Gods Healing Grace One of the things Ive learned in this world is that no one has an easy life.

. We all have problems. We all have hurts. We all have hidden wounds. Another thing Ive learned in life is that one of the deepest hurts of all is rejection. Rejection from parents rejection from peers rejection partners all of these rejections hurt. Some of us can remember things which happened or were said 5 10 15 years ago or longer. We dont let go of our hurts very easy because the wounds are deep. How do you deal with your hurts? How do you get over your pain? Today, I want us to look at Gods Healing Grace. I want to talk about how God heals the wounds of our life. The Psalmist tells us: He (God) heals the broken hearted And binds up their wounds. Psalms 147:3 (NKJV) How does God heal us? How does God fix our wounded spirits? One of the ways that He does it is by telling us how valuable we are by telling us we are important to Him. You may not realize it but did you know that you are so valuable to God that He sent His Son to heal you? It is true. It is the story of the New Testament. God sent His Son Jesus to the earth because He knew that you were hurting and that you needed healing. Broken hearted rejected by some bruised sometimes emotionally and sometimes physically God saw your hurts and He sent His Son to come and heal you. The Bible says: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (NKJV)

Christs Hospital, Psalm 147:3

Sermon by Charles Spurgeon, Psalm 147. Bookmark the permalink. Posted on December 5, 2009 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.Psalm 147:3. Often as we have read this Psalm, we can never fail to be struck with the connection in which this verse stands, especially its connection with the verse that follows. Read the two together: He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars;

he calleth them all by their names. What condescension and grandeur! What pity and omnipotence! He who leads out yonder ponderous orbs in almost immeasurable orbits, nevertheless, is the Surgeon of mens souls, and stoops over broken hearts, and with his own tender fingers closes up the gaping wound, and binds it with the liniment of love. Think of it; and if I should not speak as well as I could desire upon the wonderful theme of his condescension, yet help me by your own thoughts to do reverence to the Maker of the stars, who is, at the same time, the Physician for broken hearts and wounded spirits. I am equally interested in the connection of my text with the verse that goes before it: The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. The church of God is never so well built up as when it is built up with men of broken hearts. I have prayed to God in secret many a time, of late, that he would be pleased to gather out from among us a people who have a deep experience, who should know the guilt of sin, who should be broken and ground to powder under a sense of their own inability and unworthiness; for I am persuaded that, without a deep experience of sin, there is seldom much belief in the doctrine of grace, and not much enthusiasm in praising the Saviours name. The church needs to be built up with men who have been pulled down. Unless we know in our hearts our need of a Saviour, we shall never be worth much in preaching him. That preacher who has never been converted, what can he say about it? And he who has never been in the dungeon, who has never been in the abyss, who has never felt as if he were cast out from the sight of God, how can he comfort many who are outcasts, and who are bound with the fetters of despair? May the Lord break many hearts, and then bind them up, that with them he may build up the church, and inhabit it! But now, leaving the connection, I come to the text itself, and I desire to speak of it so that everyone here who is troubled may derive comfort from it, God the Holy Ghost speaking through it. Consider, first, the patients and their sickness: He healed the broken in heart. Then, consider, the Physician and his medicine, and for a while turn your eyes to him who does this healing work. Then, I shall want you to consider, the testimonial to the great Physician which we have in this verse: He healed the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Lastly, and most practically, we will consider, what we ought to do towards him who healeth the broken in heart. I. First, then, consider THE PATIENTS AND THEIR SICKNESS. They are broken in heart. I have heard of many who have died of a broken heart; but there are some who live with a broken heart, and who live all the better for having had their hearts broken; they live another and

