Filled With Worship - 1 Samuel 1:19-28

This text, there's also some of the verses we will use are on your handout this morning. So I'm going to read this text, and then we will spend some time being led, I think, to the goodness of God and to worship in Him. So this is they, this is Hannah and Elkanah. They arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And in due time, Hannah conceived and bore a son. She called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the Lord." And then Elkanah and his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever."

Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord establish his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her along with a three-year-old bull and ephah of flour and a skin of wine. And she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. And they slaughtered the bull and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, "Oh, my Lord, as you live, my Lord, I am the woman who is standing here in your presence praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted to me my petition, and I made him, and I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord." As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. This is the word of the Lord. Father in heaven, help us to see the goodness

of your love toward us, that you would help us to see the greatness of your power, and that you would help us to see that you are our hope. Be with us this morning as we look at your word and learn from your word and are moved and convicted and strengthened and encouraged by your word. Be with us during this time. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There is always that moment, I think, where as a child, I have heard about this, where you move from being the child to being the parent. Rachel and I, we had just been married. My parents had come down to visit, so we stuck them in the basement, because that is where they stuck me when I was a teenager. There was one of those tropical storms that had been a hurricane, kind of moving up, and it was going to directly come over us in Virginia.

And so it rained, and it didn't rain for 40 days and 40 nights, but it felt like it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. And so in the middle of the night, it was like 2:00 in the morning, I hear my dad tromping up the stairs once again. Now the child has become the parent, right, just like I used to do. And there we are. Dad walks in and goes, "Your basement's flooded." And I was like, "I don't know what you want me to do about it. Like, it's raining." It turned out the sump pump had broken, and so the hole that the sump pump sets in to pump water out of, it had died. And then that hole that was supposed to remove water then filled the basement with water. And our dog at the time, Rigby, she loved my mom and dad, specifically my dad. And so when they were staying in our guest bed in the basement,

she would go lay down next to their bed, and I guess Dad woke up and like looked around and saw a little bit of water and then looked at the stairs, and there's Rigby with like one paw on the stairs going, "Do I wake him up or do I just leave them to drown in the basement?" And so at 2 AM, this is not what I am expecting to find in my basement. Yeah, I expect to find my parents. I expect to find my dog. I do not expect to find like 10 inches of water. Not just like a little puddle, but completely covering the entire basement. Now, if we would have had kids back then, they probably would have been overjoyed because you have an indoor swimming pool and they would have probably asked for more water, but not what I was expecting in the middle of the night.

And as we come to this text this morning, it is filled with worship. And it's not what I'm expecting from this text. It's not what I expect to see happen. And it's not just bookended with worship because as we read in the first verse of our text, they got up first thing in the morning and they go and worship and it then ends with worship. Christ throughout all of these verses is filled with worship. It's filled with the worship that is hopeful. The things you have prayed for have not yet come to pass, but my hope is in you. It's filled with this confidence that God will establish his word. It's filled with obedient and sacrificial worship. And then we see it ends with continual worship. So I want to begin by talking about that sort of unexpected moment in this text, the surprise of hope-filled worship.

Oops, I'm going the wrong way. What makes the worship, I think, in this text so surprising is that it seems backwards to how we normally approach worship. So we normally approach worship as something that is dependent upon our circumstances, right? If my circumstances are good, if I feel good, if I am joyful, if I am thankful, you know what it does? It leads me, ultimately, to worship, right? If my circumstances are good, then I am ready to worship. And if I'm struggling, I come to God, I pray, He fixes things, and then I worship, right? Generally, we kind of think of worship sometimes as the consequence or the result of God fixing the struggles we have. But here in the text, that's not what we see. We see that worship is not dependent upon circumstances,

but rather worship is dependent upon the greatness and the goodness of God. And that's so important because our circumstances change, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. And if our worship is dependent upon our circumstances, it's going to be a roller coaster. But God, the Lord, does not change. And so if our worship is dependent upon Him rather than our circumstances. Let me try to unpack just a little bit of what is happening here and why it's so surprising. The beginning of this text is filled with both humility and struggle. It begins with a small town that we're not quite sure of the location, a family that we have some idea of who they are and where they end up, but are relatively unknown. And we move almost immediately into the suffering of Hannah, physically, but not just physically.

