Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… (Psalm 17)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, August 16 2009

There are two great commandments from the Bible that sum up what it means to be Christians, to love God and to love people. Christian life is about being in love relationship with God and with people. And, the latest encouragement to read God’s word in my sermons and to spend time with God has its goal set on growing relationship with God. One of the key ingredients for growing relationship with God is prayer. I like how Warren Wiersbe framed Psalm 17 in his short message. He framed the prayer in Psalm 17 in what we need from God, namely his ears, his eyes, his hand and his face. We pray because we need God’s ears to hear our petition, his eyes to examine us, his hand to deliver us and his face to satisfy us.[1]

For the purpose of speaking clearly without jamming in too much stuff into one sermon, I am going to speak in two sermons. Today, I will touch on our need for God’s ears, eyes and his hand. Next week, I will speak on our need for God’s face.

1. Prayer of callous hearts

Before I talk about prayer that seeks God’s eyes, I need to speak to you about what might be a typical way people pray. A typical prayer is prayer that seeks God’s ears and his hand; it seeks results from God. We want him to hear to us and to do something for us, to help us to do well on test, to do well at work, to keep us in good health, to help us succeed… Now, there is nothing wrong with wanting God to hear us and lend his hand to help, to rescue, to deliver us. Seeking God as the one who hears us and helps us with his mighty hand honors him.

David sought in his prayer for God’s ears and his hand in Psalm 17. David is asking for God to “hear” him to “give ear” to his prayer (17:1) and to save him by his “right hand” (17:7). He doesn’t write about the details of the problem he is facing; but words like “vindication” from 17:2, the descriptions from 17:10, “the wicked with “callous hearts” who “speak with arrogance” and 17:11, how they “track him down and “surround” him like “Lions hungry for prey” and “crouching in cover” to ambush him… all these indicate some kind of attacks unleashed against David by the wicked people around him. And, he is asking for God to hear him and to life his hand to deliver him.

So, we know that there is nothing wrong with seeking God’s ears and his hand to help us. But, if this is all that we seek, God’s ears to hear us and his hand to help us, then something isn’t quite right about this. When we seek God’s ears and his hand, but not his eyes and his face, we treat God as our personal genie who exists for our wants and needs.

David, in Psalm 17:10, describes the attackers as ones with “callous hearts.” Literally, “callous hearts” speaks to closed up hearts in fat. A commentator sees the "fat" of the hearts of the wicked as their greedy, self-loving, and insensitive nature.[2]

I got my blood test result back last week and it showed that I have abnormally high triglycerides level. I did some quick web research and found out if this abnormal triglycerides level persists I have greater risk of suffering strokes and other heart complicated illnesses. Triglycerides level is directly link to high Carbohydrates consumption, high calorie diet, along with low exercise. Basically, I am talking in too much calories, too much carbohydrates without burning it up in regular exercises. I have callous hear sort to speak.

Spiritual fatty, callous hearts are hearts that want things from God without being responsible to him. Fatty, callous hearts only want God to hear them and extend his hand to help them out, but otherwise they see no other need for God. It is seeing God as a genie, a personal assistant available to assist us in our troubles, like On-Star systems that some cars have or AAA. Callous heart of an ungrateful child wants whole lot of things from his parents, but has no sense of responsibility.

Are you suffering from fatty callous heart? How would you know if you are treating God as your personal assistant to show up at moments notice when you are in trouble? If your prayer language focuses mostly on God hearing you and God doing things for you, then you should suspect the condition of fatty callous heart! If you persist on asking for God’s ears and his hand without his eyes and his face, you will experience spiritual strokes or heart attack.

What you and I need is the kind of prayer that does away with fatty callous heart. And the way we are going to turn this potentially life threatening condition is by seeking God’s eyes and his face. As I said, today, the focus will be on seeking God’s eyes.

1. Prayer that seeks God’s eyes

What is prayer that seeks God’s eyes? In David’s prayer, what we see is “righteous plea” that is “not rising from deceitful lips” in Psalm 17:1. Prayer that seeks God’s eyes is prayer that his honest, not deceptive.