higher life than they lived before that blessed stroke broke their hearts in pieces. There are many sorts of broken hearts, and Christ is good at healing them all. I am not going to lower and narrow the application of my text. The patients of the great Physician are those whose hearts are broken through sorrow. Hearts are broken through disappointment. Hearts are broken through bereavement. Hearts are broken in ten thousand ways, for this is a heart-breaking world; and Christ is good at healing all manner of heart-breaks. I would encourage every person here, even though his heart-break may not be of a spiritual kind, to make an application to him who healed the broken in heart. The text does not say, the spiritually broken in heart, therefore I will not insert an adverb where there is none in the passage. Come hither, ye that are burdened, all ye that labour and are heavy laden; come hither, all ye that sorrow, be your sorrow what it may; come hither, all ye whose hearts are broken, be the heart-break what it may, for he healeth the broken in heart. Still, there is a special brokenness of heart to which Christ gives the very earliest and tenderest attention. He heals those whose hearts are broken for sin. Christ heals the heart that is broken because of its sin; so that it grieves, laments, regrets, and bemoans itself, saying, Woe is me that I have done this exceeding great evil, and brought ruin upon myself! Woe is me that I have dishonoured God, that I have cast myself away from his presence, that I have made myself liable to his everlasting wrath, and that even now his wrath abideth upon me! If there is a man here whose heart is broken about his past life, he is the man to whom my text refers. Are you heart-broken because you have wasted forty, fifty, sixty years? Are you heart-broken at the remembrance that you have cursed the God who has blessed you, that you have denied the existence of him without whom you never would have been in existence yourself, that you have lived to train your family without godliness, without any respect to the Most High God at all? Has the Lord brought this home to you? Has he made you feel what a hideous thing it is to be blind to Christ, to refuse his love, to reject his blood, to live an enemy to your best Friend? Have you felt this? O my friend, I cannot reach across the gallery to give you my hand; but will you think that I am doing it, for I wish to do it? If there is a heart here broken on account of sin, I thank God for it, and praise the Lord that there is such a text as this: He healeth the broken in heart

"Bring Christ Your Broken Life"

Jim Davis

There is an old saying that I have always liked, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Many times we have set out to make something that is working, work a little better, only to end up breaking it where it won't work at all. This is where the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" originated. We may spend our lives trying to fix what is not broken. We must remember "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Yet, when our lives are broken, they need fixing. Too often, when something is broken, we spend all our time trying to figure out why it is broken. We have a natural curiosity to know the "Why?" behind what is happening to us. We ask questions like, "If God is an all good God, why is our world broken?" The most difficult thing to understand in life is why pain, problems and suffering are a part of it. If we are not careful, contemplating "Why?", will leave us bitter and cynical. Spending all our time philosophizing about why our world is broken does little to mend our broken lives. Job's friends came to him and began contemplating the reason for Job's suffering, but that only made his difficulties more agonizing. Job's wife was agonizing as she exclaimed, "Curse God and die!" When God finally spoke to Job, he revealed that Job didn't need to know the "Why." Even if God were to explain the "Why", Job couldn't have understood it. There is a song titled "Bring Christ Your Broken Life." "Bring Christ your broken life, So marred by sin, He will create anew, Make whole again; Your empty, wasted years, He will restore, And your iniquities Remember no more." Bring Christ Your Broken Life" The beauty of the Bible is seen in God's overwhelming joy in salvaging our broken lives. Ultimately sin is to blame for all life's brokenness. The beauty of the Bible is that God teaches us how to get on with a broken life. God teaches us how to turn our defeat into victory through divine healing. The greatest demonstration of God's power throughout the Scriptures is how God salvages broken helpless lives. God's power for healing is unbelievable and this is the reoccurring story throughout redemption history. Psalms 51:16-17 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (NIV) Psalms 34:18-22 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. (NIV) Psalms 147:3-4 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. (NIV) Our greatest need is to realize our need of God's healing. Jesus came to heal our broken lives. Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NIV) When life isn't working, we try to fix it, we try to "fake it till we make it", or we dwell on why it is broken. In John chapter 9, we find a man born blind. The religious folks were contemplating why he was born blind. Was it his sins or his parents sins that caused him to be born blind? Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:3-5 NIV) It is never too late to find God's healing for our brokenness. God desperately wants to work his work in each of our lives even if we believe it is too late. Samson found healing at the end of a wasted life. Manasseh found healing after filling Jerusalem with innocent blood in rebellion to God's ordinances. (2 Chronicles 33:9-16) A thief found healing as he was dying on a cross with Jesus Christ. What Causes A Broken Life? Brokenness occurs when we try to live life on our terms and come up empty. The Bible is full of examples of broken lives. They are broken because they tried to follow God while they lived their lives according to their own plans. Abraham was called by God, yet, he tried to live life on his own terms for the next forty years. He had his own survival plan all worked out. Notice what Abraham told Abimelech after lying about Sarah being his sister. Genesis 20:10-13 And Abimelech asked Abraham, "What was your reason for doing this?" Abraham replied, "I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander

