The Search Begins (1 Samuel 1:1-2:11)

Well, if you have a Bible, go ahead and make your way to the book of First Samuel. We’re going to be in the books of 1&2 Samuel all the way up to Christmas as we spend the rest of the year in a new series we’re calling Search for a King.   

The book of Samuel tells the story of how God took a disorganized group of tribes led by prophets and judges and united them under the rule of a King.  

But just to orient us as we get started in Samuel, let me give you some of the backstory. See, after God rescues his people from slavery in Egypt, he guides them through the wilderness, leads them into the Promised Land, and promises to provide for them as long as they’re faithful to him.  

But the book of Samuel opens at the time of the Judges, who were these military leaders God raised up to rescue his people. But the period of the judges could be summarized as a time of moral and spiritual decline.  

And this is so often our story. God does some incredible work in our lives, we get really excited about God, but then we get complacent, and we stop looking for him to move.  

We quickly go from: Jesus is the most important thing in my life! To: God, I’m too busy to be bothered by you.  

That means two things are happening at once:  

1. We’re drifting from a life of godliness. You naturally become like the people you spend the most time with, so what happens when you stop spending time with God in his Word and prayer? You stop thinking like God. You become more worldly.  
2. You begin to look for identity and security somewhere else. See, life with God is even more foundational than what family you’re in, what career you choose, what country you’re from.  

When you remove God as your primary source of identity and security, you have to search for those things in other places. Which means we’re all looking to crown someone or something as King in our lives.  

That’s what the book of Samuel is all about. Who will be our King? Who will we turn to get our identity and security?  

Now, Samuel is home to some of the most recognizable names in the OT—Samuel, Saul, and David. But the book opens with a story about a woman named Hannah. And unfortunately for Hannah, she’s living at a time when things are not so great.  

The last words of the book of Judges says [Judges 21:25] – In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Which, at first glance, you might think that sounds great! But you know what happens in that scenario? We underestimate how bad sin is and overestimate how good we are. And we end up making all kinds of bad choices because we make terrible kings.  

Hannah is a product of her time. She’s living in the fallout of people doing whatever seems good to them.  

Now remember, God promised blessings for being faithful to him. At one point, he even tells Israel, [Deut. 7:13] – He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground…14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock.

But in a time when no one listens to God, Hannah enjoys none of that. Pick up with me in… 

[v. 1] – There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah…2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts atShiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord.  

We’re going to focus on Hannah in this story, but in talking about Hannah, it would be a mistake for us to ignore the men around her. See, in a book that has its sights set on anointing a king, we have to ask: Where did all the good men go?  

Where are the men who:^[1]

• Do hard things rather than settle for the path of least resistance? 
• Who serve others before themselves?  
• Who recognize they have a role to play in God’s big story? 
• Where are the men who live in holy surrender to God? 
• And who do the countercultural thing of prioritizing the eternal over the immediate? 

Guys, I’m looking at us. When life gets hard, are you continuing to remind yourself and the people around you that there’s a greater hope to live for? Or do you just check out?  

What about in the church? Are you passing on your faith to others? One of the problems I keep hearing about the Church in Malaysia is that we have a leadership problem. There’s not enough pastors to multiply churches. And then, on top of that, you hear stories of bad leaders who take advantage of the flock. And I think, why is that?  

I’ve heard the different limiting factors, but when will God’s men rise up and say enough! When will we stand up and say, I know the problem is big, but God’s on my side, and it’s not too big for him. God, use me to show your strength! 

See, in the first three verses, we’re introduced to four men, and I don’t really like any of them. We’ll talk more about Hophni and Phineas next week, but don’t be fooled by their title. These guys are a disaster. And their dad, Eli, isn’t much better.  

And then there’s Hannah’s husband, Elkanah. He has his moments, but he also goes along with the pressures of his culture. See, in those days, having children was everything—especially in an agrarian society, where more sons meant more workers and more wealth. 

Children were a symbol of status and blessing. They were also your retirement plan. The more kids you had, the more likely you were to be taken care of in your old age. Kids gave you identity, they gave you worth, a future.  

And Hannah had none, which meant no life, no future. Now, [v. 2] says Elkanah had two wives. Every indication is that Hannah was his first wife, but since kids were such a prized commodity in those days, it would be culturally appropriate for the man to take a second wife.  

But listen–the fact that polygamy is in the Bible doesn’t mean God condones it. It’s almost like God holds up the fruit of polygamy to us and asks, Does this really look good to you? Is this your version of the good life? But it gets worse… 

[v. 4] – On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 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.

