A Faithful Mother

1 Samuel 1:1-28 Whether you are a “stay-at-home” mom or also work outside the home—whether you have just one child or several—whether you are in the midst of diapers and nursing-- or your children have children of their own—all faithful mothers  have some characteristics in common. 

You regard your children as blessings from God—you are women of prayer, especially for your family—you trust in the promises of God—and you raise your children to know and love the Lord.

We are going to see these characteristics exemplified today in the story of a faithful mother named Hannah.  The Bible says: 

Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 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. 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?"

            Hannah was blessed with a husband who loved her and she had ample material goods.  But when Elkanah asked her, “Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”--I’m not really sure that he wanted to know the answer to that question.  Hannah desperately desired the blessing of children. The Bible says:

 “Children are a heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward.  As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so as children of the youth.  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.    

We live in a culture that has lost that view.  Children are seen as unwanted burdens or inconveniences.  Child abuse has skyrocketed in recent decades and the number of children who have been aborted numbers in the tens of millions. 

That is why it is so important to renew a biblical world view regarding children and motherhood that:  sees children as a blessings--motherhood as a high calling—and the command to be fruitful and multiply as God’s will for marriage. 

And just as a side note-- there are still marriages where couples cannot conceive and yet they still desire to be obedient to God and so in love they choose to adopt.  There are few more loving things that a couple can do than adopt children because adoption is particularly reflective of our heavenly Father who has adopted each of us into his family. 

Whether they are adopted or biological, the faithful mother knows that children are a gift from God.  

Secondly, we see in Hannah’s life that the faithful mother is a woman of prayer.  In one of the most poignant passages of Scripture, the Bible tells us that “In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord.”   

So why was Hannah able to keep praying when her life was miserable?  What did Hannah know about God when it comes to prayer that we need to know? 

First of all she knew that the God who loved her was in control of all things.  In the next chapter, she says:  “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.  The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and exalts.”

Can you imagine what this knowledge meant to her—that God was in charge and yet he had chosen to let her remain childless?  And yet such was her faith that she did not give up or blame God or even ask why—she simply came to him again and again in prayer because she knew that not only did he rule all things-- but second of all, he had the power to change things. 

There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that God knew who she was; knew what her situation was; and desired to bless her in her need.  She knew that the mighty God who ruled the universe-- loved her and cared for her --and the concerns of one poor woman were his concerns too and so she came to him in prayer.

What we see so beautifully portrayed in Hannah’s life is that faithful mothers are women of prayer.  Whether you are joyful or sorrowful—whether your faith is mighty or weak, God invites you to come to him in prayer and pour out your heart to him just like Hannah did.  The Lord wants you to know what Hannah knew:  that he is in control—even in hard times-- and that he can be trusted because he cares for us.  

So far we’ve seen that a faithful mother knows that her children are blessings of God—that a faithful mother is a woman of prayer—and now we see that a faithful mother trusts in the promises of God.  The Bible says:

Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."  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. 

            What is so striking to me about this whole story is how it revolves around the Old Testament place of worship at Shiloh.  Elkanah and Hannah were faithful believers who were regular in worship—earnest in prayer—and serious in their faith.  Hannah poured out her heart to the Lord there at Shiloh—not because she couldn’t pray anywhere else-- but because that was the place where God had promised his people he would be in such a way that they could be certain of his presence.  Eli the priest who served there at Shiloh had one purpose on earth and that was to speak the Word of God to the people of God who worshiped there-- and Hannah believed what she had been promised.  

            The Bible says that when she left there that day her face was no longer downcast.  In other words, she took to heart what she had heard in worship from God’s servant and trusted God’s promises.

That same dynamic still continues in God’s house to this day as we come to the Lord with our sins and burdens and receive from him forgiveness and help. 

I look out at this congregation and I see wonderful mothers.  But I also know that even the most faithful of mothers have made mistakes and have regrets and so I invite you to follow faithful Hannah’s example and believe what you hear here today in God’s house:  that your sins are forgiven—that God loves you—that he cares about what weighs heavy on your heart this morning--that he promises to hear your prayers and bless you. 

That was the promise that Eli made to Hannah and the fulfillment of that promise took on flesh and bone in the birth of her son Samuel.  The Bible says that:  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."  The Bible is clear that Samuel was conceived normally, but Hannah also knew that her son was God’s gift to her. 

In the same way, God’s promises to bless and help us, have taken on flesh and blood in the birth of another Son—God’s own Son Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.

It is in the blessing of God’s Son Jesus Christ—in his death and resurrection-- that we know that the promises of God are true—that the Lord hears our prayers for mercy and help—that he desires to make right those things that are broken in our lives.   

So far we seen that the faithful mother knows her children are gifts from God—that the faithful mother is a woman of prayer—that the faithful mother trusts the promises of God—and finally we see that the faithful mother makes sure that her children are brought up to know and worship the Lord.  The Bible says:

After he was weaned, Hannah took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. And he worshiped the LORD there.

            Elkanah and Hannah’s faithfulness was passed on to their young son.  Just as they were regular in their attendance in the Lord’s house, so from a very young age was their son brought to the Lord’s house. 

This scene has been repeated again and again, millions of times over the last three thousand years as faithful mothers have seen it as their first duty to the their children to bring them to the Lord’s house to be baptized and begin their own life with God. 

And what’s more, Hannah herself was a faithful witness to the goodness of God.  When she brought Samuel to the temple she wanted to make sure that Eli knew that she was the woman who had prayed so passionately for a son and now the Lord had granted her prayers.

Faithful mothers still follow her example and bear witness to the goodness of God to those around them and about much the same kind of things.  Whatever our station in life—whatever our daily routine—the Lord can use us mightily to accomplish his saving purposes by simply telling what God has done for us.

That’s what Hannah did.  She said, “I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the LORD”.  Hannah’s faith was not just words.  She kept her promise to the Lord and brought her son to be a servant in God’s house.  He was just a little fellow, and it must have been a hard thing for her to do, but that’s what being a faithful mother is:  doing those hard things that are for the good of our families in obedience to God.  

Dear sisters in Christ, on this Mother’s Day I pray that you would follow Hannah’s example and receive your children as blessings from God—that you would be women of prayer—that you would trust in the promises that God has made to you in his Son—and especially that you would raise your children to know the Lord and entrust them into his care—confident that he loves them even more than you do.  Amen.