from my father's household, I said to her, 'This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, "He is my brother." '" (NIV) Abraham came up short numerous times. He tried to fix life's problems without God's help. During all his wandering, he was trusting in his own plan for safety. He lied about Sarah being his wife on at least two occasions. He had a child by his wife's servant. God finally gave Abraham a son and then asked him to sacrifice. It was at this point in Abraham's journey with God that Abraham finally said, "The Lord will provide." But Abraham didn't learn to trust God until he was completely broken by his self-willed life. After God substituted the lamb for the sacrifice of Abraham's son, Abraham called God "Jehovah-jireh", in Hebrew this means God will provide. But Abraham couldn't see this until all of his own plans were shattered. Shattered dreams and broken lives empower us to see what is wrong with our lives as we gain new insight into ourselves. It is when our plans fail and our dreams are shattered that we begin to see what is not right with our lives. It is then, we are convicted of our own sinful stubborn self-willed lives. It is then, we realize our insensitivity to God. Jacob knew God's plan to fulfill God's promise to Abraham's descendants through his descendants. He knew he was the one God had chosen to keep the dream alive. He was constantly reminded of this by his mother. So Jacob set out to make it happen. To make it happen, he cheated his twin brother Esau out of his birthright . He ended up fleeing for his life with nothing but the clothes on his back and a stone for a pillow. It was in his brokenness that God appeared to him and reaffirmed the promise to Abraham to him. Gen 28:10-22 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it." He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven." Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a

vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth." (NIV) Even though the covenant is made, Jacob spent over twenty years living life according to his own plans. He spent over twenty years of his life cheating and being cheated. Again he was forced to flee for his life, only to find himself coming face to face with the problems he had fled over twenty years prior. Finally, he had to face his brother whom he had cheated out of his birthright. It was there at Peniel that Jacob had his last wrestling match with God and won. It was there at the end of the road that Jacob realized that all his plans were hopeless without the blessings of God. He refused to relinquish his grip on God until God blessed him. It was there that he finally understood his need of God's help and blessing. Attitude is Important As we deal with our brokenness, attitude is all important. Self-esteem is an attitude toward self. Love is our attitude toward others. Faith is your attitude toward God. Hope is your attitude toward the future. Forgiveness is your attitude toward the past. Everything revolves around attitude. Attitude is our most valuable asset when our dreams are shattered and lives are broken. Attitude determines whether we become bitter or better. If we rebel against life's problems we end up cynically bitter and brittle. If we fail to respond properly in times of brokenness our emotional wounds will fester and the hurt will multiply. If we repress the pain it will resurface through anger, guilt or misbehavior. The wonderful thing about all this is that attitude is a choice made by each of us. We have the God-given ability to choose our response. We have the ability to make a choice for the greatest outcome. It is the attitude we choose toward life and in times of shattered dreams that create our greatest possibilities. James 1:2-5 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (NIV) Adversity test our attitudes toward life and God. If we choose anger and avoid personal responsibility our wounds will not heal. We may lick our wounds and hide them from others, but our wounds will not heal until we make the proper spiritual response to God.

The most difficult thing to understand is why pain, problems and suffering are a part of life. If we are not careful, life's pain and suffering will make us bitter. Whatever the reason for pain and suffering, remember that God can use it for our greatest good. This is the major way God demonstrates his ultimate power over sin. He can use it to our good and his glory. But our attitudes must remain flexible enough to receive God's will. Most personal growth takes place in times of affliction. Some lessons can only be learned by loss. During adverse times our difficulties introduce us to ourselves. Adversity provides the pop quizzes of life to show what we are made of. A proper attitude will allow God to enter our shattered world to begin the process rebuilding and restoring our lives. Recognizing Our Brokenness Confession is an important part of recognizing our brokenness. On Pentecost the Jews "were cut to the heart" as they recognized their brokenness. They cried out, "what shall we do." They recognized their brokenness and claimed responsibility. Failing to claim responsibility for our broken lives only brings misery. We may want to excuse our responsibility by saying, "I haven't done any worse than anyone else." We tend to excuse ourselves because everyone else is doing it; we rationalize about our sin. But until we recognize our sin as part of the dilemma, our misery will continue. Sometimes we make apologies sound like justification rather than confession. We may say, "That person brings out the worst in me!" But if the worst wasn't in me, no one could bring it out. As long as we blame others we remain the same. Adam said, "The woman you put here with me-- she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:12 NIV) Blame focuses my problem on someone else and refuses to look at myself. We say, "After all that is the way God made me." Confession halts denial. Until we claim responsibility for our broken world, we will never gain the insight needed for beginning a new life. When we claim responsibility through confession we gain insight to what we have done wrong and are able to make proper adjustment for a better life according to God's direction. "No broken world ever begins to be rebuilt until this moment of insight is initiated. And the longer it takes to reach that moment, the more difficult it will be to rebuild a broken world and minimize the consequences." 1 Isaiah discovered a new life through his brokenness as he cried out "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips;