Many of you who are following M’Cheney’s Bible reading schedule would have read Jeremiah 42 this past week. There you would have noticed the Israelites asking Jeremiah, “Please hear our petition and pray to the LORD your God for this entire remnant… Pray that the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do… Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD your God… we will obey the LORD our God” (Jeremiah 42:1-6). It is a beautiful prayer of petition to God to lead; it is a prayer of confession in their willingness to trust and submit to his guidance.

Jeremiah told them that they should go into exile to the foreign land of Babylon and there God purposed to bless them. He told them that they should not go down to Egypt, falsely believing that they would be safe in Egypt from the Babylonians. But, their reply reveals the true nature of their earlier prayer. Jeremiah 43:2 reads their response, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’”

This is praying with “deceitful lips”, praying dishonestly. It rose from their callous hearts, fatty hearts that were bent on using God for their own gains. So, when they heard differently from God than what they really wanted to do, they dismissed God completely. How do we prevent this kind of deceitful prayer? We need prayer that seeks God’s eyes to evaluate us and refine us.

• Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… take alone time with God at night.

Psalm 17:3, David talks about God probing his heart and examining him at night. Night is when usually work is no longer carried out, when normal social relationship are at rest. Night signifies time of aloneness when no one is around you, but God alone.

Not only do we need the time in the morning, but we also need the time at night when you and I are alone and apart from the seeing eyes of the people, but not from the seeing eyes of God.

After long day, often temptation is to veggie out, checking emails, reading news, watching TV and to fall asleep. But, David’s practice was to during the aloneness of his nights to come to God who saw him.

What was David doing in his aloneness of nights? He came to God for two things, evaluation and refining.

• Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… let God evaluate you.

Psalm 17:3, David talks about God who sees him probing his heart and examining him. To probe is to investigate, to interrogate, and to evaluate what otherwise would be hidden away from our conscience. It is not that God doesn’t see or God needs time to evaluate us. He already knows our character, our days, the condition of our hearts and our lifestyle. The problem is that unless we come to God and draw near for evaluation, we won’t know what’s going on in us. God has to reveal his evaluation to us in order for us to know what’s going well and what’s not going well.

• Prayer that seeks God’s eyes… let God refines you.

David also talks about in Psalm 17:3 God testing him. Testing here comes from the language of metal worker refining precious metals like silver and gold to take out dross in order to produce highest quality of silver and gold. Psalm 66:10 says, “you refined us like silver.” Testing and refining are the same Hebrew word translated differently. So, this language of refining describes what God does in his people. Isaiah 1:25, “I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.”

You need God’s eyes to search your inner make up of who you are. What gave rise to your anger during your day? What gave rise to lustful thoughts today? Why did you lie today? Why did you waste your time? What hurts you today? What fears did you have today? How did you hurt, sin against others?

As the Lord searches our hearts and reveals the dross, the impurities, then you and I can take them to the cross where Christ covers them with his blood and he cleanses us. When this takes each night, when this refinement process repeats each night, you and I will become purer each day.

1 Corinthians 3:12-14 says, “If any man builds on his foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

When the time when God will account you and me, what will you and I have to show for?

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[1] http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=10242

[2] VanGemeren, Willem A. “III. The Wicked (17:10-12)” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 5. 165. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1991.

Fight to put off unrighteous anger and put on righteous anger (Ephesians 4:26)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon March 15, 2009

This past week, the world was confronted by two outrageous shooting rampages that killed 15 people in Germany and 10 in Alabama. Tim Kretschmer 17 year old from Germany was described by friends as “a misogynist with a particular grudge against one of his former female teachers, who had told him he would ‘end up on the rubbish heap’” and a guy who was infatuated with a local girl who had snubbed his advances.[1] Michael McLendon of Alabama is also suspected of killing out of some kind of grudge.[2] Then, there was a recent terrible incident of a man wearing Santa Claus costume who killed nine people at a Christmas Eve party in California again driven by grudge.

