1 Samuel 1

Listening guide

My recent crisis is/was ______________ 

God calls us to ________ the _______. (embrace repentance) 

God takes our __________ to fill us with his ________.  

Brokenness brings __________ , and pain, as hard as it is, brings _______.  

Discussion questions

Notes 

  1. Depending on the number of people discussing, it may be easier to split into same gender groups.  

  2. You will not have time to discuss all the questions. Discuss those that interest you. 

Getting talking 

3. Please share a high and a low from your week.  

4. If there was one person from history that you would like to meet, who would it be?  

 

5. We won’t share it with the group, but what is the last thing you were filled with grief, anguish, and sadness about? What made you broken hearted? On the other hand, what filled you with bitterness, anger, and maybe even rage? Write them both down.  

Getting into 1 Samuel 1 

6. These events take place about 1,000 years before the birth of Jesus. Hannah will be the mother of Samuel, one of the greatest prophets of Israel. Samuel will eventually anoint the first two kings of Israel: Saul and David. If you have anything to add about the context of these events, please share it with the others now.  

 

7. In 1 Samuel 1:1-17, how would you characterize Hannah’s heart – especially regarding children?  

 

8. Infertility remains a significant issue. I think I personally know a half dozen Christian couples who would like their own children. As you’ve talked with them, what are some of the things they are experiencing? If you don’t know anyone, what do you think they might be experiencing.  

 

9. After reading 1:10, 15, Hannah is not angry or bitter about this issue. She is deeply sad. At the same time, she doesn’t blame herself or accept responsibility for something that is out of her control. Do you think Hannah’s response is good and healthy?  

 

10. Do you also take appropriate amounts of time for grieving, sadness, and anguish before God, or do you tend to hide those negative emotions?   

 

11. In 1 Samuel 1:11, Hannah made a vow to God. Do you think this is wise of Hannah? Would you make a vow to God?  

 

12. If you have made a vow to God, how did God work it out for you?  

 

13. According to 1 Samuel 1:27-28, what does Hannah’s sorrow lead to?  

 

14. What God is showing us here is a great example of repentance. Our confessions explain repentance this way: ““Now properly speaking, true repentance is nothing else than to have contrition and sorrow, or terror about sin, and yet at the same time to believe in the gospel and absolution that sin is forgiven and grace is obtained through Christ. Such faith, in turn, comforts the heart and puts it at peace” (The Book of Concord, p. 44).” Darrel Bock describes repentance as, “John preaches [repentance] in the manner of the Old Testament prophets, seeking for a “turning” of the heart. Though the Greek word for “repentance” (metanoia) means “a change of mind,” the concept of repentance has Old Testament roots in the idea of turning to God (1 Kings 8:47; 2 Kings 23:25; Psalm 78:34, Isaiah 6:10, Ezekiel 3:19, Amos 4:6, 8). To be prepared for God’s salvation, one’s heart must be opened to his message. Any doubt that this is John’s thrust can be seen in his exposition of repentance in Luke 3:10-14 where it is defined not as an abstract of the mind, but as something that expresses itself in action.” Has genuine repentance been part of your life lately? Is it time to add it?  

 

15. Samuel is one of the most fascinating people in Scripture. He was the last of the judges, a prophet, and a king-maker. Nobody questioned his authority, even over Saul. As you have time, skim 1 Samuel 15 and comment on the role Samuel would eventually play in Israel.  

 

16. Last time, we saw a bad example of expectation. Moses expected to save the people of Israel from Egypt in his time and way. In this lesson, Hannah expects that God will help a miserable sinner. Share how God’s grace in this story leads you to practice repentance like Hannah. Or to ask a different question, how has God’s grace to you led you to practice repentance like Hannah?  

Wrap up 

17. How have you seen God at work in your life lately?  

18. What has God been teaching you in his Word?  

19. What’s an area of your life where you need to repent or grow? How can we encourage you?  

20. What kind of conversations are you having with non-Christians? How can we encourage and help you?  

21. What good can we do around here?  

22. How can we pray for you and others?  

Sermon

I still think that one of the more crisis moments of my life was getting told by some people, hey, we know you do good things here but we don’t really like you and we’d rather not have you. I remember reeling from that situation and thinking, what, you can say that? Isn’t this the 21st century? Don’t we have to like everyone? The answer, by the way, is no we don’t. We need to love everyone in Christian kindness. Show gentleness and respect. We don’t have to like everyone.  

