5 Defining Traits of People of Faith

Read it recently, we celebrated the day of Pentecost. It's a time when God gave His people, His New Testament, New Covenant Church, the powerful gift of His Holy Spirit. If you and I want to tap the full power of that Spirit, you and I need to have a vibrant prayer life. Today, we're going to examine one aspect of one person's dynamic prayer life. We're going to drill down deeply, I think, in the time that I've got to do that, in this person's life, and see how this individual was able to overcome a lot of life's challenges as a result of their dynamic prayer life. The person we're going to be looking at today is a real-life flesh-and-blood person. I had all sorts of real-life issues. We'll take a look at those as we drill down into this person's life. It happens to be one of our ladies in the Bible. Lest anybody think that the Bible is a good old boy's book? That is not the case. The Bible is a record of God's faithful servants, men, and women. And today, we're going to take a look at one of the great ladies of the Bible. Her story gives us an opportunity to see how a woman or a person of faith can manage the problems of life. This individual's name is Hannah. Hannah, the one who would bear Samuel, one of the greatest personages in Scripture. In Hannah, we have the first biblical record of an extended prayer by a woman in the Scriptures. There are other examples of women who prayed, and there's a comment or two about how they prayed. But in Hannah, we have an extensive couple of prayers we're going to be taking a look at. Prayers that help show her relationship to the great God. Prayers that help us understand what it takes for us to have a vibrant prayer life. There was one particular key that Hannah was exhibiting in her prayer life with God, and we're going to take that and kind of expand on that. But if you want to take notes and you're taking notes on the theme for today's message, it is this. Hannah's key to dynamic prayer is faith. She was a woman of faith. Okay. A little bit of background information before we actually get into 1 Samuel. If you would, before we go to 1 Samuel, let's turn to Judges 21. Judges 21. And we want to go to a verse that's very, very well known.

It's the last chapter of Judges, the last verse. The very last verse of the whole book. Judges 21 and 25.

In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. The situation that Hannah finds herself in with her husband, Elkanah, is very bleak from a moral perspective. The nation is being torn apart, in one sense, because of the lack of leadership, a lack of moral leadership. These are the times of the Judges. And just to help us appreciate the fact of what we're going to be looking into today, bears on our day-to-day. I believe very strongly that our situation today is almost like the time, or is very much like the time of the Judges, where people are doing everything that's right in their eyes. There is a lack of moral leadership in our nation today. I believe that you would agree with that statement. And whenever there's a lack of moral leadership, people do what's right in their own eyes. When there's no standard to draw from, it leaves a void. And when you've got that kind of a void, what results is intolerance to any kind of morality. And so today, what we're seeing in our society is a secularized, humanistic society where morality is lacking—not with everybody, but with so many. And you see, if you have morals, you're viewed as intolerant, you're viewed as racist, you're viewed as bigoted or homophobic, or any other number of pejorative words we can use. Now, in the time of the Judges, you had a certain cycle that was taking place. Israel was surrounded by nations that were oppressing them. From time to time, they would be oppressed by these various nations. After a time, the people would cry out to God during their affliction. After a time, God would hear them. God would raise up a judge, deliver them. Normally, as long as a judge lived, they would have good days. Then the judge typically would die, and the whole cycle would repeat over again. Now, that brings us to 1 Samuel chapter 1. Let's turn there. 1 Samuel chapter 1.

1 Samuel chapter 1. We're going to see how Hannah, in her persistence and her faith, had a miraculous answer to her prayers that not only would it dramatically impact her, impact her family, but it would impact the entire nation. Today, as we drill down into the life of Hannah, at least the little bit we see in the scriptures here, the first two chapters of 1 Samuel, as we drill down, we're going to see five defining traits of people of faith. Five defining traits of people of faith. And as you and I look at that, we want to take really good note of that, because we want our prayers to be vibrant. We want our prayers to be lively. We want our prayers to have answers. Trait number one. Defining trait number one. People of faith face real life problems.

People of faith face real life problems.

Let's take a look at some of the things that Hannah was going through. 1 Samuel chapter 1, verse 1. Now, there was a certain man of Ramathim, Zophim of the mountains of Ephraim. His name was Al-Khanah, the son of Joram, the son of Eli-U, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph and Ephraimite. And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah. The name of the other was Panah-a. Panah-a had children, but Hannah had no children.

