How to petition God (1 Samuel 1-20)

An author, artist, Bible teacher, wife and mother, she is a voice of bold truth in a noisy world, unapologetically sharing the light of the gospel of God as authentically as she can. We are honored to have Jackie with us again at Generations. Give a huge welcome back to Jackie Hill Perry.

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 All right. All right. Hi. How are you? Sit on down. Sit on down. Sit on down. Sit on. That screen was crazy. Whatever. Whoever just did that, that was crazy. Um, I'm happy to be here. I keep coming back. I appreciate it. Thank Thank you, Pastor Cece. Um, I you you know I just been ready to preach.

I I can't explain it. It's just like I was just in the back in the green room standing up. Somebody was like, "You all right?" I was like, "I just don't I just I just can't sit down right now." Um but in the meantime, I do want to honor my people.

I want to honor my mentor Melody Fabian who is here with us, her friend Chesca. I want to honor my best friend Megan Ashley. I want to honor my little sis Jordan. I want to honor my 10-year-old Eden. I want to honor my sevenyear-old. Are you six? She turns seven next week.

Uh what's your name? Autumn. I want to honor I got four of them. You forget their names. You know, at some point you just going to be uh mad she or something. I'm just going to call you anything. I I want to honor my mother. Hi, Mom. And I want to honor Megan's mom, mama. that um you know I one thing I've learned about parenting I love how spiritual this music is sounding one thing I've learned about I like that key I like what you just um one thing I've learned about parenting is that um as a parent I think a thing that takes up a lot of space is you're always repeating yourself.

You're always saying the same thing over and over. I don't know how many times I got to say we got to take a bath every day. I don't I don't know. I don't know why that's a reoccurring message in my house. I I don't know why I got to say put on lotion.

I I don't know. I'm not understanding why that's not clicked yet. Um and I share that because when when Mrs. Brady was sharing. As soon as the text went up, I said, "Oh, that's my text, too." Uh, I I came to teach to you 1st Samuel chapter 1 2.

And I I think it's because God is repeating himself. I I think it's because we are just like all of our children. We We have a hard head. And so sometimes God has to get a bit redundant through another messenger for you to get the point. Um, tonight I want to close in in talking about the idea of petition.

I want to talk about the idea of prayer. Some of the first prayers that we most likely ever prayed were in the form of petition. There there was some kind of need that you put before God with the faith that he'd answer. When when we were children, we might have prayed for Christmas to come a bit sooner.

Unless you were raised Jehovah's Witness. If so, I'm sorry. As adults, you got to crack the jokes before you get at get at your neck. As adults, it's intentional. As adults, we we pray for wisdom. We pray for better credit scores, not realizing if you just paid your paid that credit card off, you might be.

We ask for God to show us where we left our keys, things like that. But there are some of us in pos positions where our petitions are a bit weightier than that, a bit more intentional than that, a bit more thoughtful than that. And so I just want to speak into that.

So tonight, I just want us to look into the petition of Hannah in a way that I hope will inform our prayers. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for being a present help in times of trouble. We thank you that you hear us. We thank you that you incline your ear towards us.

We thank you that we are even thankful because that too is a fruit of your spirit. God, I pray that you would help us today. Help us to love you. Help us to trust you. Help us to hope in you. Help us to cast our cares on you.

And I pray that supernaturally you would produce miracles in the room, that you would lift anxiety, that you would lift depression, that you would lift irritation and aggravation, that you would lift rage, that you would fill us with with a power that is independent of us. And so I pray God that you would give us that grace.

I pray that you would speak in Jesus name. Amen. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 1. When you get there, say amen. You was there last night, so it shouldn't shouldn't take that much time. There was a certain man of Ram Zofim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elca, the son of Jerome, son of Alahu, son of Tou, son of Ze and Ephrathite.

He had two wives. The one of the one the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Panenna. And Panenna had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh where the two sons of Eli, Hoffne and Phineas were priests of the Lord.

On the day when Elca sacrificed, he would give portions to Panenna 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 Ela 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 drunken Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly and vowed a vow and said,"Oh 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."

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart. 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 her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. When we open up the book of First Samuel, in the first few verses, we are welcomed into an interesting situation.

