he gave it to you, could you give it up? I'm not saying you have to. The question is, what place in your heart does it hold? Are you telling God, I love you, I love you, all the while bearing fruit to some other idol? God's about to do something new in Israel. She names his name Samuel. Remember what I said about the word El, that's God, that's at the end of his name. It's actually Shemuel, and Shem is name. She names her child the name of God, literally. In other words, the name of God will come back to Israel, and Israel will know their God. And God will do this work through a child by the name, the name of God, because they had forgotten who their God was. He's gonna do a new thing in Israel through Samuel, but we're gonna see that the period of the kings follows very similarly to the period of the judges as we talked about last week. But, if we keep the patterns in mind, one day we'll meet another woman who is unable to conceive a child. Her name is Elizabeth. And God will miraculously give her a child who will also be a Nazirite who a razor never touches his head. His name is John the Baptist. And this John the Baptist will present the true king of Israel, Jesus Christ, the son of David, just as Samuel is going to present David that we'll see in the coming chapters. God willing, it's gonna be a while. In other words, we are to be given hope. Israel is barren at a time, but a Savior will come. Jesus Christ and Isaiah is called a tender shoot sprouting up out of parched ground. Barren is turning to life. And when Jesus comes for that final restoration, we get that everlasting King who will reign in righteousness, who is reigning right now. One day all those institutions that I described at the beginning of the sermon, the family, the church, and the government will all be one in Him because we are brought into by faith the family of God, because we're in Jesus Christ. and his church is united to him, and Isaiah says the government will be upon his shoulders. See, this righteous king unites all the broken systems that God has given for human flourishing, and then we can live as men and women fully alive in the presence of our Savior. Does that give you joy and hope? I hope it does. I know this often feels like a barren land of shame and godlessness. It seems like God has left. Where is Creator God? Where is Elkanah? But Hannah, there is grace. We're reminded of Hannah, both in her story and of her name, that Creator God has not left the building. He is here among us and in us, and there is a remnant, I pray that's us, who will be crying out to Him. Are we crying out? See, here's the thing, that while all this is pointing to a restoration of a people, and a final restoration and a final hope, we see in this story in Hannah's life that God is not just interested in the big picture, but he touches this woman who's crying out to him. Yes, he's going to deliver Israel through Samuel, but he delivers this woman. He could deliver you. What are you struggling with? What is your pain? What is vexing you? What are you crying out to the Lord for you? It's good to bring it to God like she did. God hears the cries of the brokenhearted. Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will give you the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding. This is not for just for some future fulfillment. We are told that Christ came to give life and to give it to the full now. Not some prosperity gospel. She asked for a child, but God gave her more. He gave her peace. That's the prosperity that's promised. Do we want that? Do you know this God? He is seeking true worshipers who enter into the holy place on the basis of the sacrifice, not that they bring from a long distance, but the very costly sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we cast our cares on Him. Hannah wanted to feel joy and peace and love and value. Yes, she wanted a child and God gave her a child, but He gave her all those things, joy and peace and value, as a daughter of the King. Do you know this Jesus? Because He can do that for you. You place your faith in Him, He gives you His righteousness, but then you get His love. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, and we're about to. Heavenly Father, what a crazy story of a man with two wives and barrenness and just, but in it we see your daughter, crying out to you, pushing out all the noise in her life and all the rejection and all the shame because she's going to you. She's doing what we're called to, Father, and I pray that at the hearing of this, we remember that you are a God of grace, that you, yes, you created everything, but you sustain everything and you continue to give us grace and love and mercy. Help us rest on the sacrifice of Jesus for those things. for it's in His name we pray, Amen.