Let's drop down for the sake of discussion here to verse 6. Her rival, Panah, also provoked her, Hannah, severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. Now, we're going to get into that last phrase in a little bit, but let's continue on here in verse 7. So it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she, Panah, provoked her, Hannah. Therefore, she wept and did not eat. But Al-Khanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep?

Do you not eat? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons? So let's pause for a moment here. Let's understand what this woman was going through. In her society, the society of her age, when you didn't have children, that was viewed as being cursed. So this young woman was thinking that she was cursed, or she could have felt that she was cursed.

She felt society was looking down upon her. She felt socially disgraced. She felt emotionally depressed. She had a situation in her family that she couldn't solve on her own. To make matters worse, it appears that the husband, Al-Khanah, married Hannah first. She didn't have children, and so what did he do? He married somebody else. He wanted children. That was not that uncommon in those days. Again, what does that do for Hannah's feeling of self-worth? How is she feeling about this whole situation where her husband, who loved her a great deal, took another wife?

And on top of that, this second wife was having children one after another appears. Hannah's having none at this point, and Panina is rubbing the salt into the wounds, so to speak, of Hannah. Those are some real life issues that this woman is going through. Now, let's pick up something else here in 1 Samuel 1, verse 3. This man went up from the city of Yerli to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. So, following what the Scriptures say, you know, this is early on in the history of Israel. There's not a synagogue on every street corner. You know, there's one place for them to go to worship. In their case, it's about a 15 to 20 mile walk to get there.

And so, this man, Al-Khanah, and before we judge him a little too quickly, because I'm taking his second wife, let's remember that there are a number of people in the Old Testament who did similar things. You can think of Abraham, for example, and what happened in his life. You can think of Jacob in his situation. You can think of David in his situation. Great men of God, but, you know, their family life was something else.

But this man went up from his from a city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also, the two sons of Eli, Haphni, and Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were there. So, here we've got a man who wants to take his family in worship. And this is a good thing, you know, as the Bible shows with, you know, Abraham, Jacob, David, now, Elkanah.

The Bible shows the good points, the not so good points, of the various people that we look at. This was part of the good trait, that he wanted to take his family and worship together. And we can glean something here. There's a gleaning lesson to be learned here, that as you and I want answered prayer, if we can have our family worships together, that makes it much more possible for us to have those answered prayers when the whole family gets involved.

And here we see the whole family getting involved in worship. The wives didn't have to go, the children didn't have to go, but they went. They wanted to go. They wanted to be there.

So, worshiping as a family is very important. Now, I know in this room, not all of us are here as family. In this room, we've got a number of people who come, you come by yourself. Your family may be antagonistic. You may have been doing this for many, many years. I understand and appreciate that. Does that mean you're left out somehow, that God doesn't care for you? Of course not. It's God who called you and not your mate. It's God who called you and not other family members. God's very understanding of your situation. But what is our responsibility in that situation? Let's take a look at, put a marker here. Let's go over to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 1. A powerful principle here for those who come on their own, whether it be without a mate or without other children or what have you, other family members. 1 Peter 3, 1. Wives likewise be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they without the word may be won by the conduct of their wives. So here we see the power of a godly woman's example. Of course, we can extrapolate that to the other other gender as well. We've got a number of fellows who come without their wives. And we can be as as fellows, we can be a tremendous example to our family as we, you know, incorporate the the wisdom we see in Ephesians chapter 5. I'm not going to turn there today, but that's something that we can keep in mind. Let's also turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 7 for a moment. Still on the same idea about those who come on their own by themselves, by yourselves. 1 Corinthians chapter 7.