These terrible killings are the sensational face of the destructive power of anger. But, the reality is Christians or non-Christians are all alike subject to the feeling of anger. When anger festered into grudge against others explodes, it destroys others. When anger is kept inside and stoked, it directs its fury against self until it eats inside of a person, and worse results in suicide. Anger if it is not dealt, it either hurts others or it hurts you.

The problem is not that we experience anger at all. It is what we do with it that determines the outcome.

The apostle Paul quotes in Ephesians 4:26 from Psalm 4:4, “In your anger do not sin” and he says, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” We get into problems not because we experience anger in the first place, but because we don’t respond to our anger appropriately.

1. Fight for righteous anger.

First, we have to discern the nature of our anger. There are two kinds of anger that we need to be mindful of, righteous anger and unrighteous anger. Throughout the biblical narratives about Jesus, we read about Jesus getting angry like in Mark 3:5; he got angry and was distressed by the stubborn hearts of the Pharisees. Jesus in his righteous anger is outraged by injustice, sin, unbelief, and exploitation of the disadvantaged.[3]

Moses was angry at Pharaoh for stubbornly refusing to submit to God (Exodus 11:8). We also see how Moses’ anger burned when he saw the calf and the dancing of the Israelites committing idolatry (Exodus 32:19). He became angry when he realized Eleazar and Ithamar didn’t follow God’s instruction on how to go about doing offering (Exodus 10:16).

Nehemiah became angry when he learned about the poor being mistreated by the practice of exacting usury, charging excessive interest (Nehemiah 5:6). This was equivalent to what many people of today experience. Predatory lenders gave loans to the people with all kinds of hidden fees and excessive rate hikes that make it virtually impossible for them to pay their mortgage payments now.

Are we familiar with this righteous anger towards ugliness of sins, especially our own Here is a parable to illustrate what this righteous anger looks like.

Imagine yourself as a bagger who lives in the back alleys scavenging through the garbage for food. And, your favorite place to look for food is the garbage dumpster that belongs to a famous restaurant. You eat whatever you can get your hands on. But one day, the owner of the restaurant comes out to the alley. Finding you digging through the dumpster, he invites you into his fine restaurant. And, you see before you this amazing buffet that puts Todai to shame with freshest fruits, oyster and lobsters… you name it. It’s all there, the best of best. And, the owner tells you that you don’t have to eat out of the dumpster any more. Anytime, you can walk right in and eat any of what’s before you freely without having to pay for any. God’s grace gives you unlimited access to his presence and to his abundant blessing and new life to live. And, when you step out to the back alley and you see the dumpster full of garbage that you used to eat to fill your hunger, you now look at it with distain, utter disgust, and anger. It would make no sense for you to go back into the dumpster to find something to eat, that old, rotten, moldy food that just might kill you when you now have the unlimited access and freedom to eat from the finest restaurant in town.

Righteous anger is this sense of disgust and disdain towards the dumpster full of sins that now belongs to the old self that has been crucified and buried because we’ve been given new self in Christ Jesus. Lord, increase righteous anger in us that we may not return to the dumpster.

2. Fight to put off unrighteous anger quickly.

As opposed to righteous anger of disdain and disgust against the dumpster full of sins, unrighteous anger is destructive emotion of ill-will towards other people that you find right in the dumpster of sins. Martin Luther once said, “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from nesting in your hair.” Initial feeling of anger may rise within us and we cannot do much about it, but what are not enslaved to anger any more. We now in Christ have choice to put off destructive anger. God has given us unrestricted, unlimited, completely free access to draw near to him because he justified us in Christ; and in Christ, we are no longer enslaved in the back alley to eat out of the garbage dumpster filled with all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander with every form of malice (Ephesians 3:31).

We now in Christ have choice to put off any destructive anger that we may encounter or to harbor it and let its destructive power to cause great harms to others and to ourselves. When we don’t put off destructive anger and let is be manifested, we are doing what is most illogical, stupidest and most pitiful thing, lingering in the dumpster of sins.