Here’s the family dynamics going on in Hannah’s house: Peninnah got Elkanah’s children, but Hannah got his love.  

One time, while I was serving abroad in China, our guys’ Bible study was sitting in our completely cinder block dorm room. And because it was completely cinder block, we had the brilliant idea that we could start a fire in there and it wouldn’t spread. So our group leader did it, but we immediately regretted it because we realized we didn’t have a good way to put it out.  

When the leader’s wife came into a room on fire, she was at a loss for words. All she could do was point at him and say, “Dumb, dumb, dumb!” I still hear her words ringing in my ears as I read this part of the story. Dumb! 

But this is Hannah’s life. It’s bad enough she can’t get pregnant because her culture tells her she’s not enough. But then she has a husband who says I love you to the moon and back. But that didn’t stop him from going outside the marriage to get what the culture said he had to have.  

This household is a prime example of what it looks like to be dysfunctionally functional. It works, I guess. But it’s a disaster for both women. See, despite her barrenness, Hannah is Elkanah’s favorite wife. Which makes Peninnah jealous. So what does she do? She throws dirt in the wounds of Hannah’s greatest pain, any chance she gets.  

• “Oh, Hannah, can you take care of the dishes tonight? I’m just too tired from putting all my kids to bed.”  
• “Hannah, what’s it like to have so much free time? It must be nice not having any responsibility.” 
• “Hannah, what do you know about doing hard things? You’ve never birthed a child before!”  

[v. 6] says Peninnah provoked Hannah to irritate her. I’m surprised [v. 7] doesn’t say, and Hannah gave her a holy smack in the face.  

Now, the word for irritated in [v. 6] is actually the Hebrew word, ‘to thunder.’ 

It’s a word that would typically be used to describe what’s happening 

around you. The literal storms of life. But in this case, it’s referring to 

Hannah’s inner life. She’s angry and anxious. She’s storming on the inside.  

Have you ever been there? You felt so angry, depressed, overwhelmed.  

• Maybe you just experienced some big failure, and no matter how hard you try to shake it, you can’t escape the bitter taste of shame. 
• Or maybe, like me, sometimes you’re aware of the emotional storm within you, but you have no idea what brought it on.  
• Or maybe, like Hannah, you feel like you’re lacking the most important thing in this life, and every time your mind goes there, life just unravels. 

See, Hannah’s story teaches us that… 

1.  Our deepest hurts often point to what matters most to us.

Every culture gives us stories to live by and labels to wear. Hannah’s the character in the story who always has the storm clouds over her head with the minor notes playing in the background.  

She’s been told her whole life the greatest gift she can give to her community is to be a faithful wife, a loving mother, an emotionally strong woman, devoted to the Lord.  

Instead, Hannah’s barren. Her husband has another wife. She’s an emotional wreck, and she probably spends a lot of time asking God, “Why is this my life? There’s a gap between where my life is and what you’ve promised, and I just don’t get it.  

Now, our emotions can help us start searching for what’s really going on. See, our emotions are usually trying to reveal what story is most shaping us. What are the stories and cultural narratives that are shaping your life?  What are the demands being required of you in those stories? 

Now, some cultures teach us to suppress our emotions. Like, whatever you’re feeling, just stop it. Bury it. It’s shameful.  

Other cultures function as if you should be ruled by your emotions. 

Whatever you feel, that’s what’s truly you. That’s what you should act on. I once heard a pastor say that we should treat our emotions like we would putting a 2-year-old in a car. We would never try to stuff a 2-year-old in the trunk, but we also wouldn’t be handing them the keys to the car. Instead, we’d carefully buckle them into their car seat.  

See, the Bible never tells us that emotions are bad. They just don’t give us the full picture. As you’re in the midst of whatever emotional storms you’re in, instead of listening to the emotion or ignoring the emotion, have you ever stopped and asked yourself, why do I feel this way? Like, what story am I telling myself right now and how does that fit in with the story of the gospel?  

When you look at Hannah’s life, maybe you say, she feels the way she does because she’s got a rival woman in her house. Or because she’s lacking something she’s supposed to have.  

But part of the problem is that she’s still trying to fit into a story that says her life can only ever end sadly. And what we’ll do in those moments is look for a quick fix to ease the pain. 

Which is exactly what her husband offers in…[v. 8] – And Elkanah, 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 ten sons?”

Women, do the men in your life get any points for trying? Elkanah is trying. His advice isn’t helpful at all, but he means well. He’s basically saying, since you can’t find your worth as a mother, why don’t you find your worth in being my wife? Am I not enough for you? Let your identity be wrapped up in my love.  

