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A Heart for God

God Hears

Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:9-20

I. You know God hears because God is the Lord of hosts.

A. In vs. 11 Hannah calls God, “O LORD of hosts.” This is the very first time in the Bible that this name for God is used in prayer. What does the name LORD of hosts mean? He is omnipotent. He is the God whose universal rule encompasses every force or army, heavenly, cosmic and earthly. He is the God with the total resources of the universe at His command. And one of the resources at God’s command was all of the angel hosts. If the angels that are under God’s command are powerful, how big must God be? Real big!

B. Hannah says to God in vs. 11, if you give me a son, “then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.” Hannah promised God that her son would be a permanent Nazirite (see Numbers 6), a special class of people in Israel. Nazirites lived as if the whole world was a holy place. Hannah wanted a holy child, a child who bring the people back to God. God showed His omnipotent power as the LORD of hosts to Hannah who begged God for a child in prayer. And God gave Hannah no ordinary child.

II. You know God hears because God is a father who loves His children.

A. Hannah assumes that the broken heart of a relatively obscure woman in the hill country of Ephraim matters to the almighty God of the universe. Why did she have such faith? She remembered the story of the exodus from Israel’s history. Exodus 3:7: “Then the Lord said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.’” The God who saw the affliction of His corporate people could be expected to see the affliction of an individual servant of His.

B. Hannah prayed like Jesus taught us to pray. We pray to God as our father. When we are in pain, our father God will see it and act to help us in our pain. Children certainly approach their parents with confidence when they have a need. So, you also can come to God with confidence when you have a need. You can come like a confident child to her father. We pray with confidence because we believe that God is a Father who is powerful enough and loving enough to answer. Hannah left the temple with a triumphant faith (vs. 18). She was changed.

III. You know God hears because God wants you to ask.

A. We see how God responded to Hannah’s prayer in vs. 19-20. Elkanah and Hannah went home from Shiloh. Verse 20 says, “In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel for she said, “I have asked for him from the LORD.” God answered Hannah’s prayer. She prayed. And God heard. God gave her the son that she asked for. Isn’t God good? The name Samuel in Hebrews sounds similar to the word for heard of God or asked from God. So, every time Hannah spoke her son’s name, Samuel, Hannah would be reminded that she asked for this child from God. And, miracle of miracles, God heard her. Jesus simply said in Luke 11:9: “Ask and it will be given to you.” We should also remember the words of James 4:2: “You do not have, because you do not ask.” God wants you to ask.

Application:
Ask God for great things. God will hear you when you pray.

Sources:
The book of 1 Samuel
Commentaries on 1 Samuel by Dale Ralph Davis, Robert Bergen, Daniel Leithart and Tim Chester.

sermon discussion questions

1) How does Hannah’s praying encourage you in your own praying?

2) Is there anything you need to pray about this week and then pursue feeling at peace about that prayer?

3) Is there anything you do not ask for in prayer because, deep down, you think the Lord cannot or will not give it? Could Hannah’s example prompt you to start praying for it regularly and boldly?