We immediately learn about a man named Elcana and how this man has two wives. One wife is named Hannah and the other wife is Panenna. We are not given a genealogy about these women. We are not given some framework of their history as we are with Elca. But we are given a piece of information about their family dynamic which is that Panenna has children and Hannah does not.

This my friends is a problem. I have three points today and that's the first one. Everybody say problem. Problem. Before we ever send up a petition towards heaven, it's usually because we have identified some kind of problem on earth. When we petition God for provision, the problem is financial lack.

When we petition God for wisdom, the problem is we know enough about ourselves to know that we don't always know what to do. If ever we get the courage to position God for humility, the problem we are trying to overcome is pride. Every petition is a faithful attempt to overcome a problem.

In the second verse of chapter 1, we learn that the problem in Elcana's home is that Hannah, his wife, is barren. Infertility is a common occurrence we see in the Hebrew scriptures. From Genesis to 1 Samuel, we see barrenness is experienced by Sarah. It's experienced by Rebecca. It's experienced by Rachel.

And now we get to another woman who cannot have children. Infertility is a problem in the sense that it usually precipitates an environment of internal shame and frustration for many women, which is quickly magnified by the external shame and social stigmas that arise in communities where motherhood is considered the ultimate symbol of blessing.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, one of the promises or the promised blessings of obedience is a fruitful womb. If you know anything about curses in scripture, curses are simply reversals of blessing. So if the blessing is a fruitful womb, then if you are disobedient, the assumption then is the curse is a barren womb.

Therefore, Hannah not only had to deal with internal stigma and internal shame, but she also had to deal with religious assumptions that her barrenness was a curse. That her was a consequence of her not doing something lawful. When women can't or don't bear children, fingers are always pointed.

There had to be some reason why Hannah had no children to them and maybe even to herself. If Hannah was the if Hannah's womb was the problem, then Hannah was to blame. We we start to say things like, "Maybe I haven't prayed enough. That's why I haven't had any children.

Maybe I haven't fasted enough. Maybe I haven't, you know, got on my back enough. Maybe I need to be a vegan. 
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 But some of those are legitimate if the Lord directs you in that direction. But for Hannah in her testimony, who does the text point the finger at?

Look at verse six. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. I'll say it again just in case it didn't. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. Here we are now with the conflict.

We are face to face with the conflict of sovereignty and suffering. The dynamic that is befuddling, frustrating, irritating, confusing. It's difficult to comprehend how God who is sovereign, how God who is king, how God who was Lord, how God who was merciful, how God who was comforting, how he could allow something hard to happen.

The temptation then that arises when we are confronted with the reality that God is sovereign and yet my life is difficult. The the the temptation that arises is the temptation to redefine things. And by that I mean we have a habit of looking at our circumstances and defining God by the circumstance instead of defining God by the scriptures.

We say things like this situation is bad. Therefore, if God allowed something bad to happen, he must not be good. It's interesting how suffering can make you a heretic. It's interesting how our theology changes just when stuff gets a little bit difficult. We have to resist the temptation because our circumstances don't have that degree of authority.

Our our circumstances don't have the right to define God's nature. God defines God. More specifically, it is Jesus who has made him known. Therefore, the starting point of understanding why a sovereign God allows hard things. To come to terms with that, you have to have faith in God's character.

If and when we determine the nature of God by what we go through, you will end up with a very inconsistent God who is who is good when everything is good and who is bad when everything is bad. But God's nature is immutable. Immutable meaning God can't change.

See, a lot of our a lot of our issue with God, a lot of our beef with God is a matter of projection. We are the ones who shapeshift when things happen. We We are the ones who got an attitude just cuz so and so came in the room when you was all smiles and giggles 5 seconds ago.

So So it isn't that God changes. is that we are so self-centered that we tend to think that God is acting like us when no no he's acting like God. God is good all the time and all the time. And if that is true, that means that when life is hard, God is good.

When life is insufferable, God is good. When life is perplexing, God is good. When life is chaotic, God is good. When life is when life is lifing for 40 days and 40 nights, God is good. And he is so good in fact that when everything is or feels bad, it might just be that God is doing something good in the midst of it.