Destructive anger out of the back alley dumpster if it is not put away quickly before the sun goes down, what we allow is a room, an opportunity for the devil to exert its demonic influence on us. Not only allowing ourselves to be subject to the demonic influence, Jesus also said in Matthew 5:22, “I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” Unrighteous anger that breeds ill feeling towards others and gets expressed in harmful behaviors is something that Jesus finds it unacceptable for his children. The remedy is to put off, reject unrighteous anger quickly without delaying so that it doesn’t become a toxic force that ruins relationships. We need learn to counter unrighteous anger with righteous anger with God’s help.

3. Fight to put off the unrighteous anger quickly so that your prayer and worship won’t be hindered.

When unrighteous anger is kept unchecked and if we give it time to fester, it not only harms our relationship with people, but it also affects our relationship with God. We see this in Paul’s eager desire to see men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing in 1 Timothy 2:8. Prayer is an intimate act of drawing near to God and sharing our hearts with him as he shares his heart with us and help us to refocus who we are in Christ. And, as with all sins, unrighteous anger allowed to fester in us make it impossible for us to pray freely. In contrary, James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” A righteous man is one who puts off the old self and its practices and welcomes and embraces new identity and new practices in Christ. When we learn to put off unrighteous anger and put on righteous anger, our prayers can become powerful and effective.

It is not just prayer that unrighteous anger adversely affects. James 1:20 says, “for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” The righteous life that God desires, the lifestyle that honors and delights him is not possible when unrighteous anger dominates. Another word, anger hinders worship.

Jesus gave us very practical ways to deal with this. Instead of giving into unrighteous anger, what we need to do is to set our eyes on reconciliation. Jesus instructs us in Matthew 5:23, “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you [meaning you realize someone is angry at you], leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” When there are conflicts and unresolved angers in our relationship with people, God’s mandates is for us to actively make things right, to go and reconcile, only then, our worship be acceptable to him.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:15, “If your brother sins against you, go and how him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” If you get angry because somebody does something and harms you, the right thing to do is not to give yourself into unrighteous anger of ill-will towards the person. The right thing to do is to talk to the person about his or her offense against you quickly. The old Korean and the Asian way of not dealing with someone’s offense in the name of chamowa (false patience) is not only unbiblical, but it gives a room for the devil in your heart and mind to brew resentment and grudge.

Jesus’ mandate for direct confrontation is important one. Sinful tendency is instead of talking to the person who offended you in privacy, you go to a third person to talk about it. You may drape it nicely saying you are seeking another person’s spiritual counsel or simply need someone to talk about the issue. But, unless that third person directs you to go and resolve the issue with the person you are in conflict, all that sharing mounts up to nothing but gossip. And, there is nothing like gossips that kills and destroys any trust in relationship.

4. Fight to put off the unrighteous anger quickly, patiently, gently so that you have healthy and growing relationship with God and people.

Another reason why we must put off anger prompted by pride and ill-will to get back at someone is it produces strife. Proverbs 30:33 says, “A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man clams a quarrel.” Proverbs 15:18; “An angry man stirs up dissension.” A person who gets easily angered, who is hot-tempered not only stirs up conflicts but also in danger of committing many sins because he or she has no defenses against temptations. You see this in Proverbs 25:28 which likens a man who lacks self-control [with one’s anger] as a city whose walls are broken down, who has no defenses against sin. This is why Psalm 37:8 instructs us to refrain from anger because it leads only to evil. It is so damaging that Proverbs 22:24 calls us not to make friends with a hot-tempered man, not to associate with one easily angered.

Proverbs 16:32, “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” It is easier to become a warrior than a man of self-control over his desire.

Some of you are like me who is very good at dealing with anger quickly, too quickly that is. My hot-tempered response gives no room for my anger to be subjected to a clear thinking and self-control. Often, the result is further deepening of strife and harms.