your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:5-8 NIV) Confession is of little value without repentance. In our modern world we can confess our sin, recognize our responsibility and still not repent. Confession brings us to admitting the sin and calling it what it is, but it is repentance that determines that I am not going to continue to make the same mistakes. Repentance is the distinctive quality that determines I don't want to be a repeat offender. Repentance is where we turn our lives around. "The freest person in the world is one with an open heart, a broken spirit, and a new direction in which to travel." 2 It is repentance that gives us a new direction to travel. Rather than repent, we often just fill our lives with hectic activity as we leave our lives empty of God. We deceive ourselves into believing that busyness is the same thing as repentance. But our busyness prevents us from slowing down and reflecting properly on what is wrong. Instead of spinning our wheels faster, we must stop and see if something else needs to be done. Often when life is broken, we just work harder on our own to try to fix it. You may see the difficulty, feel the pain and sense the need to reevaluate things, but instead you choose to just try harder the next time around. The difficulty with this type of thinking is that we will just keep going around, around and around because we are unwilling to face our difficulties and respond to them correctly. Until we respond correctly we cannot confess or repent. We want to fix life own our own terms. We are like Abraham and Jacob, we try working longer, harder, better and try to be more ingenious so we can fix our problems ourselves. We want to maintain control of our own lives. We want to be god of our own lives. Psalms 127:1-2 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it, . . . It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For as He gives His beloved sleep. Conclusion: When troubles come and go, and then come full circle to slap us in the face again and again, it is usually because we have failed to learn what we needed to learn to take life to the next level. We have tried to manhandle our lives.

There is a particular monkey that is trapped by drilling a hole in a gourd. The hole is made just big enough for the monkey to get his hand through. Then fruits and goodies are placed inside the gourd. The monkey reaches her hand inside and grabs a handful of goodies, but she cannot withdraw her hand with a handful of goodies. Rather than releasing her grip on the goodies, she chooses to be caught. Many of us react to life in the same manner. We hold onto our old lifestyles and find it impossible to have a new lease on life. 1. Gordon McDonald, Rebuilding Your Broken World, (Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 64.) 2. Ibid. pg 153 3. Allan Nelson book, Broken In The Right Place, is an excellent book on brokeness. The concepts in this sermon were gleaned from his book. 4. Allan Nelson, Broken In The Right Place, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1994.)

Sermon: "Problems, Prayer and You"

Delivered May 12, 2002 by Rev. George Antonakos. Theme: How do you deal with what seems to be an insurmountable problem? This sermon reflects on how one woman did just that 3000 years ago.
Sermon Text: Mark 13:1-8 and 1 Samuel 1:1-20
1

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. 3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord . 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had

closed her womb. 6 And because the Lord had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord , her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" 9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the Lord 's temple. 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord . 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." 12 As she kept on praying to the Lord , Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." 15 "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord . 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." 17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. 19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him."

Today I would like to talk and preach about giving our problems to God. When we heard today or perhaps in the past few days about Jerry's decision to abandon us, I mean to take another call, you know I am kidding, and realize that if the way is clear he will be off duty to Central in about a month and then tie that to my recent announcement about a July departure, some might think of that as a problem. Of course, some may not because they are focused not on circumstances or people, but on the God of all instances. Some people see a circumstance and immediately panic. Others see potential and opportunity. I am reminded of a speaker's actions at a government symposium on risk taking. The speaker selected an individual from the audience and said to her, "Imagine an I beam 40 feet long across the floor in front of the podium. If I gave you $20 would you walk across that I beam?" The woman said, "Yes." "Suppose" the speaker continued, "that the I beam was suspended between 2 buildings 50 stories in height. Now would you walk across it for $20?" This time the woman said, "No way." The speaker persisted, "Now suppose that I am on top of one building and dangling one of your kids over the edge and you are on the other building and I say to you if you don't walk across that I beam, I am going to drop him. Would