Yes, it is. It is in fact the Lord who closed Hannah's womb. But I think it might be because he wanted to birth something in her heart before he birthe something in her body. Point number two is the pattern. It's one thing to have a problem that only lasts for a few hours.

Chat GBT can help you out with that. We can handle those quick problems. But what happens when God doesn't answer our petition as quickly as we prefer? When when the pain continues. When the suffering doesn't let up. When the frustration persists. When you've prayed for days and then weeks and then months and then years and there is no answer, it gets hard to trust in God.

When our problems actually become a pattern, everybody say pattern. Hannah's infertility and therefore all the internal and social struggle that came with it wasn't a short-lived experience for her. Her problem went on for years. And I promise I'm not making it up like some of your favorite preachers like to do.

Look at verse three. Now this man used to go up, ouch, year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord. Notice what it says. This man used to go up year by year. Ela is a consistent spiritual leader in his home. Albeit the polygamy cast a bit of a shadow on his whole purity, but you know, he likes to go to church.

He does not He pays his tithes. Okay, we're going to affirm what's affirmable. He doesn't He doesn't neglect He doesn't neglect the yearly trek to Shiloh to worship. And according to this text, Elcana would take Hannah and Panenna and the kids to worship year by year. And every year that they made this journey was another year that Hannah didn't have a baby.

Which means that year by year, Hannah's problem didn't just go away. Hannah couldn't just shake it off. She couldn't just get over it. And here's the gag. It's the Lord who kept Hannah's womb closed year by year. And if that was not hard enough, notice the context by which she is reminded of it.

The text says that every time they went to Shiloh to worship, Panenna uses as an opportunity to aggravate Hannah about her childlessness. I feel like she said stuff like, you know, I got stretch marks and you don't. Huh? My pelvic floor is weak and yours ain't. Things like that.

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 I've had four children. I know what a weak pelvic floor feels like. You got two jumping jacks out of me and it's like I got I got to change my clothes. I cough too hard. And it's downhill from there. Imagine Year by 
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 year, the Lord is keeping this woman's womb closed.

Year by year, she is being aggravated. Year by year, she's being provoked. Year by year, she is suffering. And she she is being provoked by Panenna every time they go to worship. Imagine what it must be like then when the place you go to worship becomes the place where you are reminded of what God has taken from you.

Where where you see pregnant bellies all in the praise team all in the pews where you see engaged couples just laughing and giggling in the vestibule and you've been praying all for 10 years. You got your edges straight and everything and hers is high and lifted up and you can't just you can't seem to find a man for some reason.

Huh? It's 
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 frustrating. I thought I was cute. 
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 Father, they met each other on Tik Tok yesterday and got 
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 engaged. Imagine. I'm being serious cuz cover this will take you out. Imagine. Imagine being in in worship and seeing healed bodies when you are praying for deliverance from chronic illness.

Imagine what it's like to be in church where you know you're around people who have present fathers in your child's life and you ask this negro just to buy a pack of pencils and he got an attitude about it. 
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 Imagine I don't know what those of European descent, you don't you don't say negro.

I don't know what you say. I'm sorry. I don't know what you guy buddy. You ask buddy get some 
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 pencils. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Stuff 
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 like stuff like that. Stuff like that makes makes worship a bit complicated. Especially when you are in a place of grief and suffering and frustration and you are in the sanctuary and they are singing songs that feel in congruent to your present experience.

This is why I believe this is for the musicians in the room. That's why I believe we need more songs of lament where we are creating space for grief as a pathway to worship. I I think of things like Psalm 13. The heading even says written to the choir master.

Meaning this is a song we all supposed to sing. The psalmist says, "How long, oh Lord, will you forget me? Forget forever. How long will you hide your face from me?" Some of us need those songs because we need room to be honest with God in church about how we feel about the way he does things.

But more often than not, even if you feel like you cannot sing sincerely about the goodness of God, this is where your memory has to take control. That this is where your memory has to take you by the hand. So at the very least, you can say, you know what?

All of my life you have been faithful. All of my life you have been good. And with every breath that you gave, I am able and I will sing of the goodness of God. Sometimes your memory and not your circumstance has to drive your worship. We need we need songs and we need people who will put before us what is true so that your suffering does not convince you to believe a lie.