The goal is not to vent anger, or unload anger. The goal must be reconciliation. When the goal is reconciliation, avoiding a harsh word and using a gentle answer so that anger won’t be stirred up as stated in Proverbs 15:1 makes a lot of sense. Proverbs 29:11 says only “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”

Ultimately it is about welcoming and embracing God’s character, our new identity in Jesus Christ. Nehemiah 9:17 talks about God’s character; “you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. The quick response, patience, gentleness are the choicest food from God’s dinning table while impatience, hot-temper, rude response is the garbage from the dumpster. May God equip us with righteous anger while putting off unrighteous anger!

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[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/4982556/German-shooting-Gunman-had-failed-to-turn-up-to-therapy.html

[2] http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52A01D20090312

[3] Carson, D. A. “(1) Vilifying anger and reconciliation (5:21-26)” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 8. 149. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1984.

Practical solutions to fight for the faith (Jude 17-23)

CMC 2009 Winter Retreat, January 3, 2009

1. To fight for the faith, you need to keep yourselves in God’s love by fixing your eyes on the mercy of Jesus Christ that will sustain you.

Jude says in Jude 21, “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”

This is the important strategy to fight for your faith. To fight for the faith, you need to always ground yourselves in God’s love for you.

As a preacher, I am always looking for modern parables that illustrate for me the reality of God’s love for us. Well, it came to me few weeks ago when I was watching Fox network’s new reality show promo called “Secret Millionaire.” The first episode was aired on 12/3.  It is a modern-day twist on “The Prince and the Pauper.”  It takes America’s wealthiest individuals away from their luxurious lifestyles with huge mansions, private jets, spending $5,000 easily for a dinner.  It takes them away from their unbelievably rich lifestyles and places them undercover into some of the most impoverished neighborhoods in America. 

Embedded into these impoverished neighborhoods, they are to live on minimum wages.  Their goal is to befriend those in need and decide to give their own $100,000 to one of them in need.

The one I watched featured a businessman/entrepreneur Greg Haerr, who’s got a small fleet of airplanes, a helicopter, Ferrari 512 TR, two yellow Porsche Cabriolets, Rolls-Royses, lives in a mansion 7500 square feet.  And, he said in the beginning of the show, “If any body deserves to live like a king, it would be me… If you can treat yourself, uh, to the good life, you know who’s gonna do it for you?”  You get the idea.  I was quite irritated by this self absorbed snob say the least.

Well, he leaves it all behind for a short time and gets embedded into North Las Vegas where the crime rate is the double the national average with over 12,000 people living in the streets; he gets to live in the North side of Las Vegas where not only him, but most of the people who travel to Vegas never even know exists in such a poor condition.

He finds a place to stay at a cockroach infested motel; he doesn’t have enough money to stay so he works there to stay, cleaning, taking out trashes… He finds three individuals to help; a lady who runs a community center to give foods and other goods to those in need, a boy named “Wheels” with Spina Bifida who rides his wheelchairs like it is a skateboard and a lady who runs a placed called “Street Teens,” a homeless shelter for teens.  He gave $30,000, $20,000 and $100,000 to these three individuals.  The most moving parts of the whole episode were about how these three individuals responded when they were given these unexpected gifts.  I was especially moved by Lisa who runs Street Teens. The building they were renting to run the shelter was foreclosed and they were on 60 days notice to vacate the property.  As of Greg’s visit, they were dangerously close to having to shut down the program; you can see in Lisa’s face.  She was cheerfully working, yet you could see her thinking, “What if, nothing comes through…”   To hope without knowing how it is going to work out is not easy.  When Greg revealed his true identity Lisa was stunned, shocked; she was deeply grateful to receive this totally unexpected gift of money to find a new place to continue their program from this guy who she thought was doing a documentary on poverty.

I have to admit though that I felt very cynical about this multi-millionaire who at the end of the show riding on a limo and saying, “This experience has changed me forever.”  I keep thinking what is $150,000 to a guy who has about fifty million dollars?  Later I calculated and it is about 0.003% of his wealth.  How does giving away 0.003% of your wealth really change your life? If you earned $40,000 last year, it would be equivalent to giving away precisely $120. Can anyone of us having earned $40,000 and giving away 0.003% last year in the amount of $120 make this millionaire’s claim, “This experience has changed me forever.” None of us in the right frame of mind would make this claim. $150,000 sounds a lot, but as giving away $120 from your $40,000 doesn’t hurt you at all, it makes virtually no difference to a millionaire. It is no sacrifice at all!