And in verse 14, for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Again, a powerful example for either husband or wife, who may be attending, but the maid is not. But notice the rest of verse 14. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. Notice the relationship because of your walk with God, that your family has a very special relationship with God, where the children, the family members, are set apart because you have been set apart. They're set apart because you're following God. So I think that's something for us to appreciate. So the whole concept here of family worship is very important in Scripture, and certainly we see it here in 1 Samuel chapter 1. I'd like to also point out something else in verse 3. 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 3. This is also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were there. Now it can be very easy for Elkanah to say, you know, I've heard that those two priests aren't very good men. Hophni and Phineas, they're really very bad priests, and so I think I'll just stay home. I can worship God. I can pray right here at home. I'll just stay home. He didn't do that. He didn't do that. Elkanah was faithful in taking his family to worship, even though at this particular point the ministry there wasn't the best. I think that says something to us as well. You know, today in the Church of God culture, we've got any number of people who think that, you know, they had a hard week last week, and, you know, I've not always been a minister working full-time. I've worked on the outside. I know how it is to have a really hard week, and it's easy for people to say, well, I had a hard week. I'm just going to take a mental day off and stay home from services. Elkanah didn't believe that. He wanted to be at services. He wanted to be there to worship the great God as God talked about. And remember, it was not just Hannah who had an aspect in raising Samuel. It was also Elkanah. So that's something about the home he was raised in for at least a short time. Okay, 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 4. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninah, his wife, and to her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.

So verse 5 indicates that he's a devoted, not only a pious man, and not perfect by any stretch, could stand to use some husband classes. But, you know, he was a person who wanted to worship God, and he was a person who was trying to love his wife the best way he knew how. And expressing his love, I'm sure, to his wife by, to Hannah, I'm talking about here, by giving her a double portion, I'm sure in one sense gave her some comfort, even though we had taken another wife. And by the way, while we're on the subject, some have said, well, the Bible, regarding polygamy, the Bible okay's it. The Bible does no such thing. The Bible does not okay polygamy. The Bible faithfully records those relationships as a matter of historical record, as a matter of historical record, not as a matter of proper doctrine or a proper way people should be living. God never endorses multiple marriages. And when you take a look into the scriptures about those who had those, we see all sorts of issues. Take a look now at the end of verse five and the end of verse six, where it says, the Lord had closed her womb in verse five, and in verse six, the Lord had closed her womb. You know, again, people, we go through our lives, and we so many times would love to say, well, Satan did this, or humankind did this, or society did this, and sometimes those things are true. But in this case, God did it. God did it. And here you've got a woman, Hannah, whose name means grace, who was entirely capable and had the right kind of way of thinking to raise great children. And of course, she would have her opportunity and time. On the other hand, you've got Panina, with her attitude of spite toward Hannah, and maybe as Alkana gave Hannah a double portion, maybe that made Panina just all the more kind of put it to Hannah. But Panina was having children, seems every time she turned around. And it's so easy for us to say, well, why does God do that? Why does God do that? Put a marker here. Let's go over to Job chapter two. As you're well aware of the story of Job, he was going through crushing trials, crushing trials. Everything was being stripped away from him, his wealth, his family, everything. Job chapter two, verse nine, then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die.

But he said to her, remember he was one of the three most righteous who ever lived, along with Noah and Daniel, Job said, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Referring back to our sermonette. You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? And all this Job did not sin with his lips. So there are times, brethren, when God does allow us to go through bone-crushing trials. Take a look at James chapter one for a moment. James chapter one.

James chapter one, starting here in verse two.

James one, two. My brethren count my brethren count at all joy when you fall into various trials. Don't count it as happiness. You're not happy. But we can count it as joy because joy is a relationship that we have with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the test of your faith produces patience. Let patience have its perfect work or maturing work that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. So why is God allowing this to happen to Hannah? Because God is working with Hannah. God is wanting her to, and through her us, realize that God isn't in the flesh glorifying business. God is in the business of helping us build holy righteous character. And many times we build that holy righteous character through the crucible of human suffering. And Hannah was going through a great deal of suffering.

Psalm 119 verse 71, I can read this for you, Psalm 119 verse 71 says, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. It's good that I've been afflicted. It draws me closer to you. I've got to cry out to you. My prayers will be much more vivid. My life hopefully will be what it should be as I'm crying out to you. Okay, let's go back now to first Samuel again. Rejoin the story. A number of family lessons to be learned here in this first couple of chapters of Samuel. I want to revisit verse 8 again.

Then, Al-Kana, her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?

Again, he's showing that he would be a tremendous candidate for some husband classes here.