you then walk across that I beam?" The woman hesitated ever so slightly and then replied, "Which kid have you got?" Now that is not a good Mother's Day illustration, but one might say that that mom saw an opportunity where others might have panicked. And that's the choice we always have when problems come our way. Now let me ask you this question. Do you think that you have experienced all the problems that you are ever going to have? That's a no brainer. Of course not and we need to learn or be reminded of how God's people from the past learned to deal with seemingly insurmountable problems. The main character in our Old Testament lesson is Hannah. She had a very difficult problem that troubled her to no end. From the text we can see that she experienced depression, disappointment, relational conflict and family abuse, because she could not have children. In those days a man could have two wives. The man's name was Elkanah. His other wife Peninnah. Every year Peninnah would ruin the family's trip up to Shiloh, probably saying something like this to Hannah as all of her son's and daughters were all around her - "Too bad you don't have any children to keep you company Hannah. You must have done something awfully bad to merit this treatment from God." You know, in that culture this was seen as a curse and a judgment of God. The phrases of the text say it all. She wept and she wouldn't eat. Her heart was sad. There was bitterness of soul. She wept much. She called herself a person of misery. She was deeply troubled. She poured out her soul. Great anguish and grief was the way she described her experience. In other words, she's a believer with a problem. But the scriptures teach us that we can overcome despair and difficulty and sometimes even our problem, when we give our problems to God in prayerful surrender. So, do you carry a weight, a heavy burden this morning. Are you anxious about a current problem maybe related to health or relationships? Or are you feeling beaten down by a long-standing problem that just won't seem to go away. You have a friend in Hannah. Or, is it possible that you may have elevated someone or something to a higher position than God? If so, then listen because I would like to simply point out five very brief principles about problems from this story today. The first point is this - Just as some solutions are due to God's direct intervention, so are some problems. Look at verses 5 and 6 in case you missed it the first time. The phrase comes back to back at the end of verse 5 and verse 6. "The Lord had closed her womb... and because the Lord had closed her womb..., God closed Hannah's womb. Not all problems are the result of poor choices, the ill intent of others or the environment. Sometimes God is up to something. I think God is up to something at Central Presbyterian Church. Sometimes God is directly responsible for what is happening. However, we have no idea which problems are like that and so we have no right to say to people, God must be punishing you, or you must have done something awful or just accept this as God's will. So sometimes problems are because God is up to something. Secondly, some problems last a long time. Verse 7. "This went on year after year. But Hannah remained faithful to God. She kept going to worship. She kept making the trip. She kept praying." Faithfulness is not just for a season. God's promises may seem as though waiting on them is like being in the desert, dry and lifeless. And yet, deserts are full of life that we can't see. Waiting for one season's downpour. I heard about one variety of frog that will bury itself for up to 25 years waiting on the one year that enough moisture will come so that it can raise it's young.

