The Lord Provides
Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
How desperate are you for the Lord?
B. Reading of the text
C. Review of the text
D. Relevance of the text
I. Our Lord Remembers
I. Our Lord Remembers
19 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.
20 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.”
We are not told how many trip Hannah had taken listening to her rival Peninnah but this trip home would be much different from all the other trips. On her way home this time she knows that the Lord has heard her prayer and the anticipation of having a child had to be all that was on her mind. How grateful we should be that the Lord hears our voices and cares. What a testimony our lives are to the fact that he desires us to walk with him and to be in relationship with him.
She had prayed:
11 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 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.”
Hannah after pouring out her heart last week goes home with Elkanah and her family and there “the Lord Remembered her.”
1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
9 And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
1, 2 Samuel (1) The Lord Opens Hannah’s Womb (1:1–20)
In most miracles touching human lives, the Lord chooses to achieve his desired ends with the assistance of people. Certainly this was true in Hannah’s case.
Hannah broken in Spirit poured out her soul before the Lord
2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.
Remembered—The Lord sovereignly intervenes in Hannah’s life and answers her prayer. Free will and the Sovereign hand of God. God purpose and plan is clear he is set to bring one who will be Prophet, Priest, and Judge over Israel. This man will be the very hand of God as he chooses the first King of Israel and ultimately King David to sit on his thrown forever. Lord is remembering Hannah but he is also remembering all that he has planned for the people of Israel. This part of God’s plan includes Hannah and his ability to shape her life for His glory.
T.S.
II. May the Lord Establish his word
II. May the Lord Establish his word
21 The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.
22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.”
23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.
I gave Elkanah a hard time back in vs. 8 of chapter 1 but Elkanah has a desire to follow the Lord as he actively pursues God in his obedience to him.
5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,
6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Elkanah obviously fully supports the vow that has been made by his wife which is not as easy as it sounds. You are giving up your first born son at what is likely the age of 3 years old to not live with you anymore and give him to the Lord.
vs. 22 he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.
Literal translation is “Before the face of Yahweh,” he would “live there always”
Samuel would be a possession of the Lord’s all the days of his life.
6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
3 Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you.”
7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers.
33 And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
Elkanah would be making a sacrifice of his first born son from the womb of Hannah and had no doubt that God had closed the womb now was opening the womb for His purpose.
III. Possession of the Lord’s
III. Possession of the Lord’s
24 And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young.
25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli.
26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord.
27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.
28 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.
They detail of what they take to sacrifice to the Lord is extravagant. A three-year-old bull is at maturity at that point.
According to Numbers 15:8-10
8 And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or for peace offerings to the Lord,
9 then one shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil.
10 And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
They would give 3 times the amount needed. The important part of this passage is we see how much the family desires to worship the Lord with this abundant gift to the Lord which is an expression of their faith in him.
Then name Samuel in Hebrew sounds like the word “Ask for.”
The Lord has granted my petition that I made of him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.
1, 2 Samuel (2) Hannah Dedicates Samuel to the Lord’s Service (1:21–28)
God had given him; Hannah gave him back; and Samuel’s very name was a reminder of these things. We should not overlook the sacrifice made by Hannah; but her loss was to be Israel’s gain, and she felt amply compensated.”
People of Elkanah, Eli, Hannah and ultimately Samuel. We should see how God works in their lives as they faithfully walk with him but we must remember this is ultimately God’s story. This passage should drive me to a better understanding of How God operates in the lives of those that are his. God is do a work in the life of all these individuals to bring about his purposes. Am I able to see the hand of God in my life and work out my salvation with fear and trembling before the God of the universe?
Here was a Christian mother, on the basis of what she knew—and didn’t know--”making over her sons to the Lord. They were hers, but it was more important that they be his—and for that she prayed...
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.