You see that her suffering is also in regards to conflict, because there's another wife in the household who is intentionally sort of attacking and berating and goading her, and it doesn't just happen once or twice, but the verses preceding says year after year, it just doesn't stop. And so her suffering is physical, and it's relational, and it's continual, but it is also spiritual. And in her desperation, she runs to God and pours out her heart. And here's the remarkable thing, right? As she is pouring out her heart at the door of the tabernacle, the guy who is supposed to be the priest of Israel, the one who is supposed to stay pulling God, who's supposed to be chosen from among the people so that he can bear their burdens and be close to them in their heart,

this priest looks at her and goes, "Hey, you're drunk. Go home." Can you imagine pouring out your soul before God, and then somebody just simply calls you a drunk and tells you to go home? And then, when she explains that she's not drunk, but she's pouring out her soul before the Lord, he kind of gives her this flippant answer that says, "Go in peace. May the Lord of Israel grant your petition." And it's almost as if Eli just kind of smiles and nods and goes, "Yeah, maybe if I agree with you, you'll leave." And I understand this because this is often the same response when you get somebody strange showing up at church. I don't mean on a Sunday morning, but generally like 10 o'clock on a Monday night going, "Hey, are you the pastor?"

I just want to smile and nod until you go away and stop being weird on my front doorstep. And I feel like Eli is doing this just a little bit. And one of the reasons we know that Eli really doesn't make a lot of this conversation is because down in verse 26, Hannah has to reintroduce herself to Eli and go, "Remember that lady that you thought was a drunk? Now I'm back and God has granted my request." I don't...it's hard because I think Eli dismisses it. But what you find is that I imagine in his ministry as a priest, for every one sincere, hurting person, right? There's 10 or 11 who are simply seeking to manipulate or to use God. And it may be that in this moment, Eli has become cynical and jaded. It doesn't help Hannah, though. It just sort of adds to her hurt.

She brings her hurts and hopes to God in prayer, and he gives her sort of a generic blessing. But what's interesting is that God uses that. And Hannah's heart is relieved. And she said, "Let your servant find favor in your eyes." And the woman went away and ate, and her face was no longer sad. That even this moment of accusation and almost like dismissal, Hannah has been dealing with God. And he has taken the burden of her heart. Her appetite's restored, and she is no longer sad. And then it says this, "They arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her." Let's talk about what it means, just for a moment, to worship. See, there's some words that are just kind of like buckets, right?

There's a lot of different meanings that can fit into that bucket, often similar and related. But sometimes words are used like bucket, probably the most common illustration and the one that's easiest for me is the word love. Like I love my wife, I love my kids, I love coffee, I love the weather at like 8:30 last night when it was cool and clear and the bugs weren't out yet. We can use love to describe a million different things, but we don't mean the same thing when we say love, right? At least hopefully we don't. Hopefully I don't mean the same kind of love when I say I love coffee as when I say I love my wife. And so love is kind of a bucket word that we fill with all sorts of inflections and meanings and differences, and depending on the context is what it means.

And the same, I think, for us is true of worship. So for us, worship can be described as a service. We come to worship, it starts at 10:15-ish. Maybe we think of it as singing. We sing worship together in song. Sometimes we view worship as an attitude or some kind of feeling that comes up within us, whether that's joy or hope or gratitude. Now, I want to be clear, these things are a part of worship, but we're missing what's deeper and more wonderful. Right? Biblically, this word "worship" just means to bow down. And it's not just a picture of physical posture, but it's a picture of the posture of your life. And true worship means living in submission, bowed down before God in your life. And it includes your heart, and it includes your song, and it includes your emotions and your mind and your actions.

All of it tied together. And worship encompasses things that I think are both deeper and more important, and maybe even more shallow, but also wonderful, right? So in the deepness, your actions, your work, your marriage, your friendships, every action can be worshiped to God as you bow down before Him in how you live. But also on the other side of that, there are things that we would see as flippant or simple or not important that are also worshiped to God. I love in Nehemiah, the eighth chapter, Israel, the people of God, they're broken by hearing the word of God read, and they see their sin on display, and they repent. And the counsel given to them by Ezra is that, "Go and eat the fat, because this day is holy to the Lord, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

He literally tells them to go. Have a cookout. Send the meat to those who have none. Enjoy the food that God has provided for you. Enjoy. And what you see is that worship can include having a barbecue for the glory of God, and sharing with friends, and enjoying the fellowship, and the good gifts that God has created. It also involves those moments where we live in submission in those times often that we don't necessarily want to. Romans 12 says that our worship is a living sacrifice. And true worship is living not just part of your life, but all of your life in submission to God. In your joys, moments where it feels like we're worshiping, right? Overflowing with goodness and thankfulness, but also in those moments of sorrow like Paul in the Philippian jail. Now in verse 19, when it talks about they worship, probably a literal physical bowing down, but it's also symbolic of what is happening in Hannah and Elkanah's heart.