But Hannah doesn’t need another sad story that tells her she’s not enough. What she needs is to lift her gaze to an even greater story, with an even greater promise and an even greater hope. Which is what she does in [v. 9] – After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose…  

Now, that might not seem like much, but it’s a big deal. See, sometimes when you’re lost in your emotions, the best thing for you to do is the thing you least feel like doing. 

One time, years ago, at a small group, I asked a guy how his day was. He told me it was awful. It was hard. It was long. It was depressing. He said he didn’t feel like coming to small group that night, which is exactly why he came. He said, “It’s what I least felt like doing, but I knew it was God’s provision of grace for me.”  

In Hannah’s case, she does the same thing. She eats, she drinks, and then she goes to worship. That word, to rise, means she’s making a decisive move to not be ruled by her emotions. She’s saying enough is enough. I’ve heard what the world around me says. It’s time I take these things to the Lord. And what she’ll find when she does is that… 

2. God’s big promises provide a more enduring peace than our quick fixes.  

And Hannah doesn’t wait to put herself together before going to the Lord. She comes as she is.  

[v. 10] – [Hannah] was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” Some people treat prayer like a formula. They think if they say the right words, God will give them what they want. And I think, what a low view of God.  

But Hannah doesn’t do that. She brings her raw emotions and honest requests to God. And she doesn’t bargain with him. She doesn’t say make me the victor in my story. She says, God, make me the victor in your story. 

In her prayer, she addresses God as the Lord of Hosts. You are the Commander of the angel armies. Everything in heaven and on earth answer to you. Whatever you say goes. And if you look back at vv. 5-6, we’re told two times, that the Lord had closed her womb. 

Which means, on some level, she’s in the situation she’s in, because God allowed it. Hannah could say, God why did you make me barren? Why did my husband take another wife? How come she got pregnant and not me? I desire the things you promised. So, why did you say yes to this thing that seems bad and no to this thing that seems good? 

Sometimes, in our limited understanding, the answer is, “I don’t know.” But it’s in those moments that I’m resolved to say to God: You have exalted your Son in all the earth. He’s the Lord of lords and King of Kings. He has no rival, and his ways are not my ways. But he’s infinitely good and he draws near to the brokenhearted. Therefore, I have hope.  

I know this is not the end of my story because I know that God will do all that he promised and he’s promised good for me. So, this thing in front of me doesn’t stop God from doing all that he wants in my life. Therefore, I have hope.  

Now, in Hannah’s prayer, she’s making a Nazirite vow. That’s why she mentions no razor will touch his head. Which meant if God gave her a child that child would leave the family to live in the Temple and be trained as a priest.  

This child wouldn’t grow up in her home. She wouldn’t get the joy of raising him. He wouldn’t be there to take care of her in her old age. 

This child would be in the hands of the Lord, to accomplish his purposes. Here’s why this matters: God promised to bring blessing to the world through childbearing. And Hannah’s saying, God use my life toward those ends. And that’s exactly what he does. And God still works like that today if we could just stop living for lesser kings and turn and make Jesus our King.  See, something has changed in Hannah. She’s no longer saying, God give me a child for me. She’s saying, God, give me a child for you. By making this request she’s renouncing everything she would’ve gained had she been given a child in the first place.  

Now, in [v. 13] we learn that Hannah’s not praying out loud, she’s praying from the heart because Eli, the priest, mistakes her for being drunk. It’s another glimpse into the poor spiritual condition of the time. 

But when Eli sees that her cries are genuine he says in [v. 17] – “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 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.

One of the ways you can tell that Hannah’s living out a different story is how she responds here. When getting a child is King the story flows like this: 

• She prayed. She got pregnant. She has peace.  

But when God is King the story takes on a different shape: 

• She prayed. She has peace. She gets provision. Which could mean she gets pregnant. Which Hannah does. Or it could be something else. 

See, we trust, not in the things of this world. We trust in the Lord. And not to get something from God. We trust God to get him.  

[v. 19] – They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

God remembered her and she receives a child. She names him Samuel, which means “Answered prayer.” Her greatest joy is God’s answered prayer in her life. And the answer wasn’t give me what I want. It was, God, give me what you want.  

So, when it came time to make the trip back to Shiloh for the yearly sacrifice, Hannah didn’t go because she wanted to wait until she had weaned Samuel so that he could be dedicated to the house of the Lord.  

So Elkanah has the opportunity to void Hannah’s vow. He’s the man. But instead, in [v. 23] he says, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.”  

