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A few weeks ago, we saw Hannah’s faith and drew out some implications to apply to our own faiths: sincere, simple, sacrificial, submissive, and stimulating worship. We left off considering the object of her faith: God himself. Genuine faith is in and only in the God of the Bible. But there lies a warning in the opposite: Misplaced faith with all of the right attributes is the root of all maladies of our age.
During the most recent graduation at CFCA a few days ago, the Valedictorian was sharing the struggles she endured during her highschool career. She described her life and experience as being under such pressure that she just felt broken. She used an analogy of a particular Japanese art form to describe her life. This Japanese form of art takes pottery that has been broken and useless and uses gold to mend the pieces. The end result is something that is more beautiful and valuable. As this senior described her as a broken piece of pottery, I was waiting for what she said was the gold. “Surely, she will say God” I thought to myself. “My life was broken and I finally took a step back to breath and breath,” she said, “and in that moment, I saw something. I little glimmer, a shiny little yellow metal. I finally opened my eyes to the gold that held my life together. I was broken, broken beyond (I thought) repair. Then I saw who God placed in my life: my best friends, a loving boyfriend, amazing teachers, an awesome supportive family, and most of all, a will to keep going.”
I have to admit that I was disappointed. The very thing that held her life together was not God. At least she gave credit to god for placing it there. But I agree, and I believe most of us would agree that our lives can feel broken, or out of our control. Instead of broken pottery, the Bible often uses the image of water to depict powerful and chaotic forces that seemingly take hold and sweep our lives out to control. This can come in the form of enemies (individuals or ideas), circumstances, or even disabilities. For Hannah, she dealt with the trial of infertility. She could not have a baby. And, on top of that, her husband’s other wife “let her have it” because of it.
But her case, God saw fit to give her a son. The chaotic sea began to calm, and on where did she rest her feet? Was it on her husband and his unfailing love? Was it on her newborn son? Was it on her newfound ability to conceive? Did she just complete some counseling on self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-acceptance? The world has 1,000 answers of where you should place your trust and faith, and none of them are going to satisfy your soul. If you place your faith in the wrong thing it will lead you to misery, depression, anger, pride, confusion, and the list goes on and on. Today, I want to invite all of us to take a step back, maybe even a few deep breaths, and consider, “who is my rock in the chaotic waters of life?”
Listen to the beginning of her prayer:
“And Hanna prayed and said,
‘My heart exults in the LORD;
My horn is exalted in the LORD.
My mouth derides my enemies,
Because I rejoice in your salvation.
There is none holy like the LORD;
For there is none besides you;
There is no rock like our God.”
1 Sam 2:1-2
Hannah prays and the first line strikes me. The word “exults” in the ESV, and “rejoices” in the NKJV is usually something foreign to conversation about God. The word “exult” is something foreign in and of itself. But the truth is the same: Do you find God exhilarating? Is your walk with God marked more by joy or duty?
Christian Hedonism is the conviction that God’s ultimate goal in the world (his glory) and our deepest desire (to be happy) are one and the same, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Not only is God the supreme source of satisfaction for the human soul, but God himself is glorified by our being satisfied in him. Therefore, our pursuit of joy in him is essential.
Christian Hedonism claims that the Christian life should be the pursuit of maximum joy in God — joy both in quality and quantity. Fullness of joy and joy forevermore (Psalm 16:11) are found only in him.
“Heart” here refers to Hannah’s mind, will, and emotions; her entire being rejoices in God.
The next line is synonymous, “My horn is exalted in the LORD.”
Now this was an interesting phrase that took a while for me to figure out. But to simplify it, have you ever heard the phrase that someone is “tooting their own horn?” A phrase dealing with shouting one’s own praise, usually in a prideful way. Well, Hannah is not tooting her own horn, she’s tooting the LORD’s horn. In other words, her pride, her esteem, is not in herself, in her abilities, in her accomplishments, but rather her esteem in in the LORD’s character.
She goes on, “My mouth derides my enemies.” The NKJV says she “smiles” at her enemies. The Hebrew word behind this phrase is sort of an mystery how it’s supposed to be understood. Literally, she says, “I broaden my mouth at my enemies.” What she and other others who use this phrase means usually has to do with mockery. In Isaiah 60:5 the person who “broadens” his mouth also sticks his tongue out. Why does she do these things?