You know, he's trying to do his best to comfort his wife. At first glance, it might seem he's being sympathetic. Over the years, brethren, I've known fellows who have seen their wife go through different difficulties, and sometimes they can seem so unconnected to that. It's kind of like, well, Hannah, I know you're going through a lot of difficulties. What's for dinner? What's for dinner? We, as men, want to protect our wives. We want to provide for our wives. But so many times, fellows, what our wife needs is for us to be quiet, not be the men from Mars. Be quiet. Let them talk. Let them explain where they're at. They want us to understand. Stop talking. Keep listening. More fully appreciate where they're at. So many times, that's what our wives are looking for. And basically, Alkana here, basically a good guy in so many ways, but he's basically saying in verse 8, baby, you got me. What else do you need?

That wasn't going over very well with Hannah at the time. Not going over well at all with her. She was, at this point, down. She was blue. Would we say depressed? I wouldn't say clinically depressed, but I would say she's meeting some depression. Last Sabbath, as I gave this message up in Beloit, I was saying that I knew an individual years ago when I was going through Ambassador College, and this person always felt that need to have a smile on their face. And through thick, through thin, and I appreciate the fact they're trying to have a nice attitude, but so many times when the person was smiling through horrendous situations, I felt like shaking them and saying, you know, life's just not like that. Life's just not like that. There was a time in our church history, in our church culture, where you never said something about being depressed or blue. People would just sweep that under the rug, and that caused an awful lot of problems for some of our members over the years. Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 1 for a moment, because, brethren, real Christians can become blue. Real Christians can become depressed. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, listen to one of the greatest men of faith in all of Scripture, and how he's describing his life at this particular point. 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 8, For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, burdened beyond their physical measure to endure, above strength, above their physical ability to hold on. Of course, that's why we never go into these trials with our strength alone. You know, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, God's not going to give us a trial that we can't handle, but that means that we've got to handle it with his help, not just on our own shoulders, that we are burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had a sentence of death in ourselves. He thought he was going to die. Things were so bad that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. I mean, Paul here is talking about a time when things looked really bad for him, and yet he was a man of faith. He was a man who was able to go to God with fasting and prayer and rise from those ashes, so to speak. So, trait number one, the defining trait of people of faith is a people of faith face real life problems. Trait number two, defining trait number two, people of faith. People of faith pray intensely. They pray intensely. Let's go back now and see this tremendous prayer of Hannah. 1st Samuel chapter 1 verses 9 through 18. Hannah's prayer of faith. She had real issues she was grappling with. She didn't shut down. She didn't just walk away. She didn't lash out at those around her. She didn't blame God. She didn't get angry with God. She didn't try to isolate herself from God's people. She went up year by year to worship the great God. Her problems drove her to prayer.

Verse 9. 1st Samuel 1.9. So Hannah arose and they had finished after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord, and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Again, remember all the things that were happening in her life. Her husband who loved her took another woman. She viewed herself as a failure as a woman. Her self-esteem was like zero. She couldn't fix things. And Penina, the other wife that insult to injury was continually harassing her and her rang her about her situation. So she's weeped. And this has been going on for a while now. This is not just a matter of a few days. It's been going on for a while now. She was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. Notice now verse 11. Key verse in her prayer. Then she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant but will give your maidservant a male child, that I'll give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall come upon his head. So a couple of things to note here in her prayer. In verse 11, she's addressing the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts refers to God's name as a God who has armies at his disposal. A God of tremendous power at his disposal. And three times in verse 11, in contrast to talking to this Lord of hosts, how does she refer to herself? She refers to herself as your maidservant. Three times. So here's a woman of humility. She knows the power of God. She's addressing the power of God. She knows her own weakness, but she's appealing to God's power. And of course, today for us as parents, again speaking to us as lessons as parents, notice what her prayer entails. Her prayer entails saying, if you give me a son, she's being specific here, I'll give him back to you. She's willing to sacrifice what a normal mother would have all those years of raising a child because when she says she's going to give it to the Lord, she's going to take him to the tabernacle and leave him there at a certain point. And she will only see him maybe once a year or so. She's willing to do that because she's not only praying on her own behalf, she's praying for her family, she's praying for the nation, she's praying according to God's will.

