Well hello, how are you's? It's nice to be with you's today so it is. Thank you very much for asking me along. It's nice to be here. It's a warm welcome. Carl outside so it is, but it's a warm welcome in here so it is. So thank you. If you's have a Bible with you's, would you's mind turning to 1st Samuel please? 1st Samuel chapter 1, that's where we'll be reading. 1st Samuel chapter And we'll be reading the first 20 chapters, not the first 20 chapters, we'll be here all day. The first 20 verses of 1 Samuel chapter 1. And just as you're turning to the place I'm sure quite a few of you will know that in this here, it's about the story of Hannah. So it is the story of Hannah. And Hannah would be one of my favourite characters. in the Bible because I feel I can sort of relate to Hannah. Don't be worried because I'm struggling to get pregnant or anything like that. But you know as we read about Hannah we see that she gets very down, she's got problems and the problems she has she can do absolutely nothing about herself and she gets so down about it and she gets so she doesn't feel worth very much and sometimes I don't know about you but sometimes I feel that I can maybe feel like that there and I can get like that there and maybe you do too and well today as we look at Hannah we're going to see if we can learn anything from Hannah so 1st Samuel chapter 1 reading from verse 1 it says now there was a certain man of Ramath Zophon of Mount Ephraim the son of And his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elu, the son of Tulu, the son of Zorth and Ephraonite. And I do apologise if I've pronounced any of those names wrong, but there's not too many people in Damoclone walking about with those names, so I'm not really used to them. Verse 2. And he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Panina. And Panina had children, but Alcanna had no children. And this man went up out of the city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hopin and Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when the time was that Alcanna offered, he gave to Penina, his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had shut up her womb, and her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her, therefore she wept. and did not eat. Then said Alcanna her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not, and why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk, Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thy will indeed look on the infliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man-child. Then will I give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.' And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long will thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunken neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial. For out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken to her too.' Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine have me, and find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Rama. And Alcannah knew his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come, about after Hannah had conceived, that she bear a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, because I have asked him of the Lord. Amen. God will bless the reading of his word. But as we've said already, we're going to be looking at Hannah today. And we're going to sort of look at the problems within the family. We're going to look at the problems within the family, look at the family situation, where they lived and just see the relationships between everyone and look at the problems within the family. Then we'll look at the place of worship. when they go to Shiloh, the family at the place of worship. And then we'll see the prayer, the prayer of Hannah at the end. But first of all, the family, the problems within the family, but first of all, where they lived. We see in verse one that the family lives in this place called Ramath Zophon. That's where they live, this place Ramath Zophon. But in verse 19, we see that it is simply shortened to Rama. They just shorten it to Rama. As you know, I live in Donna Cloney, but we don't really call it Donna Cloney, we just call it the Cloney. It's shorter and it's a bit handier for us to say, and that's what the people must have done back in those days. They just shortened the name to Rama. But when you look into this word Rama, it means the height. The height in this town or this city that the family lived in was built on top of a hill. It was built on top of a hill in January when The towns were built on top of a hill. It was for the reason of safety. If the enemy were ever going to come in and attack, well, they're going to have to run up a hill. And by the time they got to the top of the hill, they were going to be knackered, and they were going to find it hard to fight. And it was done for safety, so it was. Plus, as well, as the enemy were coming up the hill to attack, the people would be able to see them coming up the hill clearly. And they would have time to prepare and to get ready for the battle. And so it was done for safety. But this Ramah, this Ramah Zophon, if you look at it on the map, it's about 12 miles west of Shiloh. 