The promise of fulfillment in God is always there and never fails. Peter said it. The Lord is not slow about his promises as some count slowness. Thirdly, not only is God is up to something and not only do some problems last over time, often our problems are designed to change us. Look at verses 9 and 10. When they had finished eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah stood up and then in bitterness of soul she wept much and prayed to the Lord and made a vow. She went to the temple. Who knows how long Hannah might have gone to the temple and prayed, "Oh God please give me a child so that I can show Penninah that she is wrong, so that I can get back at her." God got Hannah to a place of change and so with us, God will take problems and use them as a lever to get us into a different posture, to shake us out of our set ways, to get us as one poet said to "stop hugging harbors". God's problems move us to change. Hannah realigned her prayers and selfishness began to slough off and detach. Fourthly, Some problems are often tied to God's larger plan, so that many people will benefit, not just us. Now I have no verse to cite, but the context historically tells us that this could be so. The book before 1st Samuel is Ruth, but the real historical context is mentioned at the end of the previous book - Judges, chapter 21, verse 25. "In those days Israel had no king. Everyone did as he saw fit." See that's the sense in Israel at the time. There was a collection of loosely knit tribes beset by predators, and to make matters worse it was a time of moral and spiritual decline and emptiness. This is emphasized in the text when Eli the chief priest can't discern the difference between someone pouring their heart out to God and someone who is drunk. God is at work bringing the prophet of his choosing onto the scene. God was not only answering one woman's prayer, he was fulfilling his deeper purpose in all of Israel. God works in history through a mother's prayers. And every time that we act faithfully, even in the midst of our problems, we never know the ripple of grace that it will effect later for others and many will benefit. And lastly, our problems are best dealt with when we give them to God in surrendered prayer. I am not just talking about sending a quick prayer up or wringing our hands. I am talking about a moment of surrender. Now for those who don't know our Lord Jesus Christ, the most important surrender that we have to make is to ask the Lord Jesus to enter our heart and take control. Sometimes our problems drive us to that point; how many people have shared that they have come to know Christ out of deep desperation? But even for Christians, Jesus says, "Come to me, Come to me all ye who labor and are heavily burdened and I will give you rest." He says, "Come to me" and the emphasis there is put your problems at his feet. Hannah was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and she wept bitterly and she vowed a vow, she poured out her soul, she gave her problem to God. Out came her anxiety and vexation. She learned that God was truly there. Look at the end of verse 18 - "she went her way and ate something and her face was no longer downcast." Please note the chronology. It wasn't that her face was no longer downcast once her prayer was answered, her face was no longer downcast when she poured her heart out to the Lord. And that is what God is calling us to do today. I can think of times in my own life and I am sure you can think of times in your life when God

has had to bring us to our knees, but in that moment of surrender everything changed. Wayne Oats wrote a paper, a little pamphlet called, "How to live with a problem that you can't solve." He mentions a number of things. But I just want to share with you number seven on his list. He says when you are faced with a problem that you can't solve, do what you can do. Do what you can do. One thing that Hannah teaches us - she what she could. We can give our problems to God no matter how long we have suffered, how bitter our tears or how many people are provoking or irritating us. Jesus is the one who can enable us to do that very thing. So the question is, we will rise in faith with Hannah? Will we come again to the Lord Jesus or will we stew in our own self-pity? God is calling each and every one of us to bring barrenness of any sort to God. What door does God want you to knock on today that seems closed or locked? Come and give your problem to God. You may receive healing. You may receive what you need. But you know, your spirit like Hannah may be healed even before your problem is solved or your prayer is answered. Look at how the text closes in verse 20. "She named him Samuel because 'she asked the Lord' for him. In Hebrew Samuel means "heard of God", and the God who hears us has promised this. Listen. "Fear not for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. And when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned since you are precious in my sight and I love you. Don't be afraid for I am with you." Give your problems to God today. Let us pray. Gracious Lord, we do give our problems to you. We take a step of faith even as we sing one of the most beloved hymns of all time. We pray Lord Jesus that we would understand what it means in this very minute to experience your friendship. For we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.
Like Our God Over the last few weeks weve been looking at the stories of some Bible people who arent so well known. Weve thought about Mary Magdalene and how Jesus transformed her life, and John Mark and how God gave him a second chance even when the apostle Paul didnt. Weve thought about Cornelius, an outsider who was seeking God, and how God reached out to include him, and about Naamans servant girl who spoke the crucial words of witness that led Naaman to ask the God of Israel for healing for his skin disease. Today I want to talk with you about the story of Hannah, a woman who was in a desperate situation and who cried out to the Lord for help. There are some aspects of Hannahs story that we dont find it so easy to relate to; she was in a polygamous marriage, and the tensions and rivalries of that sort of marriage are hard for us to imagine today. But the main factor in her story is all too familiar to many people; she longed for a child, and her longing had not been fulfilled. There are many people today who know all about that sort of grief, and even if we arent familiar