And when we're praying for our children, we need to be praying according to God's will. Hannah had a proper focus. Her focus was on glorifying God through her son that she wanted to have, and she was putting herself on the sidelines. You know, so many times you and I, when we're praying, it's the give-me's. Please give me this, please give me that.

And notice something, brethren. God is going to give her a son. God is not taken in by flowery rhetoric. God was looking at her heart. God understand where Hannah was coming from, that her prayer was heartfelt, her prayer was sincere, she was motivated, she was going to act on what she was doing. God knew that Hannah meant what she was saying, and that she was determined to act on what she was saying, this vow to the great God. But also appreciate something, brethren, when you take a look at this story, that this took time in Hannah's life. This didn't happen overnight. She had to go through this suffering for a while to bring her to this place where we have this prayer. You may be going through something in your life right now, and God may be working with you, preparing the soil, so that you get to a place, or I get to a place, where we pray this kind of a prayer, where God has to soften our heart, tenderize our heart through the trial. Jesus Christ said it best in Matthew 2639. I'm not going to turn there, but in Matthew 2639, Christ said, not as I will, but as you will. That's exactly where Hannah was coming from. Now, what we have alluded to here in verse 11 is the Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow. Maybe one of our fellows who give sermonettes might want to go through this in more detail. I just want to read you something out of the New Unger's Bible dictionary about a Nazarite vow, what Hannah was saying that she wanted to do with her son. I quote, The Nazarite vow was an act of consecrating oneself to Jehovah, negatively by renouncing the world with its pleasures that are so unfavorable to sanctification and also defiling influence, and positively by being specifically devoted to the Lord. Consequently, the Nazarite was holy to the Lord. Absidence from the fruit of the vine was meant not merely to secure the sobriety that is necessary to qualify one for the service of the Lord, but to serve as a symbol of the renunciation of those weaknesses of the flesh that tend to endanger a man's sanctification. The long, uncut hair of the Nazarite was the symbol of strength and abundant vitality. It was worn in honor of the Lord as a sign that he belonged to the Lord and dedicated himself to his service with all of his vital powers." End quote. Now, of course, we don't do that today. And again, one of our sermonette men might want to ask the question and give a sermonette why we don't do this today. But back in those days, they did this. And this is what she's saying that she wants to do.

Verse 12. 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 12. And it happened as she continued praying before the Lord. Now, we're going to see when we look at verse 9 and verse 18 that her prayer went from mealtime to mealtime. So she was praying for a number of hours here. This was just some quick 30-second prayer. This was something she's just mumbling under her breath. She was intent, as it says there in verse 10, she was in bitterness of soul. She wept in anguish. And she here is praying continuously before the Lord. And it says here in verse 12 that Eli was watching her mouth. Verse 13. Now Hannah spoke in her heart, holding her lips smooth, but her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk. Good lesson. There are times when we may be watching somebody who's very close to God. And we see something and we don't know what we're seeing. And we can be very quick to judge. And we can be very quick to judge wrongly. Eli was judging wrongly here. He was judging inappropriately here. He thought she was drunk. She's praying one of the great prayers of the Bible here. Verse 14. So Eli said here, how long will you be drunk? Put wine away from you. But Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord, I am one of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but I poured out my soul before the Lord. Poured out her soul. Notice the type of prayer she's praying here. Do not, verse 16, do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now.

Eli finally gets it. Verse 17. Then Eli answered and said, go in peace, and the God of Israel grants you your petition which you have asked from him. And she said, let your maidservant, notice how she is discussing herself even to Eli, let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Her face was no longer sad. What we see here in verse 18 is very powerful. She was in bitterness of soul, wept in anguish, prayed continuously for hours, pouring out her soul. But when she was done as a woman of faith, as an individual of faith, notice what it says there in verse 18. So the woman went her way and her face was no longer sad. It's like a lawyer who said, I rest my case, God. I've come before you with your power, with your majesty. I'm nothing. I'm a maidservant. You're the Lord of hosts. You know what my situation is. You know how to correct that situation.

So she rested her case. So trait number two of people of faith, people of faith pray intensely. Trait number three of these five defining traits. Trait number three, people of faith experience God's provision. God does provide. God does answer prayer.