12 miles west of Shiloh. Well, I'm sure I don't really need to tell you here in Shiloh about Shiloh, but Shiloh at that time was the religious center in Israel. So it was. Jerusalem hadn't been conquered by this stage. The temple hadn't been built. And the religious center was Shiloh. This is where the tabernacle was. Remember when the Israelites were in the wilderness wondering about, God came to Moses and he told Moses to build the tabernacle. And they built the tabernacle, but then God brought them into the promised land. And well, they put the tabernacle in Shiloh. So this was the religious center. So it was, but let's look at the family. We see Alcanna, he's the husband. And we see that he has two wives. And when you think about it, two wives, that means he had two mothers-in-law. You think this way he mustn't be raised like that, so he mustn't be. But, by the law, a man was allowed to have more than one wife. He was allowed to have two wives. We see this in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 15 to 17. We're not going to take time really to look at it, but it simply says at the start of verse 15, if a man have two wives, we see God in the law allowed a man to have more than one wife. But the problem was that it wasn't God's original plan, so it wasn't. God's original plan was for one man and one wife and we see this in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24 where it says therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. See that was God's original plan one man one wife but man decided they wanted more than one wife and God said well okay if you want more than one wife we'll let you do that there and God allowed it in the law but it wasn't God's original plan And generally, when a man had more than one wife, it led to problems within the family. And that's what we'll see. There's problems in this family, and it's because there's more than one wife. And how we can learn from this here, how important it is to stick to God's will and not deviate from it. Be in the centre of God's will, and that's the best place to be. But just before I go on to say, don't be thinking that I think it's right for a man to have more than one wife now. In the New Testament, it's pretty clear that it's one wife that a man should have. but it leads to the problem of how important it is to stay in the centre of God's will. But let's look at the two wives. The first wife is Penina, and her name means pearl or jewel. That's what it means if you look into it. But in verse four, we see that she has at least four children, at least four children. We see this in verse four. And when the time was that Alcanna offered, he gave to Penina, his wife, and to her sons, and her daughter's portions. Can you see, sons is plural, so that means there has to be at least two, and daughters is plural, so it has to be at least two daughters. So that gives us at least four children, possibly more. But can you see, God has blessed this woman and given her children at least four of them. The second wife we know is Hannah, and her name means grace, grace. But in verse 2, at the end of verse 2, we see that she has no children. It says there at the end of verse 2, but Hannah had no children. And we see the reason for this at the end of verse 5. It says, but the Lord had shut up her womb. The Lord had not blessed her with children. God had decided that she wasn't to have children. God had decided this because he had shut up her womb. But, you know, at the time, in this culture it was a bit of a disgrace for a Hebrew woman not to have children, especially not to have a son. Now there's nothing wrong with it, there's nothing wrong if you haven't had children but just in this culture and at this time this was a bit of a disgrace for a Hebrew woman not to have a child and especially not to have a son. But in verse 5 we see that Alcanna loved Hannah in spite of the fact that she could have no children and not give him a son. We see this here in verse 5 and says, but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion for he loved Hannah. See, in spite of the fact that she could give him no children or no sons, he loved her. How easy it would have been for Alcanna to say, you know, Hannah, you haven't given me any children. You haven't given me a son. I'm going to put you on the shelf. I'm going to leave you alone because You can't give me any children. And this is a bit of a picture of God, isn't it, with us? You know, we are sinners. And how easy it would have been for God to say, you know, you've sinned against me, you've rebelled against me, you've gone astray, you've gone and done your own thing and you want nothing to do with me. I'm going to leave you alone. I'm going to let you die on your sins and I'm going to let you go to that place called hell to be punished for your sins. But that's not what he done Churchill. He loved us in spite of the fact we have sinned and rebelled against him. What does Romans chapter 5 verse 8 say? It says, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It was while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He could have left us alone and said, go on, live your life of sin and die and go to that horrible place called hell. But no, he made a way of salvation for us, didn't he? Because he loves us. And he wants us to spend eternity with him. So he sent his only begotten son to die on the cross for us. And as we have heard already around the table today, the Lord Jesus Christ went. He went because He loves us and He cares for us and He wants us to spend eternity with Him. What love He has for us today, for us, in spite of all the sin and rebellion we have against Him, we have done against Him. And if you haven't put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, well you're missing out, aren't you? The One who loves you so much and you won't accept Him to be your Saviour. Accept Him to be your Saviour. because then you'll get to spend eternity with him. And why wouldn't you want to spend eternity with the one who's loved you and died for you and rose again for you? Surely you want to spend