That was far from the first or the last one. When I broke up with the first serious girlfriend, man, you would have thought the world was ending. When my first job said, nope, we don’t want you back this year. A whole bunch of different crisis.  

And I’m far from the only one who has these crisis moments. There was a girl one time having a long talk with a pastor because she was depressed. Eventually they discovered she was dealing with some boy issues. The pastor tried to assure her that God loved her and Jesus died and rose for her and she was precious and valued by him. And she said, but pastor, how does any of that matter when none of the boys will even look at me? Or there was the moment when the young man said, “I don’t know who I am without my family.” There was the soul searching of a recently divorced woman.  

What was your last crisis moment? Maybe you are even going through one now. Can you identify it? Take a moment, if you’d like and write it down. There are notes for the sermon study in the service folder. If you want you can fill in, my recent crisis is/was ________.  

In the Bible today, God gives us a woman experiencing a significant crisis. Her name is Hannah. She lives about 1,000 years before Jesus. Her crisis? She and her husband deal with infertility.  

I know a number of families that deal with infertility. It’s a big deal. It’s not quite the same thing as Hannah’s time. 

We live in an individual culture. America says your meaning and worth are dependent on individual qualities like your own dating relationships, athletic abilities, smarts, musical talent, or money, or career, or good looks. Hannah lived in collectivistic culture – a family culture. What matters there is your family’s class in society, your family’s reputation, your family’s legacy, respect, and honor. It was all about everyone together.  

For Hannah, there was no “everyone else”. There was no group. She only had herself. And so one commentator said about Hannah’s life, “In a culture where value and security was determined by family, Hannah can’t have kids! [P]ractically speaking, she has no significance, no life and no hope!” (JD Greear,  Did you hear that? “No significance, no life, and no hope.”  

Wow. So hard. 

That’s where we are today. Hannah has a crisis moment. And she makes us ask, what do we do when crisis hits?  - something about getting to peace in it . And let me just give you a little teaser right away. The thing that Hannah wants from the beginning and then God’s Word so changes her that she even gives it away. 

How do you handle crisis? 

Here is what tends to happen. I heard this example from a Christian man. “I was raised in the Christian church. I wasn’t repenting. I was not walking a Christian way. I was drinking. I was sleeping with my girlfriend. I was involved in all these different habitual sins. A really good mentor came to me and asked, “Chris, how do you go on this long trip with your girlfriend and not have sex?” And in that moment I lied through my teeth to him. You just don’t have sex. I was lieing.” (Chris de Monye https://thisisvillagechurch.com/sermon/repentance-confession-and-grace/)  

That’s what a lot of tend to do. We tend to cover up the situation. We cover up the tough stuff.  

In one sense, I have no idea where we get this from. Really. I mean, almost everyone tells you that this is absolutely not the way to live life.  

When you were growing up, every time you hit a hard situation did your parents say, be sure to run away from it?  

There is an educational tool called Love and Logic. It’s used in a lot in urban schools. ... The whole premise is you have to let people experience the result of their choices.  

Brene Brown is a professor in Houston. She has her own Netflix show, “The Call to Courage”. Netflix show Anyway, she says that we can’t deal with life if we change who we are, only if we be who we are. And being who we are only comes when we cope with adversity.  

Or there is a famous saying from a Buddhist monk that says, “Without the mud, you cannot grow the lotus flower.”  

There is so much evidence that says we have to deal with the tough stuff.  

And yet we don’t. The other guy lied. I know what I tend to do is get angry. If I hit a moment in life that I can’t break through, like say, I'm trying to encourage someone through an awful situation and I can’t be there with them, I can’t do it for them. I know I get angry. I get mad about my own inabilities and limitations. Another guy I know, he was leading an organization. He was asked to speak about his successes at a conference. He got up there and told the story. He conveyed a sense of mastery and control. But he admits that he glossed over the disappointments, the failures, and the setbacks. He exaggerated. https://www.faithgateway.com/live-lead-brokenness-vulnerability/#.XepIHuhKhPZ 

This is how we handle our tough situations. There is a whole bunch going on here.  

