(Through the Bible) 1 Samuel — Zac Poonen

Hannah’s Prayer and the Birth of Samuel

Let's turn to 1st Samuel. I mentioned that Samuel was the last judge of Israel and after that we have the first king. And the story begins with his mother who was barren not having children. And it's interesting to see how in scripture there were many women like this in the old testament Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and now Hannah from all of whom after a period of barrenness they sought God in prayer and they had a son.

Each of them gave birth to a son that had a unique place in God's purpose. They did not accept their barrenness and let it go like that. They began to seek God earnestly about it and that's how God's purpose was fulfilled.

And there's something in this. You know when a woman is barren in those days it was considered very disgraceful not to have a child and drove them to God. So we can say that all these children born to these women were born in prayer.

Intense prayer. Most pregnant wives will pray for their children. But for these people it was very intense. And it's very wonderful when a child is born into the world in a atmosphere of intense prayer that the mother has gone through over a long period of time.

And that's the beginning of Samuel's life. He was born with perhaps years of prayer. And we find Hannah going up and praying to the Lord for this child. And finally she says in verse 11 in chapter 1 she made a vow and said Lord if you will indeed look upon the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant but will give her son.

I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. See there's a shift in her focus there. First of all she was thinking of her need I need a son. And then she thought well if I have one I'll give it to the Lord.

The Lord has need as well. But you know when the focus of our prayer shifts from our need to God's need that's when we can get an answer to our prayer. Just like we were considering in an earlier study the Lord taught us to pray hallowed be thy name.

There was a great need at that time in Israel. And if Hannah was a person who was alert to her surroundings you know how it was in the time of the judges it was chaos. God's people were backslidden so badly.

There was a great need for someone who could be raised up as a prophet. And Hannah began to think of that and said Lord not just I will dedicate my son to you but a razor will never come on his head. He will be a Nazarite dedicated to you.

And if you can use him to restore this nation back to you he's yours. Her whole prayer shifted from her own need to God's. Very often our prayers are not answered because it's focused so much on ourselves.

And it's wonderful that Samuel was born into such an atmosphere. And we read that when she did conceive in verse 20 she was very faithful to a promise and brought her son and to the temple there to Eli the high priest.

And said in verse 27 of chapter 1 for this boy I prayed and the Lord has given me my petition and so I have dedicated him to the Lord as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord him. I'm never going to take him back and he she taught that little three-year-old boy to a four-year-old whatever he was to kneel down and worship the Lord there.

It's wonderful to have a godly mother like that. If you have had one like that you're blessed. Samuel was. And she prays this wonderful prayer in chapter 2 see Samuel grew up to be the man who changed the face of Israel from the chaotic situation that there was in the book of Judges that we considered into the glorious reign of David.

Samuel was the link between the book of Judges and the kingdom of David. And Hannah's prayer was what led to Samuel being born now the leader at that time was a man called Eli the high priest and his it says in verse 12 that his sons were worthless men godless men who had no fear of God.

It's very sad when a high priest has children who are godless who have no fear of God. And what is worse when they begin to take part in the ministry. I mean if they are godless and go and do something else that's okay.

But these people were godless and they were there in the temple helping their father in the ministry with absolutely no fear of God. They did not know the Lord and they would steal from the sacrifices and they would commit adultery with the women in the temple.

And Eli's response to all this was very very weak. It says in chapter 2 in verse 22 Eli was very old and he heard all that his sons were doing. And what does he tell them. He doesn't turn them out of the ministry and say get out of here don't dishonor the Lord if you're going to my sons is not good what I hear and he's so spineless and weak in the way he corrects his children.

I mean forget correcting his children as far as his family is concerned here God's people were involved and he would not correct his children. But in contrast to those godless children was Samuel who grew up.

It says in verse 26 in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men. And we read further in chapter 3 how Samuel's ministry begins because God was fed up with Eli and he sent a man of God to Eli in verse 27 of chapter 2 and told him that your ministry is finished because your children are dishonoring me and dishonoring my sacrifice.