eternity with him. Accept him to be your saviour. But in verse six, we see the relationship between the two wives. How do the two wives get on? Well, it says in verse six, and her adversity also provoked her sore, for to make her fret. Can you see it's not really a good relationship? Hanina is described as Hanna's adversary. Her opponent, her foe, that's what an adversary is. They're not really on friendly terms here, sure they're not. They don't really get on when one is being described as an adversary. They don't get on and we see that Hanina tries to provoke Hanna. She wants to make her fret, she wants to agitate her, she wants to trouble her, she wants to make her irate, she just wants to make life hard for her in general, that's what she does. And isn't this the case for many believers today? The world wants to provoke us. They want to belittle us, they want to mock us, maybe even our own family. People who aren't believers within our own family, they try to mock us, they try to belittle us, they don't understand us. And they try and make life hard for us as they do, by mocking us. We live in a society today and society today is supposed to be a tolerant society. Anything goes and they'll accept anything but in reality they'll accept anything but God's word. Isn't that right? They don't want anything to do with God's word. They want to mock God's people and they don't want to think about God or his values and the things of the Bible. They'll tolerate anything but it. And they'll try and provoke us. And we see in verse 7 that all this provoking that Hannah receives from Penina, it starts to get to her. We see this in verse 7. And as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. We see that this here provoking, it gets to Hannah. She starts to feel it. And it gets to her. Can you picture all these digs and jibes that Penina has at her every day and it gets to her. Do you know there's a saying, sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me. We can see from this that's a load of nonsense isn't it. Because the things that Penina says to Hannah really get to her. And the things that people say to us can get to us and it can hurt us. Now James chapter 3 verse 8 says, but the tongue can no man tame. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. See, what people say can hurt. The Bible says in James chapter 3 verse 8, the tongue is full of deadly poison. What we say can be like deadly poison to other people. And how careful we have to be that what we say about other people I hope there's no one here that can be described to be a bit like Panina. Putting other people down, saying things about other people, saying things behind their backs, and just generally out to get people. I hope there's no one here like Panina today. How we should be, like Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love unto good works. I wonder, do you consider one another? Do I consider others? Am I thoughtful? Do I look out for other people? Do I think about them? Do I care for them? And then Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 says we're to provoke, but not like Penina provoked Hannah. She provoked her to trouble her, to make her irate. We're to provoke others unto love and the good works. Do we encourage others to love one another and to provoke unto good works? And then Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 goes on to say, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another. Exhorting, see I had to look that word exhorting up in the dictionary. Do you know what it means? It just means to strongly encourage. Strongly encourage. Do you strongly encourage others? Do I strongly encourage others? That's what we are supposed to be like. Does this describe you considering one another, provoking unto love and good works, and strongly encouraging one another? How important it is that when we come to the house of God to meet with all our believers, that that's what we get. We get a hard enough time out in the world, so we do. That when we come to God's house, we don't want to have another battling session, so we don't. We want to be encouraged in the Lord, so we do. But as we have seen that It is hard sometimes, so it is, what people say about us, and sometimes we get down because of what people say about us. But how wonderful it is to know what Hebrews chapter four, verse 15 says, that we have, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. How wonderful that is. to know that yes, the Lord Jesus Christ, he is God, but when he was here on earth, he was human. He was still God, but he was human. And he knows what it's like to be mocked. He knows what it's like to be rejected. He knows what it's like to be forsaken. and he can be touched with feelings of our infirmity, so he can, so he is. When we are dying, he feels it and he knows what it's like, he knows life can be hard and he cares for it and he is compassionate towards us, so he is, he's understanding. So we've seen the problems within the family, let's now look at the place of worship. And the family go to the place of worship in Shiloh. And we see in verse 3 that this is a yearly thing. It says in verse 3, And as we have seen earlier on, this is 12 May. This is 12 mile, well that's a brief walk because back in those days they didn't have cars. I don't know if they were wealthy and rode on a donkey or something they got there. I'm assuming they walked it 12 mile, that's a long journey. The average walking speed is 3-4 mile an hour in total, so that's a 3-4 hour walk. and then they have to come back and as well they live up a hill, so they do, so they're going to have to come up the