Now, consider Jesus Christ Sovereign and Lord. Jesus wouldn’t make silly statement like this millionaire, “This experience has changed me forever,” after giving away his 0.003 5 of his wealth. But, the statement Jesus would make is “My giving will change you forever.” He gave it all. He gave his blood, he gave his body, he gave it all for you and me. Now, that’s sacrificial love to brag about.

2. To fight for the faith you need to do life together

Jude 20 gives us another command, “But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith…”

This command is really subordinated to Jude 21 of keeping yourselves in God’s love. The logic would be to keep yourselves in God’s love you work on building yourselves up in your most holy faith.

It is important to notice that Jude doesn’t call us individually to build our faith. Instead, Jude’s emphasized the corporate nature of building together. The idea here is that we cannot build faith apart from the body of Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 says, “you… like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house…” When you build, you build it together.

In a corporate setting like this, as we have fellowship with each other, talking about how God is moving you and me, listen to the word of God and express our appreciation, our passion, our love to God in songs, we can grow together.

Just to verify if this rings truth for us, would you raise your right hand high if you feel built up this weekend?

And, as you feel built up, do you also feel closer to God? And, as you feel built up and feel closer to God, do you feel like you can run harder, faster?

This is why doing life together is so important. You do life together in Christ! That is how you are going build yourselves upon in your most holy faith.

3. To fight for the faith you got to pray in the Holy Spirit

This is a call to pray according to the Spirit’s will to accomplish God’s work by God’s power.

How do you know the Spirit’s will? 1) by the word of God prompted for specific situation, 2) by the situation prompting by the Holy Spirit.  Obedience to the word of God makes it possible for us to obey the Holy Spirit when he prompts us in situations.

4. To fight for the faith, practice mercy for those who doubt

Fight for the faith won’t happen unless we are captivated by God’s mercy and express God’s mercy. 

When I visited House of Prayer, a church serving homeless people and homeless people serving in Chicago, I witnessed how people who have so little expressed their joy in Jesus Christ in their worship, in their testimonies and in their prayers.  They have been deeply touched by God of mercy and it showed! 

To possess the guts to fight for the faith, Jude calls us to show mercy to those who doubt.  In order to show mercy, we must have the firsthand experience of God's mercy. 

5. To fight for the faith is to look for those who need to be snatched from the fire and be saved.

Jude's call for us to snatch others from the fire and save them reminds me of Zechariah 3:1-10.  In this passage, you find a high priest named Joshua who was snatched from the fire.  Before the angel of the Lord, stood Joshua, the high priest, but standing at his right side was Satan who heaped accusations against Joshua.  And, the Lord said to Satan, "LORD rebuke you, Satan!  The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!  Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"  And, along with the Lord's defense against Satan's accusations and his rescue, he also ordered Joshua's filthy clothes be taken off, to take away his sin and to put rich garments on him.  This is a beautiful picture of how God delivers people out of the power of Satan and establishes their righteousness in him. 

To fight for the faith means we as Christians look for opportunities to be used by God to deliver those who are being tormented by Satan's accusations and his power. 

6. To fight for the faith, you got to learn to hate sin.

Hating even the clothing stained (filthy with excrement) by corrupted flesh (sinful flesh)... how we need this holy hatred against sin.  To fight for the faith, we need to be brutally honest before God who searches us and knows everything about us, even better than we know ourselves.  Sin of unbelief, sin of lust, sin of laziness, sin of all shapes and sizes must be dealt with brutal honest before God.

And, to genuinely hate sin, our love for Jesus Christ needs to be real and grow deeper. 

