Intro
Remember Show & Tell in school? (Decisions, decisions)
Kids bring some funny stuff to Show & Tell:
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Brown paper bag, fresh dog poop from that morning, “I thought it was cool because you can see pieces of carrot in it!”
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Prosthetic eye, brought it with him by wearing it, popped it out. “I see you!”
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A jar with Grandma’s gallstones!
There’s two reasons I bring up Show & Tell this morning:
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Starting this series in narrative portion of the OT, important to understand that the story portions of Scripture are way more show than tell. Like any good storyteller.
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It shows how we try to find our sense of identity, even from the earliest of ages. The reality is, we never really outgrow the spirit of show and tell, do we?
We’re all searching for identity, purpose, security, and happiness. Every single human being longs for those things.
Recap
The state of Israel is not good. In the Promised Land, never finished the job Joshua started, were not unified as a nation. Last verse in Judges:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25, ESV
Ruth was not placed here in the original Hebrew order of the OT, so the next verse you would read is 1 Samuel 1, where the story turns to a woman in a desparate situation.
In many ways, she’s a microcosm of the state of Israel as a whole. Barren, not experiencing the covenant promises, desparate for a change.
Two weeks ago, looked at how God uses nobodies and turns them into nobility.
Setup
Elkanah: not important family, faithful & godly, if a little clueless
Hannah:, godly woman, going through great sorrow.
Peninnah: (panini, “grilled flatbread sandwhich”) not barren at all
- The Sting of Hannah’s Life
- The Switch in Hannah’s Heart
- The Song on Hannah’s Lips
1. The Sting of Hannah’s Life
Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters. But he gave a double portion to Hannah, for he loved her even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving. Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her, because the Lord had kept Hannah from conceiving.
1 Samuel 1:4–6
First of all, she’s in a polygamist marriage.
- An example of “show and tell” in the OT. Polygamy is never explicitly condemned, but it’s universally shown to be a fast path to misery, jealousy, and heartache.
But the main problem in Hannah’s life is that she was unable to have kids. Or more specifically, “the Lord had kept her from conceiving”.
Side note, but important one, an important truth to understand. Scripture is consistent on this point: God is sovereign over human life, from conception to expiration, birth and death.
If you’ve been in Hannah’s shoes, that may be a hard truth to hear, but you need to hear it, because what’s the alternative? That God is not in control, He might be sympathetic but can’t do anything about it? Or that He is in control, but He just doesn’t care? Neither of those is a good option; they offer no hope at all.
That’s basically the only three options you have. Believing by faith that He is God, and that He is good, is the only option that has any hope attached to it at all.
No, he is sovereign. He is good. And your days were numbered before the foundation of the world. Which means, nobody is an accident.
You may have been told that, told you were a mistake. You may have been called names that I’m not gonna say, words that cut deep, because your parents didn’t intend on having you. They may have even told you that you were a mistake.
They may have been making a mistake, but God wasn’t. They may have been sinning against him in the moment of your conception, but that does not put a limit on his miraculous work to bring you, his unique image bearer into the world. In fact, that just makes you all the more evidence of his grace.
God is the one who is ultimately in control of human life.