Encouraged to encourage

1 Samuel 2:18-21 But Samuel was ministering before the LORD-- a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹ Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. ²⁰ Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, "May the LORD give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the LORD." Then they would go home. ²¹ And the LORD was gracious to Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

Her tear stained cheeks told her complicated story of emotional pain. How she dreaded the time of year to journey to the Lord’s house for the annual festivals—not because she didn’t want to worship her Lord, but because each time she went she was confronted with the reality of her barren womb. She was constantly confronted with the emotionally taxing fact she had no little sprouts to contribute to the family tree. And so the tears flowed year after year. It reached the point that she even refused to eat. As far as she was concerned there was not much to celebrate at these festivals. While everyone else was celebrating, she displayed the signs of mourning like a billboard. This behavior could not help but affect her marriage. Finally, her husband said to her, “Why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” (1 Samuel 1:8)

He knew the answer. His wife, Hannah, was inconsolable. There were no pick-me-up phrases he could concoct with quick wit to jolt her out of her depression. No one-liners to put a quick smile on her face. Even his “I love yous” did not lift her spirit. Only one thing could: a son.

This just happened to be one thing the Lord chose not to bless her with at that point. The Lord withheld the one thing she wanted most. Faced with that reality, Scripture provides a peek into Hannah’s prayer life. It’s not a shocking prayer. A person that’s walked in similar shoes might know the prayer well. She prays, “Lord, give me a son. Give me a son and I will give him to you. I will dedicate his life to serving you.”

As disheartened as Hannah was for years, as downtrodden as she was when God said, “No,” to her request for a son, the height of joy was immeasurable the moment she recognized a baby was growing inside of her. Just imagine how she broke the news to her husband. “You know how many boxes of Kleenex I’ve gone through over the years because I’ve been barren. You know how many meals I’ve missed because of this. Well, you can get the Kleenex back out, but for a different reason. The Lord remembered me. He answered my prayer. We are having a child.” The first ear-piercing screams from her son at his birth must have been to her ears like classical music would have been to Beethoven’s deaf ears. She named him Samuel “because she asked the Lord for him.”

The Lord blessed Hannah and then it was time for Hannah to give him to the Lord. Little Samuel was just a toddler. At a time when most boys his age were playing with their toy oxen and cart in the dirt, Samuel went to serve the Lord. Instead of dragging a blanky wherever he went, he wore a linen ephod. Hannah took him to the house of the Lord, and he would remain in service to the Lord all his life. You might expect Hannah to experience buyer’s remorse at this point. Why did she make the claim that she would give her only child to the Lord’s service? Or maybe she made that claim in her barren bitterness only to not actually go through with it once little Samuel was cooing in her arms. Certainly the Lord would understand, right?

You expect Hannah to have a heart that weighs as much as a boulder. Walk next to Hannah with Samuel in her arms for that last time she would be with him as they approach the Lord’s house. How agonizingly short that walk that must have been with her wanting to keep him in her arms just a few minutes longer. She could probably find her way home from the Kleenexes that lined the way as she brought him to Eli. That’s what we are inclined to think. All she wanted was that little boy and now he was physically in her arms. She could squeeze those chubby cheeks. His cries were like music to her ears. She was thanking the Lord each time she changed his dirty diapers because it meant she had a child. Now she was bringing him to the priest where he would live in the house of the Lord. How heavy her heart must have been!

Listen to Hannah’s prayer, “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance” (1 Samuel 2:1). What!? How could Hannah? Bitterness toward God—that wouldn’t surprise us. A heart full of pain as she gives up her boy—we could understand that. Rejoicing in the Lord? That, at first glance, we just don’t get. Do you see Hannah’s true source of joy? You need to dig under the surface to find it. Hannah shocks our sensibilities with her praise of God in this situation. Slip on Hannah’s sandals and walk in her footprints for a few steps. You wanted a son more than anything in the world. God blessed you with a son. Now you must give him up to serve the Lord. Would the first words out of your mouth be, “My heart rejoices in the Lord”? What was Hannah’s true source of joy? She was blessed with Samuel, but her true joy was in the Lord! The source of her joy was not in the blessing, but in the Giver of the blessing. Therefore, her heart filled with faith in the faithful God as she poured out praise to the Lord who guides all things by his loving hand. It is with that heart she left her little boy with Eli.

Eli was the priest, but his track record for raising sons left something to be desired. Eli’s sons were priests that left the usefulness of the Lord in the rear view mirror. For them, serving the Lord was just a chance to get what they needed in life. When the Israelites brought their sacrifices to the Lord’s house the best part of the sacrifice, the part that was to be sacrificed to the Lord, was taken by Eli’s sons either by compulsion or force. God would get his part of the sacrifice, but not before they got theirs. Great was their sin in the eyes of the Lord.