1 Samuel 1-2:11, When you are disappointed, to whom do you turn to?

Judges 21:25 closes the book of Judges; “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” We saw how this affected the life of the Israelites. When the people of God rejected the kingdom of God, that is God’s sovereign reign over them, they did as they saw fit. The outcome was the inability to tell right from wrong, disastrous moral decays and confusion, lost of many lives…
In contrast, the book of Ruth told a completely different story about Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, and God. These two women experienced great difficulties in life, loosing their husbands, relocations, struggling to survive during and after the severe famine. They did not do things as they saw fit; they turned to God and God turned things around for them. Instead of emptiness, bitterness, childlessness, hungry stomach, they experienced fullness in life, joy, new life and wellbeing.
Now, we turn to the books of Samuel. Judges was about people doing things as they saw fit without regard to God’s rule over them. The stories told in the book of Samuel focus on this; establishment of the kingship in Israel under the leadership of Samuel, a last judge.
Initially, there was no break between 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. It was one book. But, in the 15^th century A.D., Samuel was divided into two parts; this division is first seen in the first printed Hebrew Bible called the Bomberg edition published in 1516-1517 in Venice.
Also, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, called LXX, Septuagint instead of dividing Samuel into two parts, it grouped Samuel with the book of Kings. So, together, they were called “Books of Kingdoms.” So, Samuel and Kings were known as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings. This emphasized the big change that occurred after the period of Judges, going from no kingship to fully established kingship in Israel.
The books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel obviously bear the name of Samuel, the last judges. He played an important role in the history of Israel, going from without kings to kings.

Hannah and Peninnah (1 Samuel 1:1-8)

The story of Samuel begins with the birth account of Samuel to his childhood ending in 4:1. Today, we are going to consider the story of his birth.

We are introduced to his parents in verse 1 and 2, Elkanah and Hannah. Verse 2 says that he had two wives, Hannah, and the other Peninnah. Their names relates to their current situation. Peninnah means, “prolific” while Hannah means, “charming.” It is likely that Elkanah’s first wife Hannah, who was charming, meaning he was beloved, was not able to conceive and give birth; so, Elkanah got his second wife, Peninnah according to the custom of the time. His second wife Peninnah was prolific in having children.

Let me say few words about polygamy in the Old Testament. In the big picture of the Bible, polygamy was never intended as God’s ideal for marriage. Genesis 2:24 tells us that marriage is between one male and one female. Adam and Eve were monogamists. However, after the fall, the marriage institution suffered from the effect of sin. In the New Testament, we see no examples of polygamy. Jesus emphasized God’s original intention and design for marriage as “the two shall become one flesh,” according to Mark 10:2-12. The church leaders were told to be the husband of only one wife (1 Timothy 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6).

In the Old Testament, the impact of polygamy was negative on family lives. In Abraham’s case, there were great discord and jealousy between his wife Sarah and the maid Hagar (Genesis 16:5). In David’s case, his sons from the various wives fought among themselves for the throne (2 Samuel 5:13; 13:22-33). And, in the case of Solomon, his 700 wives and 300 concubines turned his heart from the LORD (1 Kings 11:1-8).

It is likely that Elkanah got Peninnah as his second wife due to having no children with his first wife Hannah, as it was custom during the time. We see the strain in the relationship. Peninnah is described as Hannah’s rival. Verse 6 says, “because the LORD closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.” And, verse 7 continues, “This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.” Whenever she would weep and not eat, her husband Elkanah would ask her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you so downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

This went on whenever the family made to Shiloh for their annual visit to the house of God, where they worshiped and sacrificed according to God’s law. It was during these yearly journeys to the house of God, Peninnah picked on Hannah, provoking and badgering her for not being able to have any child. Elkanah tried without success to comfort Hannah. As his beloved and favored, verse 5 says, “but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her though the LORD has closed her womb.”

Hannah before the LORD (1 Samuel 1:9-20)

What did Hannah do when she got depressed, picked on, provoked by her rival? We see in verse 9-11 that she took her sorrows, hurts, and pains to God. Verse 9 says after the meal at Shiloh, Hannah went before the LORD. There at the tabernacle before the LORD, verse 10, “in bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD.” This is a picture of godly woman. She was not fighting back, getting back at Peninnah. Hannah took the matter to the LORD. She poured her heart to the LORD.