And verse 29 the middle he says Eli your sin is that you honor your sons more than you honor me. And then we find this wonderful verse which is a very good verse for us to remember all through our life.

In the middle of verse 30 the Lord says those who honor me I will honor and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. It's a wonderful verse to live by. If you honor God you can be sure that he will honor you.

Eli did not honor God in the way he dealt with his children and therefore he suffered and his children suffered too. But Samuel was different in the midst of all this godless surroundings. Samuel this little boy grew up and he did not allow himself to be influenced by the godlessness around him.

And that's the example for all all of you and us who are living today particularly if you're young when you if you can not be influenced by the godlessness you see around you you may go into a church situation and find compromise.

But you should not allow yourself to be influenced by that. And if you can be like Samuel steadfast in your devotion to the Lord without being corrupted God can raise you up to be a voice in that situation.

Samuel Learns to Hear God’s Voice

And that's what we see in the case of Samuel when he was asleep one day he heard a voice saying Samuel. Samuel and he thought Eli was calling in chapter 3 and a number of times that voice came. And then Eli realized that the Lord was calling Samuel and he told him to ask the Lord to speak to him.

So in verse 10 the Lord came. Chapter 3 verse 10 the Lord came and spoke to Samuel and said Samuel. Samuel and Samuel said speak for thy servant is listening. It was in the middle of the night. Here is an attitude that all of us must have all through the day all through our lives speak Lord your servant is listening.

God's God didn't give Samuel a warning saying tonight at midnight I'm going to come and speak to you. He had to be alert. Throughout scripture you find that the prophets suddenly they would hear God speaking on sudden such a day of sudden such a month God would speak.

And then for two three months there'd be nothing. And then you then you read that on sudden such a day of another month God again spoke to them. They were in that state of alertness all the time. And God speaks only to those who are eager to hear his voice and who always have this attitude.

Speak Lord your servant is listening. You know your life and your ministry can be totally different if you have that attitude. God may speak to you directly from your in your heart in the middle of the night.

He may speak to you as you're reading his word. He may speak to you in a meeting. He may speak to you through a brother or a sister. He may speak to you while you're in the midst of other people. He may speak to you when you're alone.

There are many ways in God which God speaks. But we must always have this attitude of Samuel. Speak Lord your servant is listening. And that's what enables Samuel to grow up to be a prophet of God. When he listened he could speak what God told him and God told him I'm going to judge Eli for his sin.

And in the morning when Eli called Samuel and said what did the Lord say to you. Samuel told him verse 18 everything even though it was bad news for Eli he told him everything. A true servant of God is like that even though Eli had been very kind to Samuel Samuel did not hesitate to tell him.

God says he's going to judge you for the way you have brought a curse upon yours the way your sons have brought a curse on themselves and you did not rebuke them. And it says in Samuel grew verse 19. This is a wonderful verse.

It's a great challenge for those of us who minister the word. It's it says here that Samuel grew and did not and the Lord did not allow any of his words to fall to the ground. Isn't that a great challenge for you and me that we seek the Lord so that when we minister God's word in the different situations God calls us to whether to unbelievers or believers that not one word we speak falls to the ground wasted.

Every word should go straight home to people's hearts not just in the ministry of the word but in private conversation as well. Think if in our private conversation and we have a lot of conversation every day with each other that we are so godly that the words that come out of our mouth are not wasted words but words that go straight home to people's hearts.

The Lord was with Samuel. That was the secret. We saw that earlier too the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Samuel and did not allow a single word that he spoke to fall to the ground. I want to encourage you to yearn for such a form of ministry and conversation.

And all Israel verse 20 knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. Now this was a time as we read in chapter 3 verse 1 the last part of it when word from the Lord was very rare and visions were infrequent there was no prophet for years.

And when there is no prophet it is an indication that God has given up on his people throughout the period of the judges there were kings but there were no prophets. The last prophet was Joshua perhaps and he too was more of a military warrior Moses perhaps.