On the day when Elana would go to the temple and sacrifice the entire family would sit down to eat. They were eating because when Elana went to the temple, he would sacrifice an animal. The priest would take a portion of the animal and sacrifice and they would take the other portion and give it back to Elana to eat this sacrifice with his family.

This meal functioned as a celebration of thanksgiving to God. This meal was an avenue by which they could express their thankfulness and their gratefulness to God. Therefore, there this meal was worship. Being the spiritual leader of his home, Elana would have been in charge of how the portions were distributed to members of his family.

Portions were handed out to each wife according to the amount of children each wife birthed. So what should have happened is that Panenna and her children would have gotten many portions because she has many children and Hannah only would have gotten a portion for herself. Again, her worship experience is reminding them of what she's lacking.

But Elca loved his wife so much that instead of giving her one portion, he gave her double. He gave her more than what she deserved. Yet let's not forget while all of this is happening. Panenna is zealous in reminding Hannah of the children that she doesn't have. She is constantly irritating her, constantly aggravating her, constantly provoking her.

So on one end, Hannah is experiencing love and generosity from her husband. On the other end, she is experiencing provocation and hatred from the other wife. In the middle of it, she just wants to know why she can't get pregnant. She just wants to know why she can't have a baby.

She just wants to know why she keeps trying and keeps praying and keeps enduring and nothing seems to happen. So she she doesn't know if she's blessed or if she's cursed, if she's loved or if she's hated, if she's seen or she's invisible. And if you just step back for a moment and put yourself in Hannah's shoes, I think you'll be familiar with how emotionally chaotic that feels.

And in that place, the text says that Hannah did what we all do when life feels too emotionally heavy to handle. She wept and would not eat. I don't want you to look at that text and think that Hannah wasn't hungry. I don't want you to look at that text and think that Hannah just turned her plate over.

Remember what I said. Elcano went to the s the temple and sacrificed some meat, took a portion of the meat home for him to bring to his family for them to have thanksgiving about God over, for them to celebrate God over, for them to to to be thankful to God over.

Therefore, it isn't that Hannah isn't hungry. It isn't that Hannah just doesn't want food. It means if Hannah can't eat, Hannah can't worship. David said, "My tears have been my food day and night." There are times when the problem, whatever it might be, can overcome, overwhelm you to the point that the only thing you actually have space for, the only thing you have energy for is grief.

The only thing you can think to do is sleep. The only thing you want to do is be quiet. And this is what happens when year after year after year, the problem becomes a pattern that it seems like the Lord of Hosts isn't in a rush to fix.

I think of John chapter 11. There's a story in there about a man named Lazarus. He and his sisters were were friends with Jesus. And Lazarus gets sick while Jesus is away. So some people come up to Jesus and they say, "Hey, your friend Lazarus is sick. Your friend Lazarus needs some help."

Sounds like intercession. your friend Lazarus is in a situation that none of us can actually do anything about. He he needs you. And the narrative says something very interesting about how Jesus responds to the news. It says that Jesus, this is a text, loved Lazarus and his sisters.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. They just went up to Jesus and said, "Your friend, the one you love, the one you care for, the one you created, the one you made, the one you are dying to say, he's sick."

And Jesus says, "You know, I love them, so I'm going to stay put. I I love them, so I'm not going to move. I love them, so I'm going to stay still." That is confusing because we assume that if Jesus loves us, he should be urgent. We assume if Jesus loves us, he should be in a hurry to do what we asked of him.

But it's because he waits that his friend dies. It's because he waits that the sisters grieve. It's because he waits that the friends suffer. It's because he waits and does not move. That every single thing gets worse. Imagine your prayers entering heaven, reaching the throne room of God, and the angel saying, "Hey God, what do you want us to move?

You want you want us to do something?" And he says, "No, stay put because I'm not going to move when they want me to move, but I will be on time." Because here's the thing. We forget that time is a creature. Therefore, time is on God's leash. Again, God is not like us.

He is not controlled or constrained by time. He exists independent of it. God's relationship to time is not like ours. And because I say that because how many of us are wrestling and struggling and having difficulty with God just because you don't like his timing. You don't like how he's choosing to use what he made. time is his and because it's his he will utilize use time to serve his own purpose.