There before the LORD, she made a vow in verse 11: “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

Verse 11, during her prayer, she felt led to make a Nazirite vow to the LORD. It was a vow of separation, complete devotion to the LORD. Samson before he was born was given also the Nazirite vow. But, we know what Samson did with his Nazirite vow. As we will see Samuel was vastly different person than Samson was. Her prayer tells a lot about this woman. Her payer tells us that she recognized that children were gifts from God. God is the one who enabled conception and childbirth as it was the case in Ruth. She knew God as LORD Almighty. Nothing was too typical for God; he saw herself as God’s servant. She knew that the God cared for her. She was a woman who also knew how to be thankful to the LORD.

(Verse 12-18) Hannah was praying silently, only moving her lips. Eli, the priest at the house of the LORD saw her and thought that she was drunk. Apparently drunkenness was not uncommon during the time of feasts. But, Hannah wasn’t drinking. According to verse 7, she wasn’t even eating anything at all, a self imposed fasting.

For Eli to assume that Hannah was drunk because she was moving her lips without praying aloud and weeping tells something about this priest’s spiritual insensitivity.

Contrary to his mistaken perception, Hannah told him that instead of having poured wine or bear into her mouth, she was pouring out her soul to the LORD. She was pouring out her great anguish and grief. She was far from being a wicked woman; she was a godly woman.

Verse 17, to this, Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

Things were different for her now. She poured her anguish, broken, grieving heart. She poured out her deep desire for a child to God. Having heard the priest pronounce the blessing over her prayer, it says in verse 18, “she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.”

Verse 19-20, we see how God answered Hannah’s prayer. The family rose early next morning and worshiped before the LORD before heading home. Elkanah lay with Hannah and it says, “the LORD remembered her.” The LORD came and answered her prayer, helping her to conceive and to give birth to a son. She named him Samuel, which sounds like in Hebrew word meaning, “heard of God.”

Hannah dedicated Samuel (1 Samuel 1:21-28)

In the follower year, the family of Elkanah was making another annual trip to the annual sacrifice to the LORD. This time Hannah told Elkanah she wished to stay behind. She told him, “After boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the LORD, and he will live there always.”
We see that Hannah did not make a rash vow that she would regret later. She knew in her heart that the child was a gift from God, a merciful response to her heartfelt prayer. She was determined to follow through with her vow to dedicate her son in Nazirite vow. What we see is a thankful woman who owed everything to the LORD.
It took about three years for women to wean their children from breastfeeding back then. So, it is reasonable to think that she kept him for three years to raise him up.
At the age of about three, still very young, she took Samuel back to the house of the LORD as she promised in her vow. There, she worshiped God and sacrificed to the LORD. She told Eli, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.”

Hannah’s Prayer and Praise (1 Samuel 2:1-11)
In verse 1-2, we see where Hannah put her trust in. Her trust was squarely in the LORD. Sherejoiced and delighted in the LORD who delivered her, who strengthened her. Her confession was this, “There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” When she felt bitter with disappointment, she turned to God because God alone was the Rock, the sure foundation, her Cornerstone. Although circumstances might be shaky and heartbreaking, she wasn’t shaken by them. She remained strong, firm and unshakeable because her foundation was the Rock of her salvation.
In God, the Rock of salvation, she confessed, “those who stumbled are armed with strength, who were hungry hunger no more, who was barren has borne seven children” in verse 4-5.
God, the Creator, alone is sovereign “for the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world” verse 8.
In this God, her Rock, her sovereign Creator, she found her confidence for the LORD guards the feet of his saints, verse 9.

Applications

When you are bitter because of your disappointments, to whom or what do you turn? Do what Hannah did!

• Take your disappointments to the Lord. He is strong enough to take your disappointments.
• Pour your heart out to the LORD. God knows your heart
• Trust God who is merciful and remembers you.
• Know that all gifts are from God and be grateful.
• Let your thankfulness motivate you to service to your God.