This might be Elkanah’s most commendable moment. It still sounds like there’s a spirit of the age mixed into his words, but Hannah’s life has been changed. She doesn’t intend to do what she wants because she’s not keeping the child for herself. She now wants what God wants. So after the child is weaned, she takes her greatest treasure in life, brings him to Eli, and offers him in service to the Lord.  

[v. 26] – She said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. 28

Therefore I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.”

And he worshiped the Lord there.

Hannah’s moment of surrender and worship reminds us that… 

3. When we put our trust in God alone, he never puts us to shame.  

Most Nazirite vows get an end date. They weren’t required to be a lifetime commitment. But Hannah gives no such restrictions. She takes the most precious gift God has ever given to her, and she gives it right back to him. 

Now, we’ve been talking a lot about kings and storylines. Let me weave together a couple of stories that help build the picture of God’s greater story that Hannah’s now participating in.  

See, earlier this year, we talked about the story of Abraham. How God promised Abraham, if you surrender to me, I’ll give you a child, even though your wife is barren. I’ll make you a great nation. I’ll use you to bless the nations. And God does all of it.  

But one day, God asks Abraham to do the unthinkable. He tells Abraham to give back the child who is central to all his plans. His son, his only son. And Abraham trusts God. And in the act of giving his only son to the Lord, God stops him. He provides a substitute in Isaac’s place, and he reaffirms everything he’s promised.  

Well, about a thousand years later, we have the story of Hannah. And people aren’t experiencing the blessings God had promised. Hannah’s life seems like one sad song after another. And again, we ask: Where did all the good men go? Who can we turn to in our darkest hour of need? Hannah’s story tells us: The Lord. 

She turns to the Lord and he quiets her storms. She offers him a child she doesn’t have and he provides again. But this time, Hannah does surrender her son, her only son, to be a living sacrifice to do what God desires.  And then, in chapter 2, she prays again:  

[vv. 1-2] – “My heart exults in the Lord…there is none like you, Lord; there is no rock like our God.”

She goes on in her prayer to praise God for his incredible ability to bring reversal and salvation in her life.  

• How God can take the barren and make them fruitful.  – How God can take the weak and make them strong.  
• How God can take the broken and make them whole.  

She goes on to say [v. 10] – The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;     he will give strength to his king     and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

God has changed Hannah’s story by bringing her into his story. She’s no longer the barren one. She’s the one who gave birth to the Kingmaker. That’s who Samuel is. And when a Kingmaker’s born, that means we should start looking for a King. Who will be the Lord’s anointed? This is where the search for a King begins. In Samuel’s lifetime, he will anoint multiple kings. 

But as the story goes…there’s an even greater King still to come. See, about a thousand years after Samuel, God sends an angel to visit another woman, named Mary. And he tells Mary she’s going to become pregnant with a child. But she says that’s impossible. She’s a virgin. And for her to be pregnant out of wedlock is going to be to her great shame. It doesn’t fit the cultural narrative of her day.  

But just like Hannah, Mary would learn what it means to be put to shame. But if you knew the plans of God for your life, the ways the world intends to shame you, the things you do for his sake, God intends to bring your greatest honor.  

Now watch this: Hannah asked God to give her a child for him. But God comes to Mary and says, “I’ve come to give you a Child for the nations.”  His name is Jesus. We just celebrated his death and resurrection last weekend. See, when Mary understood that God was using her to bring blessing to the world, she sang a song just like Hannah’s.  

And when Mary made God her King, she stopped feeling the pressure to let the world define her. She found her greatest source of identity and security in him.  

See, what the stories of Hannah and Mary teach us is that those who turn to lesser kings to give them identity and purpose end up lacking all the things they went searching for. If Hannah had just tried to make Elkanah’s love enough for her, she would have missed out on participating in God’s greater story.  

And I think, what are the things we keep running to that are causing us to miss out on the greater story God has for us?  

And all it took for Hannah was to turn to the Lord as she was, to surrender to him, and to let him change her. And God desires to do the same thing in you.  

See, when Hannah was experiencing the curse of sin, she turned to God to bring healing, and he answered her prayer. And he kept answering her prayer in Mary’s day. And he’s still answering that prayer today.  

Not just to give us any child, but to give us his Son, his only Son.  

[Gal. 3:13] says, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spiritthrough faith.

What that means is those who turn to the Lord in the midst of their bitterness and pain, who make Jesus King in their life, find peace for their pain and salvation from their sin.  

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^[1] Inspired by Jon Tyson’s Intentional Father.