And since that time there was no prophet who came forth with a word from the Lord for years. And then at last Israel knew God had finally raised up a man. They could listen to him. He was a young man and that's the thing that encourages all of you young people.

Samuel was not an old man. You don't have to wait till you're 50 years old to serve the Lord. Samuel started serving the Lord when he was so young less than 10 years old and grew up. And by the time he was 20 he was a prophet.

What was the secret. He was listening. His attitude always was speak Lord. Your servant was listening. He had a serious attitude towards the word of God. In chapter 4 we read of a time when the Israelites were fighting the Philistines and there's just one thing I want to point out here in this chapter which is interesting that when they were defeated verse 3 Israel the elders said why has the Lord chapter 4 verse 3 defeated us today.

Perhaps it's because we have not brought the ark of the covenant here they didn't realize that they were defeated because of their sin. Now when you live in sin and worship idols and live for the things of this earth even if you have the ark of the covenant that's not going to bring any victory.

That's only a symbol. You can have the symbol without God. You can break bread and drink the cup and not have fellowship with the Lord. That's only a symbol. And here we read that so they brought the ark.

And when the ark came they shouted so greatly verse 5 that the whole earth began to tremble. Now some people think that if you shout a lot God will be there. No not necessarily the first time it says the Philistines killed 4 000 people verse 2.

Then Israel brought the ark of the Lord and shouted hallelujah and praised the Lord and all that. And then they went into battle. And this time verse 10 30 000 Israelites were killed. It was much worse.

Now there's something we can learn from that that you can't bring God into a situation by bringing the symbols and the rituals and by shouting and praising. Now there are a lot of churches where it's the ritual and the symbol and the shouting that's the main thing.

But they had all this and they were more defeated at the end of it. It's a good conscience that God looks for. It's a freedom from worshiping other gods from living for this world that God looks for. Then only the symbols that God has established have meaning then only our shouting and praising the Lord has meaning.

So that's just in passing that we see there. Now we finally read of a time when the Israelites and Philistines captured the ark and they got into a lot of trouble because of that. And then they sent the ark back.

They placed it on a cart. We read in chapter 6 verse 8 and sent it back. Now we read in chapter 7 verse 15 we move towards the end of Samuel's life. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And we read that he was frequently traveling.

He used to go annually on his circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mispah and he judged in all these places. And he was traveling so much that he had not much time for his family. Now here is a warning for those who are serving the Lord and who are traveling so much that they have no time to bring up their children in the ways of God particularly when the children are small.

And you I want you to see what happened here. Samuel was traveling traveling traveling traveling. He was serving the Lord. He was doing so many things and he didn't have much time for his wife and children there he was traveling traveling traveling traveling.

And then he would return to Rama for his house was there once in a while. And then he traveled again. And what was the result. His sons. It says the next three verses. You must read those three verses together.

Acts 1 Samuel 8. It came about when Samuel was old he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. That was a big mistake. Samuel made mistakes too. He had no business to appoint his sons as judges. God never called him.

And apart from that it says in verse 3. His sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. What do we see there. Samuel had preached to Eli how to bring up his children and now he failed in his own house in the way he brought up his children.

Now okay if his children had grown up and they had left the home and then they went astray at least he should not have appointed them as judges. He was a man of discernment a tremendous discernment. He was a prophet.

He was listening. And here is one time he stopped listening. Did he listen to God. Did God tell him in the middle of the night appoint your sons as judges. Did he say speak Lord your servant is listening.

Whom shall I appoint as the next judges. He stopped listening. This is what can happen that to people who start so well when they are young that they grow older and they stop listening to what God is saying because they have a partiality towards their own children.

And even though their children are godless and have no fear at least if those children were godly appointing them would have been okay. But imagine appointing corrupt children who had no fear of God who took bribes and perverted justice and not having the discernment to see that.