with it, weve all had times when we longed for things and our longing was not fulfilled. So lets see what happens in the story of Hannah. The story of Hannah takes place about a thousand years before the time of Jesus, and we can find it in the first Book of Samuel, chapters one and two. There we read that there was a man of the tribe of Ephraim named Elkanah and he had two wives; one named Hannah, the other named Penninah. Penninah had children, but Hannah had none. Childlessness is bad enough in a monogamous marriage, but in a polygamous situation, in a culture that saw producing sons as one of the most important duties of a good wife, we can well imagine how difficult it would have been. And Penninah didnt make things easy for Hannah; the story tells us that she used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb (1 Samuel 1:6). In those days it was the custom for people to go on pilgrimage to Shiloh, a town in the centre of Israel. This was where the Lords tabernacle was located the tent that Moses had made in the desert many years ago, with the box in which the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments on them were kept, and the altar of incense and all the other holy furniture that Moses and the Israelites had made. This was before the stone temple in Jerusalem was built, so this simple tabernacle was the place above all other where the Israelites felt they could meet with their God. At that time the old man Eli was the priest at Shiloh. So were told that Elkanah and his family used to go up to Shiloh year by year to worship the Lord, to offer sacrifices and offerings. When animals were offered in sacrifice to the Lord, it was the custom to burn a portion of the offering and then for the worshippers to eat the rest. Theres a bit of a translation problem in the text here, because the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. Our NRSV says that when Elkanah gave out the food from the sacrifice to his family, he gave Hannah a double portion, because he loved her. However, the Revised English Bible has an alternative translation: When Elkanah sacrificed, he gave several shares of the meat to his wife Penninah with all her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he gave only one share; the LORD had not granted her children, yet it was Hannah whom Elkanah loved (1:4-5 REB). So one possible translation is that Hannah did better out of the situation than Penninah, the other is that she did worse! Whichever is right, its plain that there was a lot of tension in the family, and it went on year after year; as often as they went up to Shiloh, Penninah used to provoke Hannah, and so Hannah would not eat and was reduced to tears. And it has to be said that Elkanah wasnt the most sensitive of guys in this situation; the story tells us that he said, Hannah, why are you crying? Why dont you eat? Why are you so sad? Arent I more to you than ten sons?

So on one of these occasions, after they had eaten and drunk their fill, Hannah got up and slipped away from the family group; she went back to the tabernacle, to the presence of the Lord. Eli, the old priest, was sitting on a seat beside the door, and he saw her going into the tabernacle. She was deeply distressed and wept bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. In her prayer, she made a vow to God; she said, O LORD of hosts, if you will only look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head (1:11). A Nazirite was a person who had been specifically dedicated to the LORD, and abstaining from alcohol and from haircuts was an external sign of their vow. Now the old priest Eli was watching Hannah, and she was doing something unusual in those days; she was praying silently. Most people in those days prayed out loud; in Hannahs case, though, her lips were moving but she was not sounding out the words. Eli totally misinterpreted the situation; he thought that Hannah was drunk, and so he rebuked her. How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? he said; Put away your wine. But she replied, No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul to the LORD. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time. Then Eli answered her, Go in peace: the God of Israel grant the petition you have made. And so Hannah went back to her husband and ate and drank with him. Hannahs prayer was indeed answered. They went home, and in due course she conceived and she had a son, and she called him Samuel, which apparently sounds like a Hebrew word meaning, asked of God. In those days, of course, it was common for mothers to breast feed their children for much longer than today; as long as two or three years in fact. So for the next two or three years Hannah skipped the annual trip to Shiloh; she told Elkanah, As soon as hes weaned Ill bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the LORD, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time (1:22). Elkanah agreed to this, and so Hannah waited until her son was weaned. She then took him up to Shiloh, where she offered sacrifices to the LORD and then presented herself to old Eli and said, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed: and the LORD has granted me the petition I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD. And she left him there for the LORD (1:26-28). Were told that every year when she and the family came up to Shiloh shed bring a new robe for the boy; and Eli would bless her and pray that the LORD would give her more sons and daughters. And the LORD heard that prayer; Hannah had three more sons and two daughters. 1 Samuel 2:1-10 gives us a song of thanksgiving that Hannah sang to the LORD when she brought Samuel up to Shiloh to present him to God as a nazirite. I dont