“Because I rejoice in your salvation”
Her enemies no longer have power over her, because she looks forward to her day of deliverance. We have a natural tendency to put human enemies in our mind when we hear verses like this. And there is some truth to this. We do face human advisories who can belittle us. But the question we have to ask is if these individual are our enemies on account of Christ or for some other reason. Even still, because these human enemies are still breathing, we must hold out hope for their salvation. Mockery in this case is not the answer. “Pray for those who persecute you” Christ commands. We can have peace though, knowing that one day he will return and make all wrongs right.
So, what enemies should we mock? Death, sin, and the devil are enemies that deserve derision. They all go on only temporarily and will one day death will die. We rejoice that Christ has saved us now from the power of indwelling sin. We rejoice that one day Christ will save us from all sorrow.
“There is none holy like the LORD;
For there is none besides you;
There is no rock like our God.”
Hannah emphasized the holiness of God, out of his uniqueness. Remember the biblical image of the waters and waves representing chaos and danger? The rock here is the firm ground in which you can trust. Who is the rock in which you trust? For Hannah that was God.
There’s something else about Hannah’s prayer that I want to observe: it is not a quaint, “Thank you LORD for giving me a son,” and then move on with life
Hannah focuses on God’s character rather than her life’s circumstances
It’s easy to look at our circumstances, on focus only on them. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t bring our circumstances to God in prayer, we should do that. There are several examples in the Psalms where individuals bring their circumstances to God in prayer. What I’m saying is that we should not have faith in our circumstances, we should have faith in the character of God.
All the pagan worship surrounding Hannah was concerned with manipulating the gods or spirit in order to get what you want. Hannah could have looked at her circumstances and thought, “Well, I successfully figured out how to get Yahweh to do what I want.” When we have this perspective, ultimately we believe we’re in charge of our circumstances.
A couple of reasons we should be God focused rather than circumstance focused
- God knows what’s best for us, even when we have no idea
Some years back I was working as interim youth pastor at a church up in Cleveland, GA. I had been in the position for about a year and a half. The search team was on to fill the position and I had put in my resume. I was fairly confident I could get the position, the senior pastor was even rooting for me. Abby was just born that April, and I had just graduated with my undergrad in Christian Studies that May. We had even moved into a house planning to stay up in the mountains forever.
I was sort of caught off guard when the search committee decided to go with someone else. I was stuck there with a house, no job, and young family, and no other family nearby to offer support. I went out immediately in search for a job.
If I were circumstance oriented what would have happened? (And I think in some ways these doubts did creep in). I could have believed that God did not call me to ministry. I could have started to believe I wasted my undergrad getting a degree I would never use. I could have wallowed in self-pity, unmotivated to continue on and give up on trying. I could have grown angry with God for allowing me to grow so close to that church and those youth and then snatching it away from me. This anger and distrust would lead to a false belief that I’m in control of my destiny and circumstances. If God isn’t going to do this for me, then obviously, I need to take this into my own hands. When you believe the lie that you’re in control, not God, you can never meet your standards and will always live in failure. Or you set achievable standards that are self-centered, achieve them, and only use God to get what you want.
I wouldn’t say I was that holy or pious at the time. I believe I was more motivated to just get a job to provide. And I did, I started off as a manager at the new Chick-fil-A opening down the road. You see, God knew how I was going to need experience at Chick-fil-A to help continue my family. Without that Chick-fil-A experience, we may have not been able to adopt.
And I know that this circumstance can seem miniscule to what pain some of you here have experienced. But the principle is the same: Trust in God, he knows what’s best.
“Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+2&version=NKJV>
- Circumstances change, but God’s character never changes
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble bind on strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+2&version=ESV>
When our joy is circumstance oriented we blame God for when things go wrong and ignore him when things go right. We presume to know what God is supposed to be doing in our life and then rise up and accuse him in our arrogance. Circumstances are like the waves of the ocean, always changing around us. Who is your rock in the midst of this sea? Oftentimes, we dream of a life with no problems, no change, where we can just put down our roots. Back in 2000, a pastor named John Piper gave this powerful illustration.
Three weeks ago, we got news at our church that Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon. Ruby Eliason—over 80, single all her life, a nurse. Poured her life out for one thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the sick and the poor in the hardest and most unreached places.
Laura Edwards, a medical doctor in the Twin Cities, and in her retirement, partnering up with Ruby. [She was] also pushing 80, and going from village to village in Cameroon. The brakes give way, over a cliff they go, and they’re dead instantly. And I asked my people, “Is this a tragedy?”
