Hannah

Time is not waiting for us and is passing so fast.  What you saw yesterday has gone and you will not see it again.  We are living today by grace and we are not sure what will happen tomorrow so hold onto what you have now because in the future, it may not be yours.  Be proud what God has given to you now because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.

I’m happy to be here this morning and I wasn’t sure if I could make it but by God’s grace, I am here.

1 Samuel 1, Samuel is a prophet we all know.  Before Samuel existed, someone else was there, the parents of Samuel.  Today I want to share about the parents of Samuel.  Elkanah was the father of Samuel.  He was rich because he could afford to marry two wives.  Elkanah married the first wife, Peninnah and after that he took the second wife who was the mother of Samuel, her name was Hannah.

Those two wives lived together in the Samuel’s place.  One, Peninnah, was blessed and could give birth to children but Hannah could not give birth.  God decided to close Hannah’s womb.  Hannah was so beautiful and she was a kind and committed wife and had the qualities of women of that time could have but one thing was missing and that was to have a child.

In the old time, every women from the community of Joshua wanted to give birth because God promised Eve in the garden of Eden, the child that you will give birth to will do something against satan.  Satan will bite the heal of the child and the child will defeat satan.  It was a race for every single women to give birth to a boy because you never know, maybe it will be the one to fulfil that promise, the child who will defeat satan.  It was ike a competition.

When Elkanah took Hannah, it was a big ceremony.  When we come to Jesus, He says, I want you to be my wife, be my partner and walk by my side, we will have a wedding ceremony.  When women prepare for their wedding there is happiness, excitement, counting down the time.  That joy was growing bigger in Hannah’s heart because she knew that very soon she will live with Elkanah, “Very soon I will get pregnant, give birth and have descendants and maybe one of my children will be the child to defeat satan”.

That joy of getting married can make people not to sleep thinking about the big ceremony and what to wear etc.  Then when Hannah was living with her husband, things changed.  The wedding has gone and now she is the wife of the house: cooking, cleaning, washing, doing different activities for her husband and family and her deep desire was to have a child. Meanwhile the other wife was giving birth maybe every year.

Hannah was wondering what was going on.  How come she can give birth but I can’t?  It didn’t stop there.  Peninnah started to mock Hannah.  Even if Hannah was good in cooking Peninnah will say, “yeah, you might be good in cooking but shame on you, you didn’t have a child”.

Every year the community of Jewish people will go to give God offerings and during that time Elkanah would take his two wives and children and share money or what his family had to offer to God.  Although everybody was happy Hannah was sad and miserable because she didn’t have a child. 

Jesus has made us to be his wife and expects us to give birth to children but the shocking thing is that Christians don’t care if they don’t give birth.  What is to give birth? To make disciples.  Paul wrote, some people are called His children.  You can have a spiritual mother/father meaning that someone brought the gospel to you and you are saved.  Jesus is waiting to see what kind of fruit you will produce because if you don’t produce fruit, you will be cut off.  You can be a wife of Jesus but when you don’t produce (even if you have nice green leaves) if there is no fruit, there is the chance to be cut off and thrown in the fire.

The birth that we will give, that is what will defeat satan.  If I have the fruit of kindness and I am kind, it is not easy for satan to defeat me. I should be kind to my soul and that will make me to not sin.  All the fruit that you will bare will help you to defeat satan and once you fail to carry the fruit of the Holy Spirit but instead carry the fruit of the flesh, you will be defeated.

Hannah needed to give birth, this was the pain of her heart and the problem inside of her.  The husband was like, I am worthy more than 10 children to you.  If Jesus is here, that is enough but we should produce fruit.  To have Jesus in your life is not enough.  If you want to follow Jesus, you have to carry your own cross which is your soul.  For your soul to be alive, you need to produce.  That is why the Word of God says, faith without action is dead.

The church will tell you today, I trust in Jesus and He is doing everything for me.  No, Jesus should not do everything for you.  You have some responsibilities.  There is a contract in the life of Jesus.  Yes, Jesus I will marry you, yes, I will follow you for the rest of my life.  Remember the first disciples, Jesus said follow me and those disciples left everything, their jobs, their families and all that they enjoyed in life and followed Jesus,

Then after a time, He started to tell them that He will die.  The disciples must have wondered, what will become of me if you die?  I left everything to follow you.  We must follow Jesus and surrender all and know it is only for a short time, we might lose everything because of Him.

Hannah was provoked by Peninnah, “Your beauty is nothing because you don’t give birth”.  Your womb is empty.  Sometimes God will bring you in front of situations where there is mocking, people criticise you and nothing you do is pleasing to others.  Hannah realised her help will never come from a human being, “I should bring it all to God”.

Hannah went to the place of offering and opened her heart and started to pray, “Lord listen to me, this is the pain that I have been going through”.  Today in the church before to pray people start to think about what they will say when they pray and they start to choose their words carefully and use maybe words that they have memorised.  The one who is going through pain and hardship won’t have time to search for beautiful words but will break down in tears and spew it all in front of God.