Let's continue on in the story here, verse 19, chapter 1 of 1 Samuel, verse 19. Then they rose early in the morning and worship before the Lord. Notice, they're continuing to do what they did as a family. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped. It wasn't a hit-miss thing. As a family, they had their issues, but they worshiped God.

They worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to the house at Rama. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her.

Biblical language remembered her. Biblical language saying that God remembered her prayer. It was now going to act on it. Verse 20, so it came to pass in the process of the time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel saying, because I have asked for him from the Lord. I've asked for him from the Lord. Interesting, in Hitchcock's book of Bible names, dictionary of Bible names, the name Samuel can mean asked of God or even heard from God. Perhaps we can put it both down. He was asked of God and heard of God. And God gave Hannah, this wonderful young son. Trait number three, people of faith experience God's provision. Trait number four, of the five defining traits of people of faith. Trait number four, people of faith keep their promises. How many times have we said, God, if you do A, I'll do B.

And God does A, but do we do B? Well, she was going to be a person who was going to keep her promise to the great God. Let's continue on the story, verse 21. Now the man, Elkanas, and his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice in his vow. So again, we see this man is the pious man. He's a man, again, had his issues, wasn't perfect, who is? But, you know, he wanted to worship God, and he did. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, not till the child is weaned, then I'll take him that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever. You mothers, now, tomorrow's Father's Day, but you mothers out there, what would it be like for you to say, well, you know, in my child, and there's speculation as to how old Samuel was when he was taken to the temple. Some people think he was as young as three years of age when he was weaned. Other people think he was 12 years old. But even if it was 12 years old, mothers out there, can you see yourself just saying, you know, I was wanting this child so badly. The reason my husband married a second woman is to have children. Well, he's got children through her, but not through me. But I'm going to take this child I've got and then give him away.

She's a tremendous lady, Hannah. Tremendous woman. Tremendous courage.

Verse 23, so, Al-Qanah, her husband said to her, do what seems best to you, wait till you have weaned him, only let the Lord establish his word. Or maybe a better translation, let you establish your word with God. You know, do what you said you were going to do. Then the woman stayed and nursed her son till she had weaned him. And again, various way people look at that in terms of ages. Now, when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bulls, one eath-ath of flower, a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And a child was young. So there are evidences of maybe he was three. There's evidences maybe he was 12. Josephus says he was 12 years old. Other sources think he was three. We don't know. Then he slaughtered him, verse 25, and brought the child to Eli. And she said to him, O my Lord, as your soul lives, my Lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord. So she's reminding Eli about the situation took place years before, where he thought she was drunk. She wasn't. She was praying a very profound prayer. And God answered her prayer. And she's reminding Eli of that. For this child I prayed, verse 27, and the Lord has granted me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore I have also lent him to the Lord as long as he lives. He shall be lent to the Lord. And so they worship the Lord there. Again, notice, as a family, they worship the Lord there. Verse 28, this idea of lent, lending him to the Lord. Other translations have this a little more clearly. For example, 1 Samuel 1, 28 in God's words translation says this, in return I'm giving him to the Lord. He will be dedicated to the Lord for his whole life. So a different concept there in terms of lending something. She's giving him to the Lord, being dedicated. And notice again at the very end of verse 28, and so they worshiped the Lord there. Now again, if Samuel was 12 years old, he's an active participant, knows fully what he's doing, as both mom and dad and Samuel, all three, are worshiping before the Lord as a family. In your notes, you might want to jot down Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. In these words, which I command you, today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up.

This is the kind of household that Samuel was born into.