have time to read it this morning, but its well worth looking at if you have a bit of time later today. In this song, Hannah rejoices in God who has turned away the proud and mighty and blessed the weak and helpless; obviously shes thinking of her own situation here! The barren has borne seven, she says, but she who has many children is forlorn (2:5). I particularly want to focus on what Hannah says in verse 2: There is no holy one like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. The term rock is actually one of the most common biblical metaphors for God; it appears over and over again in the psalms, such as in Psalm 95 where we read, O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation (v.1). Its a dangerous thing to try to analyse a metaphor; metaphors appeal to the right hand side of our brain, the artistic side, and analysis is a leftbrain procedure. So Im not going to try to define exactly what the Rock metaphor means when its applied to God. But if I think about my own impressions of a rock, I find that a number of things come to mind. I think of Jesus story of the wise man who built his house on the rock; the rock foundation was firm, and when the storms came the house was able to stand, whereas the house built on sand fell with a great crash. So the rock is a place of safety and security in a storm. And the person who trusts in God also finds that God is a place of safety and security when times get tough. A rock is also difficult to move. Theres a well-known story about an American warship traveling at sea on a dark night. A light was seen in the distance, and thinking it was a ship, the captain of the warship noted that he had the right of way and signaled asking the other ship to give way to him. There was no response. The captain signaled three times, identifying himself, and asking the other ship to change course; I am the battleship U.S.S. Kentucky, said his signal; We are on a collision course and I have the right of way. Please change your course. Finally an answering signal came through: I am a lighthouse; you will have to be the one to change your course! A battleship may be strong, but if it ran into a lighthouse built on a rock, the lighthouse would probably survive the encounter a little better! God is a safe place in a storm; God is not easily moved by those who try to oppose him. Gods love is steadfast and sure, absolutely dependable, not here today and gone tomorrow like sand that the rain washes away. Hannah found by her own experience that God was her rock. She had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to; only the Lord could help her, and so she prayed and cried and poured out her heart to God. God heard her and gave her what she asked for. But I suspect there are some of you listening today who are feeling uneasy at this point. Well, thats okay for Hannah; she got what she asked for. But I asked for something, too, and I didnt get it. Why not? Am I a bigger sinner than

she was? What does it mean to say that God is a rock, that God is strong and reliable, when you ask for something over and over again and you dont get it? This is a huge issue in many peoples minds and we must not hide from it or pretend its not there. Certainly the Bible doesnt hide from it. Many of the psalms are written as prayers of people who dont seem to be getting what they ask from God, and they arent afraid to pose the difficult questions. But one of the most remarkable passages on this subject is the eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament. A lot of people like the first part of Hebrews 11; its a long list of people of faith and talks about all the wonderful things they were able to do because they had faith in God. It talks about how Abraham and Sarah were able to have a child even though Sarah was long past the age of child-bearing; it talks about how Moses was preserved from death by faith in God and grew up to be a great leader of Gods people. It goes on to list other Old Testament heroes and what they did through Gods strength. But then it goes on to say this: Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground (Hebrews 11:35-38). This is a different story! It seems that some people had faith enough to trust God to rescue them from their circumstances but other people had a different sort of faith, a faith that continued to trust God when he didnt rescue them from their circumstances, a faith that trusted that somehow in the midst of their suffering God knew best, and God was able to give them the strength they needed to carry on. Many of you here know about this sort of faith. This is the faith of the person who prays desperately that God will heal their dying spouse, but still clings to God after the spouse dies, and somehow finds that God is able to lift them up in the midst of their grief. This is the faith of the person who cries out to God in the midst of chronic pain, and asks to be delivered from it, but finds that instead of being delivered from it they are finding the daily strength to bear it and still be true to the God they believe in. They are not finding deliverance, but they are still finding that the Lord is their rock. God is our Rock. God is inviting us to call out to him, to come close to him, to take refuge in him in time of trouble. Perhaps we can make these words of Psalm 61 our own: Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to

you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy (vv.1-3). But I cant leave this rock metaphor without going back to the words of Jesus. The psalmists cry out to God to be their rock in time of trouble; in God they find safety and protection and the strength to go through the tough times. But Jesus adds one more dimension. He talks about the wise man who builds his house on the rock, and the foolish man who builds his house on the sand. But who is this wise man, and what does he do to build his house on the rock? Well, Jesus says, Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock (Matthew 7:24). God is our rock of refuge, and the way we rest on that rock is to follow Jesus and put his words into practice. In context, the words that Jesus is referring to are his words in the Sermon on the Mount the commands to love our enemies, to pray for those who hate us, to stop laying up for ourselves treasure on earth, to seek first Gods kingdom and his righteousness and so on. The one who learns this way of life, Jesus is saying, will be secure in God forever. Hannah says, there is no Rock like our God. So lets not be afraid to pour out our hearts to God in trouble, as Hannah did, and ask for his help. And lets also learn to live by the teaching of Jesus so that we can be like the wise man who built his house on the rock: The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock (Matthew 7:25). Hannah Rose