What you find is that worship means submitting your life to God. The next thing we see, and we'll pick up in verses 21 through 23, we have this short sort of conversation and a record of events. The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice. We don't know how long this is from this last trip. This may be the next trip. It may be a trip or two in the future, depending on how the timing of things work out. But for whatever reason, we pick up in this specific year. He's going to pay. There's been a new child born. He's going to pay his vow, but Hannah did not go up. For she said to her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever."

And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord establish his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him." Hannah has made a vow that if you give me a son, I will give him to your service. What's interesting is Elkanah, the father, has also made a vow. And while we saw last week that he may not be very good at dealing with the emotional struggles of his wife Hannah, it seems like he seeks God with his heart and seeks to honor him. And so he faithfully goes to Shiloh to fulfill his vow. And there is his conversation. He says, "We're going to Shiloh." And she says, "Well, I'm not going this year. I'm not going until the child is old enough to go and for me to fulfill my vow."

Likely about three years as well. He goes, "I go to fulfill my vow." She says, "I will fulfill my vow, but this child is not ready to go yet." In a real sense, right? This child depends on her for her very survival. And she's not dishonoring her vow. She's simply waiting until the time is right to fulfill it. And Elkanah says something to her. He says, "Do what seems best to you. Do what you think is right." I don't think he's being passive-aggressive and going, "Well, you do what you think is right." I think what he's doing here, because of the next phrase, he's acknowledging the wisdom of her decision. "Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have weaned him." But then Elkanah says something strange. "Only may the Lord establish his word."

Now, the word "establish" here means to rise up or to get up. It can be used of someone waking up out of bed and standing up for the first time during the day. And Elkanah says, "May the word, God's word, may it stand up." And commentators struggle to figure out what word he's referring to. And the chapter doesn't give us the specifics, only that Elkanah says, "May the God's word rise up. May he establish it. May he stand his word up." I think that there's two things, and I don't think they exclude each other in this text. I think, in part, Elkanah is referring to the promises of God for the people of Israel. It's possible, I think, that he has a glimpse into what God is doing for this scattered, immoral, broken, living in darkness, surrounded by enemy's people. And what he is saying is, "May God establish his promises for his people."

And maybe he glimpses a little bit of what will happen with Samuel by the grace of God. "May God's promises arise because of you and his work in you, my son." But Elkanah, I think, also, and additionally, at the same time, might be referring to the word of God in the life of his son. Right? It's no accident that this birth of Samuel parallels so very closely the birth of Samson. One sent by God to save and to judge his people. And do you remember how Samson turns out? Right? He doesn't pursue God. Right? He pursues his own passions and his own pleasures continually. And here is another baby born miraculously just like Samson. In fact, the last recorded birth of a judge was Samson. Now, Samuel, the last judge, his birth parallels. I don't think it's an accident. And I can't help but wonder if Elkanah, as he looks at his baby, says,

"May God's word be established in your life. May God's word rise up in your life." Either way, Elkanah lives his life in this moment and others, confident that God will establish his purposes, either for Israel or for his son. And what God does is both. God establishes the promises of Israel by establishing his word in the life of Samuel. And in his words, he confidently bows down to the purposes of God. And so we've seen this hope-filled worship, worship that occurs before the prayer is even answered, this worship that is confident, saying, "Let God's word rise up in this land and in this child." And now we come to obedient and sacrificial worship. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her along with a three-year-old bull and an ephah of flower

and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, and the child was young. And the time comes and Hannah obediently fulfills her vow. And I don't want you to discount the human side of this. This has to be, especially for a mom, a moment where I can't imagine there's much but tears. We didn't even need to leave our dog at the groomer before we had kids. When it came time to leave our kids, I was like, "Hmm, I don't know about that." And we're calling back, checking to make sure that they're okay. And she's bringing him to be raised in the house of God. And you might say, "Well, how is this worship?" Yes, it's heartbreaking. I struggle 3,000 years later to understand how somebody could do this, but how is it worship?

Hannah is bringing her greatest treasure to the house of God. She is submitting her heart, she's submitting her desires, and all of those motherly instincts to God. It's both obedient and sacrificial as she comes to the house of God. In fact, listen to what she says in verse 28. "Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord." As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. And when Hannah says she lent him to the Lord, "I don't think she's saying, 'He's mine, so you better give him back.'" Think about what happens when you lend, right? You're entrusting something that is yours, and oftentimes something that is valuable into the care of someone else, and she is saying, "I'm entrusting." Other translations will say, like, dedicate or entrust. Elkanah is saying, "I am entrusting my heart and my son to the service of God."

