1 Samuel 1:1-20

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to go into 1 Samuel and have you ever prayed for something so hard maybe people even thought that you were out of your mind? That's what we're going to find with somebody named Hannah today. So let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing it is that we get to read your word, your perfect, wonderful truth. And so, Father, we pray that you would hear our prayer, that we want to learn about you. We want to walk in your ways. We need your spirit to be able to teach us who you are and how to live our lives before you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Here we go, 1 Samuel chapter 1, and we'll read the first 20 verses. Now there was a certain man of Ramathayim, Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Alkanah, the son of Jeoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives, the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peniah. Peniah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. Also, the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Benaiah, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although Jehovah had not, because Jehovah had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable because Jehovah had closed her womb. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of Jehovah that she provoked her, for she wept and did not eat.
All right, so we got this guy, Elkanah. He's got two wives. This is never a good situation. Just letting you know, you get two women, guys, it's almost always going to be fights. It doesn't work out. There's a rise of polyamory and polygamy type stuff in the West. It just doesn't work out, right? It's against the way that God created marriage. And so here we find one lady, she's got kids. Let's go and find the other. Hannah, she doesn't have any kids and the one provokes the other. Just human nature. But Elkanah loves Hannah, gives her a double portion. This guy is devout.
Then Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than 10 sons?
So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the door post of the tabernacle of Yehovah. And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child. Then I will give to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head."
And it happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you.
But Hannah answered and said, no, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine or intoxicating drink, but I've poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief, I've spoken until now.
Then Eli answered and said, go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of him. And she said, let your maid servant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad.
Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to their house at Ramah. and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her so it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel saying because I have asked for him from the Lord.
Well, pardon me. I got the yawns this morning. We need to ask ourselves our three questions. A. What's this about? B. What's the best verse to summarize this? And C. What are we called to do?
So, what's this passage about? This is about Hannah trusting the Lord, crying out to Him. And I just love this human, fun picture of her weeping and crying at the tabernacle. She's in anguish of soul. She's crying out to her Lord. By the way, the tabernacle precedes the temple. It's that tent that was being made under Moses and set up and Aaron and his sons first ministered there. Eli, the high priest, is now a descendant and it's at Shiloh. The tabernacle eventually is going to go and morph into the temple and that will be in Jerusalem but for now it's in Shiloh. And she's just crying out to the Lord.
And Eli thinks she's drunk, right? Because her mouth is moving, but no words are coming out. And she's like, no, no, no, I'm not a wicked woman. I'm not drunk. I've got anguish in the heart. And Eli knows somehow Eli knows, go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of him. He tells her, go home and may God bless your petition. He sees her heart and she does. She goes home. She knows her husband. So Okana and Hannah, they have sex, they have marital relations and what has proved fruitless, their entire marriage, changes. God heard her cry.
Now, what's this about? This is about God blessing Hannah, right? There's infertile people all the time. People go through great lengths, go to do amazing heroic type of things to try to conceive a child. And those who find themselves in infertility, you know, I've been the pastor of some of those It's really, really difficult for them. Emotionally, relationally in their marriage, spiritually before God, what have we done wrong? Why can't we have a child? And the only thing they can do is cry out to God, right? They go see the doctors, they do all the things, but it's God who creates life. What's so easy for other people, they find out it's not just biology. It really is the Lord who creates life. God blesses Hannah, gives her a baby, and this baby Samuel, he's going to be used by Lord in pretty amazing ways. So we'll find out more as we go. I've never yawned this much. I don't know what's going on. I'm so sorry.
What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, In my Bible, I actually really like Eli's statement to her in verse 17. I also like verse 18, but I also like when it came to pass in the process and the Lord remembered her, the last part of verse 19. So, I get a hard time sometimes summarizing this.
Well, let's talk about seek calling. What do we call to do? You know, sometimes when hope just Hope, faith is the substance of things not seen. And hope we normally think of theologically as a promise that we can latch on to. But sometimes there's desires that we call hope. And sometimes when those deeply held desires seem elusive, we can start losing faith.
But I think Hannah knows that the Lord, even if he doesn't answer her, he's God. But she makes an incredible promise that she's not going to keep this baby, but she's going to give that baby over. She acts by faith. We'll find out whether she keeps this promise or not.
But when we act by faith, when we walk before the Lord in sincerity, in holiness, trusting Him. He's the one who gives us all good things.
Let's pray. Father, you are a good and wonderful God. You provide us with everything we need. You hear the deep groans of our hearts. You know the recesses of our souls. And you give good gifts to your children. Father, we pray that we would not lose hope. but that we would also know that you bring all things together for our good according to your purposes in your time. So we trust you, Lord. Care for us and teach us to walk in your ways. In Jesus' name, amen.
May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy of Jesus Christ, and I'll see you next time. Bye.