What he is saying there is that each of us wants someone in our brokenness who is better than us.  

Take a look with me at Hannah and see how she handles that offer. Verse 8 her husband says, “Hannah, why are you weeping? … Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Do you hear what he is saying to her? “I can be your value. I can be your significance. I can be your person who is less broken than you.”   

Now Hannah is in incredible pain. Back in verse 6 it says that her fellow wife “irritated” her. This went way beyond one mosquito buzzing around her. It was more like being trapped in a swarm of bees or tossed around by a hurricane. She felt “deep anguish” (verse 10), she “wept bitterly” (verse 10) and she was “deeply troubled” (verse 15).  

We’ve got to say that Hannah’s inner life was characterized by roaring agony. Her inner life was torn up by anger and despondency as the sea is torn up by winds. She had incredible pain to process. 

God’s way was for her to deal with the tough stuff. And in a really deep way. God’s way for her was to process the pain. To work through it. To embrace the brokenness.  

When her husband offered himself as her meaning and significance and value, here is what she did. Verse 9 “they were eating and drinking in Shiloh, [she] stood up. In her deep anguish, [she] prayed to the Lord. … She was praying in her heart and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard.” She prayed to God. She did not transfer her brokenness to her husband. She transferred it to God. Her vow was so full of anguish, so full of pain, that she couldn’t even speak the words out loud.  

Remember, Hannah hasn’t done anything specifically wrong. I’m sure she argued with her husband sometimes and fought with the other wife. When she repents, she didn’t do anything wrong. She just comes before God with her silent prayer.  

Repentance can be a simple thing. It’s a silent prayer spoken from your heart and mouth to God. 

Repentance often sucks all the breath you have out of you. 

That’s the difference between what even the smart people will say about facing the tough stuff and what God says. They’ll say, you’re right, this is some tough stuff. You need to go through this crisis, not around it. You’ve got to let it work on you so that who you really are comes out. Because deep down you really are good.  

God says no way. In verse 10 he describes what Hannah was going through. “In deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord”. “deep anguish”. What he actually says was her breath or her life was bitter. She breathed it all out. She had to get it out of her body. Have you ever had an anxiety attack or seem someone have an anxiety attack? That kind of heaving. Their breath is running away from them.  

Then God offers Hannah peace. “Go in peace” verse 17.  

That’s Gods offer you and I. It’s his offer of peace.  

He knocks the wind out of you. He takes the very breath of your life out of you. Why? So he can give you something better.  

Hannah lost her breath and she got life. God gives her a son. 

It’s crazy, isn’t it. What happened is that Hannah’s life got knocked out of her so that God could put another life in her. God takes our breath to fill us with his life. 

Hannah receives that peace. She experiences real peace. She doesn’t even keep the baby. She gives the baby to Eli to serve in the temple. She doesn’t even keep the baby. She wanted security, value, stability, and meaning in a child. In her brokenness and pain, God gave it to her. She didn’t need the child for her security and stability. God was there for her to ask anytime she wanted.  

The old pastor Dwight Moody had a great illustration for this. He held up a glass and asked, “How can I get the air out of this glass?” One man shouted, “Suck it out with a pump!” Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.” After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. “There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.” https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/secret-for-victory 

What God does in a little bit for Hannah with Samuel, God does in Jesus Christ for each and every one of us.  

God says, “I will pour out my son” When Jesus is in the garden, he is in deep anguish. He is pouring out his life so you can have it.  

God won’t keep his life. When you come to him in your brokenness and your pain, he will transfer his own life to you.  

There is no better reality of this than the Lord’s Supper   

  • We don’t come with some bad covering over a little good that we need to bring out 

  • We come with bad through and through that we need to get rid of  

Friends, if you embrace the brokenness and pain of repentance, I can promise you that you will not lose anything that counts. You will have forgiveness that holds you safe in any storm.  You will have the righteousness of Jesus. You will have the life of Jesus that keeps you alive no matter how bitter the pain is.  

Someday, Christ will return and will all your brokenness. Your pain, both physical and internal, will be overwhelmed by the peace that surpasses all understanding. Until then, embrace the brokenness, because brokenness brings blessing, and pain, as hard as it is, brings peace.