So when Jesus when Jesus stayed for two whole days, 48 hours, two nights and two mornings in the place where he was while Lazarus got sicker and then died and his sisters grieved and his body was picked up and placed in a tomb and began to decompose in a cave.

While Jesus had to walk for wherever he was all the way to Bethany, all of that took time. But Jesus was not being negligent with the clock. Every minute that they had to wait, God was being intentional. Why? Because some miracles take time. Why did Jesus do all of that?

He told us, he says, "I'm doing all of this. I'm not going to show up until you know that he is good and dead. I'm not going to do none of that because it's for the glory of God. What if God took his time and delivering you from certain seasons because he had glory in mind?

What if God took his time so that circumstances got so difficult and so complicated and impossible to fix by natural means so that when the mountain does move, you know it wasn't you. What if God took his time so that when the m miraculous happens, all you can do is give him glory.

There are some mountains God won't let you move because God knows that you might need that, but he also knows that you probably need humility so much more. What if God What if God is more committed to your sanctification than he is to your comfort? What if God is taking his time so that you would be more dependent?

What if God is taking his time so you knew how to worship? What if God was taking his time so you knew how to petition? What if God knew he was taking his time so you would seek his face more than you seek his hand? What if God What if God knows what he's doing with what he made?

Hannah's womb was closed year after year. and there isn't much that she could do about it. But in the meantime, God was setting the stage for his glory to be seen. Point number three, we've seen the problem. We've seen the pattern. And now we're going to look at the petition.

Look at verse nine. After they had eaten and drunken Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly and she vowed a vow and said, "Oh 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."

After dinner, Hannah gets up and goes to the temple. Let me say that again. After dinner, remember Hannah wept and would not eat. She gets up and she does not go to the group chat. She gets up and she does not go to the blunt. She gets up and she does not go to the bottle.

She gets up and she does not go to social media or threads or Instagram or Tik Tok. She gets up and she goes to the temple and she begins to pray. And it's easy for us to miss what's happening in this. I want you to see all the emotions on display in this text.

The text says that she was deeply distressed. Have you felt that way? The text says that she wept bitterly. Have you done that before? The text says that she was troubled in spirit. Are you like that now? She says she was pouring out your her soul. She had great anxiety and vexation.

And the writer then is using six different phrases to show us the emotional range of Hannah's distress as she talks to God. Dan Allander calls emotions the language of the soul. They were given to us by God. And I know some of us like to ignore them in prayer because we don't want to deal with what's happening.

I know some of us have the tendency to want to bring our brain to God and not our whole self. I I know some of us want to intellectualize intimacy and that might be why the thing hasn't lifted because you refuse to be honest. When Hannah comes to God, she realizes that her problems are too big and her feelings are too strong for her to enter into God's presence with anything less than honesty.

By bringing her emotions to God, hear me, Hannah is bringing her entire self. Hannah is feeling a lot of things and rightfully so. She just She just wants a baby. And at the very least, she wants to not be provoked and abused and shamed for not having one.

And all of that struggle has led her to this point. I remember having a conversation with somebody. I shared this before where they were irritated with God that he wouldn't deliver them from a certain season. They were irritated with God because he would not lift a thing. And I said, "If if God lifted it, would you be this desperate?

She's come to the temple because she's desperate." And and she wants to present herself and her problems to the Lord, the Lord who sovereignly allowed it. But what I love about this petition is that she does not begin the portion of her prayer by addressing the problem. She she does not begin her prayer by addressing the pattern.

Sometimes you got to sometimes I don't want to be doing all the things. Lord, I I'm mad. I don't. But she starts her petition by addressing a person. She says, get this name in your your system. Oh Lord of hosts. That's intriguing to me because if you know your Bible, if you have read Genesis and Exodus and Deuteronomy and Numbers and Leviticus, you will see that you don't see that name nowhere.

You you would expect her to call on Elohim. You you would expect her to call on Yahweh. Yet somehow through her suffering, Hannah reveals a name of God that communicates something necessary that Abraham nor Moses never said. She says, "Oh Lord of hosts." That that's a military name of God.

That's a name that communicates the idea that God is sovereign over angelic and demonic hosts. and he will use them, utilize them, and overcome them on behalf of his covenant people. Why is Hannah opening her prayer with that name? I I would think she would use the name that Hagar used, like Elroy, the God who sees.