Hannah cried in front of God, expressing her feelings.  When you pray, how often do you cry to God? How long do you take to kneel down to tell God about your problems and how often do you admit that the only solution is God.  Hannah couldn’t eat.  When you have a serious problem - that is the best time to come to God and bring it all out.

In the church we look left and right to see who is next to me.  I concentrate on what is next to me and I lower my voice and I forget that this is my time with my Lord and I shouldn’t be distracted.

By praying Hannah asked for a son, “if you give me this boy, I will give him back to you”.  What a big contract, what a powerful prayer.  If you fulfil my prayer, in return that is what you will get God.  After some time God fulfilled Hannah’s desire.  Hannah became pregnant.  You may be walking with Jesus every time but when you haven’t had time yet to kneel before God and present all your problems, it will just be a routine of prayer without changes.  If you take your situation seriously, God will take your situation seriously. 

It will be monotonous – repeating the Samuel prayer every time.  Why do you go to church?  Because it’s Sunday, because others go, to meet with others, to read the Bible or is it to meet with Jesus and to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit?  I need to be seen as a mother who cares.

Adam was a man and he couldn’t do everything by himself.  Eve was given to Adam to help him.  You are the Eve of the church.  He has given you a body, spirit and mind that should produce and multiply. When the Holy Spirit enters you and you conceive, do you keep that pregnancy or do you cause it to abort?  Do you keep the Word of God or do you destroy it because you don’t want to become a true Christian and give birth?  We are all weak but when we kneel before him, He intervenes.

Hannah was pregnant.  I’m sure she was walking proud.  Her husband loved Hannah more than Peninnah.  Now maybe Elkanah wanted to spend more time with Hannah.  Peninnah was becoming jealous.  Do you know how many people God will put aside just for you, “I want to listen to you Levi because you are bearing something in you”.

After giving birth everything went well but the challenge came because she had promised to give her son back to God.  Imagine having to give your first born away. Not easy.  How much are you women attached to your babies?  Here for Hannah, she understood that soon her son must leave.

What contract have you taken with your God?  When your child is taken away, when will you see him again?  Hannah didn’t give the child away on the first year but took him on the second year and gave him to Eli.  When you are blessed with something and you are given something that you have been asking for, do you also give back to God what you promised to do?

We often say God give me strength and I will praise you.  When God gives us strength, do we then praise Him?  God give me this job and I will do this for you.  When we get the job, do we keep our promise?  Very often we fail.  When we fail we try to find excuses and those excuses are unfounded. 

Jesus is reminding us today, do you want to carry your cross, follow me.  I will give to you what you need but what you have promised to me, give back to me.  How often do we lie?  If you give me strength I will go to the Wednesday meeting but on Wednesday you decide you are too tired, you break your contract.

When one party fails to keep their part of the contract, then the contract fails.  If I don’t pay Tyrone who agreed to paint my house, then there is a conflict.  Very often we create a conflict with God by engaging in a contract and not fulfilling it.  Shouldn’t we repent? We have been lying to you God and giving false promises although you continue to bless us, we continue to lie to you and think our God is blind and doesn’t know what is happening.  God knows.

Eli saw Hannah praying and he thought she was drunk.  When was the last time you were praying and people thought you were drunk?  I’ve never been drunk but those that get drunk forget about themselves and stumble when they walk.  A power seizes them and they see three roads instead of one and can’t walk straight.  They can walk through things and not feel pain and don’t feel shame or shy.  The next morning they feel the pain.

Do you get lost in prayers?  If not then ask God to teach you how to get lost in prayers and get drunk in prayers so God can resolve your problems.  E.g. Pentecost.  When was the last time you sang and danced for your God and people thought that you were drunk?  When was the last time in your bedroom that you shouted and prayed as a drunk person?  When you are drunk you don’t choose your words, whatever comes you spew it out.  God loves it when you spew it all out to Him.

God understands you, your feelings.  Put your feelings in your prayer.  Don’t let God feel like you are boring when you are praying.  You might not find time again so give it to Him now.

When you have children that don’t talk and are shy, how do we feel?  One time I took one of my children somewhere and in front of everybody she was supposed to say two words but she couldn’t.  Instead of talking, she kept coming back to me.  Everybody understood that she wasn’t confident.  When you are confident, then everybody will open their eyes and try to listen to what you are saying.  Tell God to build up your confidence like Hannah.

Hannah knew very well that her last solution is God, “I don’t have to take revenge against Peninnah or keep things in my heart.  What people say doesn’t matter but what matters is what I’m telling my God”.  Once you reach that stage in life you will know how to carry your cross.  Remember our time is very short.  Very soon, God will ask you, “give your life back to Me now”.

Everything that God gives to you, it is not yours and you will give it back to Him.  Are you ready to give it back to Him?