Right? She comes hopeful. Elkanah comes confident, and she comes sacrificial and obedient. And now we have this verse at the very end of our section that says, "He worshiped the Lord there." And the question is, who is worshiping? And I don't think it's Elkanah, because he hasn't been seen since the earlier part of this section. Some translations will try to say, "They," meaning Hannah and Elkanah, but I don't think that the text fits this. This, I think, refers to Samuel. And you might say, "Well, he's too young to worship the Lord there." His very life is the worship of the Lord. And this legacy of worship in the life of Samuel would not have happened without a mom who hopefully worships and without a dad who confidently worships God. And so the question about all of this, with this worship that both starts and stops,

that's filled with confident, sacrificial obedience, this picture of a legacy of worship, what about us? I don't think the intention of this passage is to make us go, "Man, I'm not doing any of that." Although that may be true, I don't think the purpose of this text is to simply give us an example to follow. Because we might say, "I'm not hopeful. I'm not confident. I'm not obedient. I'm not continual." And I don't think the point is that Hannah and Elkanah did this, and Samuel did, "Now you better do it, too." I think the answer goes deeper than that. In all of these situations, how is it possible to worship? How is it possible when it feels like it's hopeless? How is it possible when the future looks uncertain? How can you be certain in the face of uncertainty? How can you be obedient and sacrificial?

How can you keep going with perseverance? I think the only way to worship, like we see in this text, is to see both the goodness and the greatness of God. And we have to see both, because if all you see is goodness with a God who's really, really nice, but He can't do anything for you. And if all you see is God's greatness, you see somebody who is powerful, but that power, as we see in our world, is often not directed toward helping, but rather toward the person who has the power. And so if you have God's greatness without God's goodness, you find God angry. If you have God's goodness without God's greatness, you have a God who is weak. And in this, I think the reason Hannah and Elkanah are able to worship is because they see both God's goodness

and God's greatness. And there's a verse that I want to bring you to, and it's a verse we've been before. It's one of my favorite verses in Luke's Gospel. It's in Luke 12, verse 32. And almost every word in this verse is a sermon. It just simply says this, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And every part of this verse is filled with joy and hope. And notice that it's written into a context of fear. The disciples in this moment, they're afraid of maybe not having enough. They're afraid of what people are going to do to them. And Jesus comes and says, "Don't be afraid." And what I love is when God says, "Don't be afraid." He tells us why we shouldn't be afraid. He doesn't just say, "Don't be afraid. Be brave and be strong and don't be scared."

He says, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." And He tells them why they shouldn't be afraid. And it starts like this. He says, "Little flock." In Greek, this is what's called a diminutive. And the way that we understand this, this is like a shortening of somebody's name or changing their name as a sign of affection. So like one, in our house, we have Penelope, who we love very much. We don't always call her Penelope, right? We call her Peeps. And we don't call her Peeps because we can tell you it's a sign of our love and our care and our deep knowledge of her that we say that. And when Jesus says, "Little flock," he's doing the same thing. He gets to be like, "Hey, sheeps." But Jesus comes gently and he goes, "You're my little flock." Right?

It's a sign, not just of care, but of affection. Right? There's a difference between somebody who cares for you and someone who has affection for you, and Jesus has both. And in our fear and in our struggle, we begin to glimpse the goodness of God as Jesus says, "Little flock." And then he says this, "Let me tell you about your father." Not your boss. He doesn't say, "It's your boss's good pleasure." Not your advisor, the guy who tells you what to do. Not some stranger, but it is who? Your father's good pleasure. And your father is a king. And your father comes to you not just with a piece of land or a castle, but your father is the God of all creation. He's immortal, invisible. He's the only one who is wise. He's almighty. He's victorious. His name is above all names.

This is your father. And you see in this idea of the kingdom, the power of God, the little flock, and you have a dad, but who is also the almighty king of all creation. This is who you call father. And here's what I love. You got the little flock. You got the kingly father. And then in the middle, what does it say? It is your father's good pleasure. As a dad, it's easy to be busy and in the pressures of life. And sometimes we can be short with our kids. Sometimes we can be difficult. Sometimes we can be annoyed. Sometimes we can do stuff out of obligation. Notice our heavenly father. Little flock. It's his good pleasure. Not just that he can, but that he wants to, and he finds joy in giving you the kingdom.

The all-powerful and all-good God of all creation sees you as his little flock, and he loves you. And when we see the depths of this, not just with our minds or our hearts, but with the depths of our soul, it's going to move us to worship. The kind of worship we see in Samuel that's filled with hope and confidence and sacrifice and obedience and leaves a legacy for generations to follow. Fear not, little flock, for it is the father's good pleasure to give you his kingdom. Let's pray. Father, help us to see your greatness and your goodness. Help us to remember that if we are in Christ, we are your children, and that we are your little flock, and that you are our great and powerful King. Encourage our weary hearts, humble our pride. Help us not to rely on ourselves, but on you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand together.