I would think she would use the name that Abraham used, Jehovah Gyra, the God who provides. She would clearly benefit from knowing that she is seen by God and will get provisioned by God. But instead, she she calls on the Lord of Hosts. And and it's because the name we employ in prayer can function as a reminder to the soul in relation to our particular circumstance.

I'll say it one more time. The name of God that we employ in prayer can function as a reminder, a function of meditation to the soul in relation to our particular circumstance. If God is the Lord of hosts, then he is sovereign. If God is the Lord of hosts and he is powerful.

If God is the Lord of hosts and he is in control. And if that is the case, then there is no circumstance, there is no trial, there is no problem, there is no issue that she can bring to God that he does not have the power and the capacity to change.

There is no demon in hell that he cannot fight. There is no angel in heaven that he cannot send. In this moment, Hannah recognizes that she needs the military God. Hannah needs a God who can box. Hannah needs a God who got hands. Hannah needs the warrior God.

Hannah needs a God who is strategic. Hannah needs a God who is decisive. Hannah needs a God who knows how to fight. He will not only fight Goliath and fight Philistine, but he will fight her own body to get it to work how it was designed. 
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 I've had mornings where I I've had to call that particular name of God, not to fight provision.

I I'll need that like not to fight my marriage, not not to fight my parenting, but to fight my mind. I've had times where I'm like, I need you. The devil is too strong for me. He is too thoughtful for me. He is too intelligent than me. So I need you to get out your sword and fight him so I don't lose my minds.

And so when I wake up with peace, when I wake up with a right mind, I know that God went to war for me. If the Lord of hosts If the Lord of hosts is the same God that closed Hannah's womb, then he's the same God that can open it, too.

But here's our struggle. This is why we also need him. Because what if he doesn't? He can, but what if he doesn't? What if his will is not what you pray for? Will you still worship? And in your own strength, in your own flesh, you don't have the ability to love God that much.

The Lord of Hosts can not only answer your prayer, he can also give you joy where there should only be grief. Have you ever met somebody who went through things where they should not be in their right mind? Have you ever met somebody for some reason they had joy when they should not have?

Have you ever met somebody who had endurance that you knew did not come from them? Have you ever met somebody where their story and their testimony did not take them out and it wasn't because they're special? It was because they depended on the Lord of hosts and he revealed himself as the lifter of their head.

Have you ever met somebody who came to the point where they knew that they could not do anything if God did not move? Referring to God as the Lord of hosts and herself as a servant. She she petitions God and she makes this vow in verse 11. She says, "Oh Lord of hosts, if you'll deed look on the affliction of your servant," keyword your servant.

She's positioned herself underneath his will. "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." Wait a minute. I understand the petition. She's a childless woman. It's the source of all her pain.

It's the source of all her irritation. It's the source of her turmoil. So, naturally, if she's going to ask God for anything to stop the pain, she should ask for the son. But Hannah does something kind of crazy. She petitions God for a son and then she vows to give the son back.

You'd expect her to ask for the gift and not tell the giver of the gift that she going to give the gift back to him. Like you you wouldn't expect her to do that. But what happens to Hannah in this moment is not anything less than what God has required of us.

Every gift that God has given you, he is expecting you to give it back. Whether it is your children, you got to give them back. Whether it's your money, you got to give them back. Whether it's your marriage, you got to give them back. Whether it's your friendships, you got to give them back.

This is why some of your prayers are remaining unanswered because you are asking God for stuff you have no intention on giving him back. Some of you are asking God for idols and you mad that he said no. God is not going to give you your golden calf.

That's Bible. James says you ask and you don't receive because you, cuz I'm not making that up, because you plan to spend it on your own worldly passions. God is also wise. God keeps saying no because you might not have the character to carry what you're asking for.

There are some gifts that you don't have the strength for. There are some gifts that you don't have the wisdom for. There are some gifts that you don't have the capacity for. There are some gifts that you don't have the space for. So in the waiting, let him sanctify.

In the waiting, let him prune. In the waiting, let him cut. In the waiting, let let him do what he has to do. So that when he gives you the gift, if he gives you the gift, it's something you can steward and not worship. Hannah. Hannah gives the boy back to God.