Then there was Samuel. “But, Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod” (1 Samuel 2:18). Hannah trained her son well. What a contrast between Samuel and the sons of Eli. They corrupted the house of the Lord with their blatant disregard for God’s commands while Samuel served the Lord under Eli. Samuel’s parents had no misgivings about leaving him with Eli. As frequent visitors to the Lord’s house they probably knew the reputation of Eli’s sons—desecrating the sacrifices brought to worship the Lord. If that is how Eli’s sons turned out why would you entrust your little boy to him?

His sons’ blatant disregard for God was open like a book—and this is who you are going to leave your son with to dedicate him to the Lord? Hannah, once again, puts her full trust in the Lord. All of those years Hannah came to the house of the Lord for the annual sacrifice with her heart full of sorrow because she was barren. Now, she could hardly wait. Now she had tears in her eyes as she made her way for the sacrifice for a very different reason. She could encourage her son. As the time approached she was busy sewing a little robe for Samuel. Each pass of the needle was done with thanks and praise in her heart. How proud her mother’s heart was to bring this little robe to Samuel each year for him to wear as he served the Lord! She was going to make the most of her opportunity to encourage her son in his service to the Lord.

Hannah could have thrown a Guinness Book of World Records sized pity party for herself and for her son that she was allowing to be raised by Eli. Instead, she finds joy in an opportunity to encourage. Think of what it meant to Samuel each year he saw his mother approaching with the new robe for him to wear. It was her way to encourage him in his service with the gifts she had.

All of us are given the same grace of God, but are equipped with different gifts to apply that grace in our lives. Don’t hold a self-planned, self-invited pity party because you see the 101 gifts God gave your neighbor, but somehow you think God skipped over you when distributing spiritual gifts. God doesn’t make mistakes when distributing gifts and He didn’t make mistakes with you and me either. Use the gifts God has given you and trust the Lord to bless that work. You may not have the gifts you wish you had. You have the gifts God gave you! You may not have the gift to be able to walk up to a stranger and spark a conversation about Jesus’ death and resurrection. You may not be able to serve God and others in ways you did in years past, but you can serve by encouraging others.

Before we can encourage others, though, we must first receive God’s encouragement for ourselves. Our encouragement comes in the form of God’s mercy, His undeserved love. Whereas many people see God as a stern judge who withholds blessings from people (like Hannah), we see the Lord who pours out His blessings upon His dear children (like Hannah). This mercy changes our perspective. With the eyes of faith, we see Jesus, the Son of God, come into the world in humility as a human baby. We watch Him heal and help with a kind and compassionate heart. We watch Him die to endure the punishment we deserve. We witness His resurrection from the dead and receive His assurance that the sin of all people is taken away. God’s surprising love and mercy changes the way we look at Him.

This is our encouragement.

Additionally, God’s mercy changes the way we look at the world in which we live. It is our natural inclination to conform. We want to be like the world in which we live. We want to be accepted by society. We value popularity and approval. But God’s mercy helps us to see the world differently. It transforms us. Instead of living to please ourselves, we look for opportunities to live and act that give glory to God. Rather than looking to gain things from others, we look for ways to serve others. This becomes our encouragement to encourage others.

Consider the resources at our disposal for encouragement. It’s not just a gentle pat on the back or a common, uninspiring, “Everything is going to be all right.” We encourage with the most powerful thing known to man: the Word of God! You have God’s love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and peace. You have God’s mercy on your lips. You have the living and active Word of God at your fingertips. You have God’s eternity-changing forgiveness in your heart and in your mouth to have and to share.

Follow Hannah’s example and bombard the throne of God with your prayers. God hears. God answers. Nothing lifts our spirit higher than encouragement in the Word, but sometimes that’s the last place we turn. Nothing is more encouraging than crucifying the sinful nature and being released of its relentless load of guilt in the cross of Christ. That’s where we find encouragement and that is where we encourage one another.

Do you need encouragement? Most people do from time to time. Samuel did. It’s easy for the devil to zap us of our zeal in the Lord. It does not take much effort for the sinful nature to question the Lord and if his Word is really at work in hearts and lives. And then a Hannah comes into our lives and encourages us; perhaps not with a linen ephod, but with the life altering, eternity changing gospel. Then, with that same gospel of grace, we are encouraged to encourage others. Amen.

Christ’s Love, Our Calling: Different Gifts, Same Grace at Epiphany on October 2, 2011