Two women, in their 80s almost, a whole life devoted to one idea—Jesus Christ magnified among the poor and the sick in the hardest places. And 20 years after most of their American counterparts had begun to throw their lives away on trivialities in Florida and New Mexico, [they] fly into eternity with a death in moment. “Is this a tragedy?” I asked.
The crowd knew the answer, calling out, “No!”
“It is not a tragedy,” Piper affirmed. “I’ll read you what a tragedy is.”
He pulled out a page from Reader’s Digest.
(“I don’t know where I got it, because I didn’t subscribe,” Piper remembers now. “I must have found it in a doctor’s office somewhere.”)
He read it to them:
‘Bob and Penny . . . took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect shells.’
“That’s a tragedy,” he told the crowd.
And there are people in this country that are spending billions of dollars to get you to buy it. And I get 40 minutes to plead with you—don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you—don’t buy that dream. . . . As the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account with what you did: “Here it is, Lord—my shell collection. And I’ve got a good swing. And look at my boat.”
From <https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-john-pipers-seashells-swept-over-a-generation/>
What sort of circumstances do you plan for your life? Do these circumstances build God’s kingdom or your own? If you are right now plotting circumstances, what happens when it doesn’t go your way? Do you get mad at God? Planning your life is sailing on uncharted waters. You don’t know what’s going to be over the next horizon. Don’t trust in what you have planned for your life. I’m not saying don’t make plans, or don’t be wise. What I’m encouraging you to do is not place your trust in your plans because circumstances can change, but God’s character will never change.
- God is in control of circumstances, circumstances are not in control of God
The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+sam+2&version=ESV>
One result of believing God is not in charge of circumstances is not being satisfied with who you are. I’m not talking about our sin, we should not be satisfied with that. I’m talking about our personalities, looks, et. Al. One article by Dr. Albert Mohler highlights this issue.
A plastic surgeon tells us that in the old days patients might come in looking for a face or a neck lift, eyelid lifts, a brow lift, skin resurfacing procedures or Botox injections. The typical patient back then would ask, “What do you recommend?” The doctor then said, “This is the kind of work I got into my profession expecting to do. And these are the consultations I expected to be giving.” But that was then and this is now. What’s changed? He writes this, “Today my average patient according to the records we keep in my office is 38 or 39.” We’ll stop there and say that’s almost a full decade younger than in times past. “She’ll come in fixated on a specific ‘flaw’.” Again the word flaw is put in quotation marks, “and often knows exactly what procedure she wants. Her nose is crooked she’s sure or her chin is too small or large or her eyebrows appear droopy…
But all of that is just a setup for the thesis statement of the doctor’s piece which is a single sentence paragraph of just a few words, and these are the words. “There is a reason for this rapid and radical change, selfies.”
The self-taken photograph is warping the confidence of many younger people in unsettling ways. They come to my offices, show me selfies and point to say an asymmetry on their lips. A totally normal variation,” he says. “Often they will have already searched online until they found someone with a similar ‘issue,’” again put in quotes, “who fixed it with surgery.” “In one informal consultation,” he writes on realselfdot.com, a site that lets people ask questions of plastic surgeons, “A woman asked me if plastic surgery could give her cat’s eyes, rounded feline eyes of the sort that some photo filters can add to selfies.” The doctor says, “I told her that wasn’t a sensible goal.” “Once,” he says, “a 20-year-old having studied countless images herself said she needed a facelift.” The doctor then responds, “No 20-year-old needs a facelift.”
From <https://albertmohler.com/2019/03/20/briefing-3-20-19>
From <https://albertmohler.com/2019/03/20/briefing-3-20-19>
Perhaps the saddest recognition when you read this article is understanding how profoundly unsatisfying all of these surgical procedures are going to be. Even when they might temporarily achieve the improvement to the selfie that is sought, it won’t last. It will turn into yet another form of obsession with the self. It will turn into another concern with representation or misrepresentation.
From <https://albertmohler.com/2019/03/20/briefing-3-20-19>
Read excerpt from Trusting God by Jerry Bridges pg. 169-7
Think about the man born blind in John 9. The disciples assume this disability from birth is due to some sort of sin. But what does Jesus say? “Not because of sin, but so that the works of God may become known.” Do you trust that God is not only in control of your external circumstances, but also in control when he created you? The earth is his, he is in supreme control. “Our God is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases” Psalm 115:3
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