And you're a prophet of the Lord and appointing them as judges. I want to say this see there are many servants of God today whose children are not following in the ways of the Lord. I want to tell you be very careful not to judge them.

You do not know the pressures under which many of God's servants live and work and how much they are the targets of Satan's attack. I would not judge them. I would not judge people whose children have gone astray because I say I don't know.

The Bible says don't judge if you want to do something for them pray for them. If you can't pray for them at least don't judge them. What the Bible does say in 1 Timothy 3 is that when your children are at home if you cannot control them you have no business to be an elder in God's house.

You have no business to preach God's word to other people. Because if you cannot run your own home how can you run God's house. If you cannot control three or four children in your own home and make them obey you.

How are you going to control 100 200 people in God's house. That is what 1 Timothy 3 says. But when those children have grown up and gone away from home they have to make their own choice whether they want to follow the Lord or not.

There are many outstanding servants of God whose children have gone astray after they left their home. They controlled them when they were in their home. But once they left their home they chose their own way.

And that does not disqualify that servant of God from ministry. It would disqualify him if when they were in their home like it says in 1 Timothy 3 he could not control them. The mistake in Samuel's case was that he appointed those people as his the ones to follow him as judges in Israel.

And there we see the danger of how partiality and love for your family can blind you from what God is trying to say to you. We can stop listening to God when it concerns our own family members. Even such a wonderful man like Samuel made that mistake.

And that's a warning for all of us. We don't have to judge anybody else. But we certainly can judge ourselves and learn a lot from that. And yet I would say this in Samuel's favor many many good things about this man.

Samuel’s Intercession and the Ministry of Prayer

It says in chapter 12. Verse 23 Samuel said to the people when the people were going astray he says to them. Moreover as for me 1 Samuel 12 23 far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you by stopping praying for you.

See Samuel's sensitivity to sin was so great in his own life that he felt if God has appointed me as the leader of this people and I don't pray for them I have sinned. That's what he's saying in this verse.

You are the people over whom God has made me a leader. And if I don't pray for you I sin. How many Christian leaders believe that. I hope you if ever God gives you the responsibility to lead others. Many people like to lead many people.

It's great to be a leader of so many people. Do you realize that if you become a leader and you don't pray for those people you sin. Many people think only of murder adultery bad thoughts anger and all the sin.

Here's another type of sin not praying for those you lead. Jesus prayed for those 12 disciples regularly all the time he was praying for them. And Samuel understood that too he was a man of prayer. All of God's great servants have been men of prayer.

Paul was like that. I want to show you what God himself testifies about Samuel in the book of Jeremiah many years later in Jeremiah 15 and verse 1 the Lord says concerning the backslidden state of Israel at that time.

And he says. Even if Moses and Samuel stand before me and pray I will not change my mind about these people. What is that saying. Doesn't God listen to everybody's prayer. He certainly does. But the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

And from that entire Old Testament period of Israel's history over 1 ,000 years from the time of Joshua to the time of Jeremiah God picks out two people not Elijah not Elisha not David Moses and Samuel.

He says there are two men in the history of Israel who were men of prayer. God says that. And he links Moses and Samuel together as men who had power with him in prayer. Samuel was one like that an outstanding man of prayer just like Moses.

It's a pity that he failed with his own children in appointing them as judges. Moses did not make that mistake. Moses had two sons just like Saul and just like Samuel had sons. But Moses did not appoint his sons to take over from him.

He appointed the one God told him to appoint. So even men of prayer can make mistakes because partiality and love for our flesh and blood is very close to us. That's why Jesus said we've got to cut ourselves off from that attachment to father mother wife children brothers and sisters if we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

Now these are warnings for us. And a wise man will learn from the mistakes of others. A foolish man will make the same mistakes himself. And we find multitudes of people making the same mistake that scripture has warned us about again and again.

Saul’s Calling and Initial Qualities

Now we come to the ministry of Saul. Saul reigned for 40 years and we read of Saul the first king of Israel in chapters 8 through 15 primarily. And I want you to I want to you to see a number of things here concerning Saul.