She vows to give him back to him as a Nazarene. While she's praying, Eli the priest, he sees her and he think, you know, she didn't had a couple espresso martinis. You know, he doesn't realize she's just Pentecostal. like he doesn't understand that she's he doesn't know what's happening.

And she corrects his presumption and says, "No, I'm pouring out my soul." He blesses her. Look at verse 18. Then the woman went her way and ate. Now that you have context, you know what it meant for her to eat again. Then the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad.

The Hannah that walked into the temple, help me Lord. is not the same Hannah that walked out. Before she was vexed and she was anxious before she was distressed and now her face is no longer sad. And I'm sure you noticed that the prayer ain't been answered yet.

She she went home. She ain't did nothing with that man yet. Her her son is not in her womb. Her boy is not in her hands. She has not made the registry. She has not made the baby shower. But yet she has joy. Anyhow, one commentator, one commentator said Hannah had cast her burden upon the Lord.

So her spirit was relieved of its load. It's amazing to experience a burden being lifted all by virtue of just being honest with God. Here's the secret. Prayer and petition is more than getting what you want. God is so thirsty for his glory. So, so and not thirsty as if he needs, but if anything, him getting glory serves you because you gloring everything else has like it's it's left us astray.

So to give him glory is good for us. But God wants his glory so much that he creates circumstances that puts us in a position of petition, that puts us in a position of prayer so that we can commune with him. Because it's not the thing that gives you joy, it's at his right hand that gives you joy.

And we know this. I know this. Yet I am still so anxious. Yet I am still so distressed. Yet I am still so vexed. And it's because I have a problem where I am not desperate enough for the temple. Well, we are going everywhere else but the temple.

Whatever the vice is, it's keeping you from the temple. And by temple, I don't mean a building. By temple, I don't mean a synagogue. By temple, I don't mean the church. I mean his feet. I mean his feet. The place where Isaiah saw God and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty."

The whole earth is full of his glory when Hannah leaves the temple. Do you know why she not sad? Do you understand why she's not sad? It's because before she got what she wanted, she got the God that she needed. 
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 Hannah thought she needed a son, but Hannah needed the son.

You understand what I'm saying? It's his feet where you get what you need which transforms what you think you want. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, don't be surprised when your petitions change. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, don't be shocked when your expectations begin to shift because then you have discovered what contentment actually is.

Which is knowing that at the bottom of your greatest desire is the desire for God. It's good to want marriage, but at the bottom of it, you just want intimacy. It's good to want a better job, but at the bottom of it, you just want security. It's good to want strength or healing, but at the bottom of it, you want strength.

So, I'm not saying don't keep knocking, but I am saying when God becomes our greatest delight, you will find that the things you wanted were not the things you needed. Hannah thought she needed a son. When Hannah needed the son and close, let's look at verse 19. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord.

Then they went back to their house at Rama. And Elcaana 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." The Lord remembered her.

Eli was a high priest, meaning he was positioned to be a mediator between the people of Israel and God. He he would sacrifice to God for them all the stuff. And while Hannah was communicating her petition to God, Eli judged her. He thought she was in sin when she was actually pouring out her soul.

And that's because Eli might have been a high priest, but he was not a great high priest. A great high priest can actually see your heart. A great high priest is someone you can you can speak to wherever you are. You don't got to go to Shiloh. You don't got to go to Jerusalem.

You don't got to even go to a physical temple. You can meet with him wherever you are. But there was a cost for you to have access to this high priest. The cost of access was that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The God that we were created to worship. The God that we were created to love. The God that we were created to serve. And because we have sinned against him, there is nothing but wrath stored up for us unless we repent. But even in that repentance, God can't forgive you if the justice that you owe him is not satisfied.

And so God's forgiveness was threatened if he did not send the propitiation for your sins, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, went on the cross, took your sins, the penalty for your sins, went to the the grave, and then rose after three days.

And that that God intercedes for us. That God is our great high priest. And that God is the one that every petition is to reach his ears. I say that to say that. I think for most of us and many of us, you are emotionally weary from waiting on God.