Perfectly flawed family, just like all of us. And yet, this flawed family, Hannah being a great woman of faith, Elkanah not so much, maybe, but he was again, he became one of the great personages in all of Scripture. I want to just add a little bit of a postscript before we turn to something else. Let's look at chapter 2 now. Maybe you think Hannah was just like a rock. You know, she just had no feeling. She had no maternal feelings at all. How could any woman who wanted a child so bad just take them to the church, drop them off with the minister there, and walk away? Well, let's take a look at 1 Samuel chapter 2, and verse 19. Moreover, his mother used to make him a little robe and bring it to him year by year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. So here we've got some evidence that here's a mother who loved her child, did for her child what she can do based upon the promise, based upon the vow she had made before God. She kept trait number four, people of faith keep their promises. Lastly, trait number five. Five defining traits of people of faith. Trait number five, people of faith praise and worship God. People of faith praise and worship God. And here, brethren, we see a tremendous... the last words we see of Hannah are in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. These are the last recorded words of Hannah in Scripture. It's a triumphant climax to what we see in her life. This is one of the great prayers of the Old Testament, often referred to as a song of Hannah. Scholars say this ranks right up there with the song of Moses and Miriam, ranks up there with the song of Deborah, the song of David. A tremendous, humble prayer of gratitude that she extends to the great God who heard her prayer. Let's take a look at this. 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 1. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. So here she's talking about thanking God for his... how God delivered her personally. Her heart rejoices in God. It says, My horn. Now, horn in the Scripture is symbolic of strength. So she's saying her strength is exalted in the Lord. Her ability to have her child is because of what God did for her. She can smile at her enemies because God is answering her prayers. So the first thing she talks about is being thankful for her deliverance. Verse number 2. No one is holy like the Lord, for there's none beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. So here Hannah is praising God's holiness. His holiness. How he is different than all the other gods. And again, remember, this is a society. This is the time of the judges. Morality is not there for so many people. Following the great God is not there for so many people. During this time, here's a woman praising God for his holiness, saying there's no other God like you.

Verses 3 through 7. A couple of thoughts run, of course, through these verses here. Verses 3 through 7. Hannah issues a warning to the proud, and on the other side, by contrast, Hannah is saying God will take care of the weak. Verse 3. Talk no more so very proudly. Let no arrogance come from your mouth. For the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. So again, you've got a contrast there beginning at verse 4, the mighty, and then at the end of verse 4, the humble. Verse 5. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.

They were full physically, but they were spiritually poor, and the hungry have ceased hunger. Those who looked at the great God were given what they needed. Even the barren bore seven, and she who has many children has become feeble.

Maybe an allusion there to her life, although she didn't have seven. Verse 6. The Lord kills and makes a life. He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. So again, she realizes how low she was, how high Panina was when she was really kind of putting it to her, and yet she realized that with God's help, God exalted her in terms of answering her prayer and giving her Samuel. Verse 8 talks about how the future lay in God's hands, not our hands. Verse 8. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He set the world upon them. And of course, you and I appreciate the fact that God is our Creator. He is the all-powerful one who's going to come someday and rescue us from this world.

Let's talk more about here in verse 9. He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by strength no man shall prevail. He will guard the feet of his saints. You. All of you. The saints of the great God. And lastly, verse 10. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. We see that all through prophecy. From heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, but He will give strength to His King and exalt the horn of His anointed.

Verse 10 is thought to be a reference, one of the first references to the Messiah in the book of Samuel. So where are we, brethren, as we take a look at the life of Hannah? As we take a look at the life of Hannah, we see a tremendous individual, a woman with real life issues, but she persevered in her worship of the great God. She persevered because of her faith.

And if she were to be here talking to us today, she would probably walk among us and say, you know, you can't out-give God. You can't out-give God. She dedicated her son, her firstborn son Samuel, to serve God in a tabernacle. Postscript, she had three more sons and two daughters. She had six children in all. So through all the difficulty and all what she was going through, God did bless her. And down the road, a number of years down the road, another woman saw her prayer, heard of her prayer, and prayed a prayer of her own. And that prayer is found in Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 56. That woman's name was Mary. Mary, who was the mother of Jesus, Mary thought about Hannah's prayer, and she prayed part of that prayer herself so that she could properly raise Jesus of Nazareth. So here we've got a woman who gives us so much to think about. And I thought it'd be good today, near Father's Day, to honor our moms in that sense. Our wives, I guess, will honor us tomorrow. But certainly there's something to be said for the tremendous example that Hannah set for all of us. So Hannah's key to dynamic prayer was faith, those five traits one last time. Number one, people of faith face real-life problems. Trait number two, people of faith pray intensely. Trait number three, people of faith experience God's provision. Trait number four, people of faith keep their promises. And lastly, trait number five, people of faith praise and worship the great God.