Saul did not go around wanting to be a king. The people of Israel wanted a king and one day Saul Samuel. Chapter 9. 1 Samuel 9. The Lord revealed something to Samuel verse 15 saying tomorrow at this time chapter 9 verse 16 I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin and you must anoint him to be the king over my people.

And when Samuel saw the Lord verse 17 the Lord said to him this is the man. And Samuel went and spoke to him and verse and he brought him inside. And we read that in chapter 10 verse 1 Samuel took a flask of oil poured it on his head and said the Lord has anointed you as a ruler over his inheritance.

Saul was absolutely surprised he was just a ordinary man young man. And for God to pick him out and say that's the man I have found means that that man had so many good qualities. And so we see here the Samuel telling Saul in verse 6 the spirit of the Lord will come upon you in chapter 10 verse 6 and you will prophesy and you'll be changed into another man.

This is a wonderful promise for all of us to take Lord. I want the spirit of God to come upon me in such a way that I will be changed into another man. I want to point out to you one more thing before I come to that finally the time came for Saul to be publicly acknowledged as king.

And so Samuel called the people together in verse 17 and he says okay we're going to select a king now. And Samuel did not say okay Saul come here. It's very interesting to see there that they cast lots.

There was a thing called the Urim and the Thummim which the high priest had in those days. There's no description in scripture as to what it was. Maybe it was some type of stone which indicated yes or no.

It was a yes no type of thing and it was God ordained. And the meaning of Urim and Thummim is lights and perfections. And it was in some way and I don't want to guess how it was. But when they threw it down they discovered whether God's answer was yes or no.

And they threw the lots and picked picked picked picked. And finally the lot fell on Saul out of all the thousands of people there. And when they looked for Saul they couldn't find him because he didn't have any prominence there he hid himself.

I want you to see a number of good qualities and advantages that Saul had. First of all notice in chapter 9 verse 3 the situation in which God called him. We read here that there was a man called Kish a man of the tribe of Benjamin whose donkeys were lost.

His son was Saul. And verse 3 chapter 9 verse 3 Saul said to his son go and search for these donkeys. And Saul went searching verse 4 through the whole hill country of Ephraim the land of Shalisha the land of Shalom verse 4 and traveled all over looking for the donkeys.

That's the first thing I want you to notice about Saul. He was a faithful young man. He was thorough. His father gave him a job to do and he did it thoroughly. He didn't just go out for five minutes and say I couldn't find it.

God picks such people who are faithful in small things like looking for donkeys. It's very interesting how the Lord looks for people who are working faithfully where they are before he picks them up. The second thing I want you to notice is that when a long time went and they couldn't find the donkeys he says to his servant in verse 5 let's go back because of my father will now be more concerned about me than the donkeys.

He had some wisdom there. And the third thing I want you to notice is when the man said hey there's a man of God in the city let's go and meet him. And Saul said okay let's go and meet him but let's take a present for him.

Verse 7 let's take a present. He was a man who knew how to honor God's servants. Number four I want you to notice in chapter 9 verse 21 when Samuel picked on Saul, Saul said who am I? Am I not a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin.

He was a man who had a very humble opinion of himself. I'm trying to tell you the reasons why God picked on Saul. Number five we read that God's when Saul spoke to him. It says here that God's presence was with him and the spirit of the Lord.

Verse 6 came upon him. Verse 7 it says God is with you. The presence of God was with him. Chapter 10. Verse 10 the next thing we see here his advantage he had was the spirit of God came upon him. God was with him.

Number five. The spirit of God came upon him. Number six and when he went home he told his uncle in verse 16 that somebody told Saul said to his uncle he told the the plain his donkeys and be his had been found but he didn't tell him that he had been anointed king.

He was a man who did not boast. Number eight we read that when they selected him to be the king he was. It says in verse 22 hiding himself in the baggage. He was a man who remained in the background. He didn't want to come up in front.