You are tired of waiting on God. You are frustrated from waiting on God. You are angry from waiting on God. And these emotions are so big that it's affecting your worship. The these emotions are so big that it's affecting your faith. These emotions are so big that it's affecting your kindness.

You're taking out your anger on God, on everybody around you. And I think one thing that God wants to warn and encourage is that when you become weary with God, you will not endure because it means it's affecting your faith. The Lord tells us, "Do not grow weary and doing good.

Your waiting is a good thing. Your trusting is a good thing. Your sitting with him is a good thing. Some of you even now, nobody even knows you're weary. You feel a burden in your chest because you won't just say, you know, I'm sad. I I'm hurting. I I'm frustrated.

And it's getting it's getting harder to be fake in church. Because you won't let your community be a community to you. I want to I want to read a verse that I read last night because sorry for taking my time. I'm I'm listening. Um it's simple. The Lord wants us to trust him.

You can't please him without faith. And he wants us to trust that he is a refuge. He wants us to trust that he is a strong tower. He wants us to trust that he is good. He wants us to trust that he does know what he's doing with your life.

He He wants us to believe him. But God also is after your whole heart. Your emotions are in your heart. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with all of your heart, mind, and soul. And some of you are in situations and in predicaments that are emotionally chaotic because God is trying to show you elements of your heart that he wants.

But we need confidence. We need confidence in who he is. I'm going to read this text over you and I pray that the Holy Spirit would actually allow it to resonate in your conscience and in your heart. This is Isaiah 40 starting at verse 21. It says, "Do you not know?

Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he who circle sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

It is he who reduces rulers to nothing. Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted. Scarcely have they been swn. Scarcely have their stock taken root in the earth. But he merely blows on them and they wither because he's strong. and the storm carries them away like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me that I should be his equal? Your idols, says the Holy One. Raise your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. The one who brings out their multitude by number. He calls them all by name because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power.

Not one of them is missing. If he remembers the stars, can't you think he remembers you? Why do you say Jacob and you assert Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord. You don't think God sees you. You don't think God remembers you. If he knows every hair on your head, then he knows every problem you are carrying.

Why do you say Jacob and assert Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord and the justice due to me escapes the notice of my You don't think God knows who betrayed you. You don't think God sees who hurt you. You don't think he got beef with your enemies if you are a child of the king.

Vengeance is mine, sayaeth the Lord. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary cuz he ain't like you. Does not become tired cuz he ain't like you. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives strength to the weary.

And to the one who lacks might, he increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.

Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. Those who wait for the 
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 Lord. Then what happens? They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not be weary.

You will not be put to shame by waiting on the Lord. Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your glory. We thank you for your honor. We thank you for showing up. We thank you for speaking. We thank you for communicating. We thank you for loving us.

We thank you for caring for us. We thank you for communicating to us. I pray, God, that we would respond. I pray that we would trust you. I pray that we would listen to you. I pray that we would hear from you, God. I pray that we would repent from every idol that we've gathered because we didn't want to wait on you.

I pray that we would repent from every idol that we gathered because we did not want to wait on you. The golden calf was built because they did not want to wait on you. And so God, please help us wait on you. Please give us strength. Please give us power.

Please give us endurance. Please give us stamina. Please give us a right mind and a right perspective. I pray that we would know that you are trustworthy. I pray that we would know that you are good. I pray that we would know that you are king. I pray for every I pray that every demon, every stronghold, every lying tongue that convinces us that you are not trustworthy, God.

I pray that we would not fight with carnal weapons. I pray that you would tear down every stronghold set up in our minds. I pray, God, that we would not believe lies. 
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 for us to endure. We need you, Lord. To us to fight. We need you, Lord. We cannot do what you have called us to do with our own resources.

We cannot do what you've called us to do with our own strength. We need your Holy Spirit to fill us in this moment. I petition. Lord of hosts, fight for your people. For those who are weary, fight for your people. For those who are tired, fight for your people.

For those who want to commit suicide, fight for your people. For those who want to get a divorce, fight for your people. For those who just need you, fight for your people. 
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 And I want to say, Lord, we are looking forward to when you respond because you're the one who said that joy comes in the morning.

So, we can't wait to see it. And I pray that when it comes, Lord, that we would thank you knowing that you heard us and you remembered us in Jesus name. Amen.