And number nine we read that when Saul went to his house there was certain worthless men. Chapter 10 verse 27 who said how can this man who deliver us. And they despised him and didn't bring him any present.

But he kept silent even though he'd been publicly anointed as king. Long-suffering that was another qualification he had. The 10th quality I see in him is in chapter 11 verse 1 to 7 when certain people of Israel were being attacked by their enemies and they sent messengers to Gibeah of Saul.

In chapter 11 verse 4 saying what had happened Saul you find a zeal to help these people who were in distress. It's the spirit of God. Verse 6 came upon Saul and he was very angry and he took a yoke of oxen and gathered people to go and help these fellow belief brothers of his who were in distress.

Zeal to help others. And chapter 11 verse 11 you find Saul went and fought. You see his courage there. He was a man of courage. He went and struck down the ammonites. Verse 11 of chapter 11. And the last one is his forgiving his enemies.

And when Saul came back victorious from the battle some people said in verse 12 bring those men who didn't want Saul to rule let's kill him. And Saul said in verse 13 no one is going to be killed today.

This was the man whom God chose with all these wonderful advantages and qualities. And yet in in a few years he had lost the anointing lost the kingdom lost grace and lost everything. A man who had such wonderful qualities when he started.

Saul’s Impatience and Presumption in Ministry

This is the sad story of many many many many servants of God. And that can be the sad story of some of you if you don't become wise by learning from the mistakes of others. We read here in chapter 13 the first reason why Saul lost the kingdom number one Samuel had told Saul to wait until I come and I will offer an offering before you go into battle.

And it says in 1 Samuel 13 8 that Saul waited for seven days and Samuel didn't come. And Saul said bring the sacrifice I'll offer it now. He knew he was not a priest. He had no right to offer an offering to God.

And he went into a ministry that God never gave him. There are many people who make this mistake going into a ministry that God never gave them. We have to recognize the ministry God has given us and stay within our boundaries.

Many years ago God I recognized that God had not called me to be an evangelist. I realized that and I've stayed within my boundaries through these years. There are other people who do that I value them I respect them.

We must recognize. In the old testament there are warnings like this. Uzziah who was a king tried to be a priest. He got leprosy. Saul was a king. He tried to be a priest and he lost his kingdom. Recognize your ministry and stay within the boundaries God has given you let other people fulfill their ministries and you stay within the ministry God has given you.

So that's how he and his impatience. That's the other thing we see here. And a few minutes later we read in verse 10 Samuel came if he had just waited a few minutes. How different the story would have been.

So impatience and gain going into a ministry God never called him for. He lost everything but yet he sat for more than 30 years after that on the throne. There are a lot of people who sit on thrones today in Christendom who've lost the anointing and lost the ministry God initially called them for.

But because they got authority they sit for 30 years without the anointing as rulers over systems and organizations. That's exactly what we see in Saul. A man who was who had gradually degenerated from a wonderful young man who started out with great humility and degenerated to become one who was useless to God.

We see in chapter 13 and verse 14 the Lord Samuel tells Saul your kingdom shall not endure. Now verse 13 you have acted foolishly. The Lord now seeks for somebody who's a man after his own heart. Notice the emphasis on heart.

The thing we read about Saul in chapter 10 verse 23 when he was initially anointed as king is that when he stood in the midst of the people he was taller than everybody else. If you saw a huge crowd of Israelites you'd see one head sticking out about all of them.

He must have been about six feet ten inches tall or something. His head stood out. The thing that stood out about Saul was his head. The thing that stood out about David was his heart. He was a man after God's own heart.

There is a difference. There is a Christianity of the head. There's a Christianity of the heart and there's a world of difference between the two. Saul represents one and David represents the other. Once Samuel 13 14 the Lord has sought for a man after his own heart and he's found one.

That's what God told Samuel. Our head represents our brains our cleverness our intelligence. Our heart represents our devotion and our worship of God. That's the point. That's what God looks for. If you're not a worshiper you're not devoted to Jesus Christ.