hill. It's going to take a lot of effort to get there. How easy it would have been for all Canada to say, you know, it's a bit too much for me this time, so it is. I'll just stay at home, I'll just sit in the settee, I'll put my feet up in front of the fire because it's a bit too much of an effort. No, we shouldn't be like that. As we've already read in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, it says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes we think we'll be just back there staying at home, but how important it is that we obey Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Get to the place where we can meet with other believers, where we can be encouraged, where we can look out for one another, as we've read in those there verses, considering one another, provoking one to love and good works, and exhorting one another, how important it is for us to assemble together so we can encourage one another. But then as well, we see the whole family comes to Shiloh. It's just not Alcanna going by himself. In verse four, we see that Peninnah and her sons and her daughters are there. It says, and when the time was that Alcanna offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters, portions. all Peninnah's children are there, she's there and in verse 5 we see Hannah is there. It says but on to Hannah he gave a worthy portion for he loved Hannah. So Hannah is there. Alcannah brings the whole family. You know it would have been easy for Alcannah to say you know Well, I'll not take the whole family with him because Hannah, she's feeling a bit down. She's a bit depressed. We'll let her stay at home, be a bit more comfortable here for her. He could have thought, you know, I'll only take one of the wives because the two of them are going at each other. There's a bit of fighting going on among each other and, you know, it'll be easier just to take one and leave the other. No, he doesn't do that. He's taking the whole family there because he wants them to get to the place of worship. He wants them to meet with the Lord. And what an example of what Conor is, he's taken the whole family there. And I know it's hard for us, but if we can try and get others to the place of worship, even though it might be hard. But what an example this is to us, no matter the problems or no matter how we feel, get to the place of worship. It would have been easy for Conor to say, you know, I'm not feeling like going, I'll stay at home. Because our emotions were down, she felt depressed, she was low. And sometimes we can feel like that as believers. Sometimes we can feel down, we can feel worthless, and we can feel like no one cares. Other times we can feel top of the world, and we can feel brilliant, and other times we can be in between. But you know, no matter how our emotions change, or no matter how we feel about ourselves, how great it is that we know God's feelings towards us don't change. In Malachi chapter three, verse six, it says, for I am the Lord, I change not. He doesn't change. He loves us as much today as he did when he sent his only begotten son into the world to die on the cross for us. The Lord Jesus Christ, he loves us as much today as he did when he went to the cross willingly to die for you and for me. He loves us the same. He doesn't change. Our feelings and our emotions might change about ourselves. Our feelings and our emotions might even change about God. but God says, I change not. And he feels the same no matter what. And as Bert was saying earlier on, sometimes our heart can change and we can be all over the place, but our head knowledge of the scriptures tells us that God never changes towards us. But we see the family are in Shiloh and we know the sacrifice unto the Lord and we're not really 100% certain what the sacrifice was that they offered unto the Lord. We're not really 100% certain but at the end of verse 4 there it says portions. And most believe that this means that Alcanna offered the peace offering. Now, that's what most of the experts say when you read the different books and different things. They seem to believe that it's a peace offering because it's in line with Hebrew or Leviticus chapter 7 verses 15 to 17. It will not take time to read it, but it just seems to be in line with it. Because when the sacrifice was offered afterwards, the family would take portions and they would eat the portions of the sacrifice. So we believe it's the peace offering, but I'm not 100% certain. If you disagree with me, take it to David or Sam there and argue with them. Leave me alone. We'll agree to disagree. But that's what we believe. It was the peace offering. But in verse five, we see that Hannah gets a worthy portion. Alcanna gives her a worthy portion. In other words, this means she's getting a double portion. Alcanna is giving Hannah, his wife, a double portion. Why? Because he loves her. He loves her and he's given her the best that he has. And by doing that, he's proven that he loves her. I love you, Hannah. That's why I'm giving you this double portion. I'm giving you my best. I'm not giving you the leftovers. I'm not giving you the scraps. I'm giving you my best because I love you. And didn't God give us his best? He gave us his only begotten son. He didn't give us the leftovers. He didn't give us the scraps. He gave us his very, very best, his only begotten son to make a way of salvation for us. And we can never doubt the love that God has for us when we consider how he gave us his best to save us. But in verse 7 we see that it's while the family's at Shiloh that Peninnah really attacks Hannah harder than before. It's when they get to the place of worship that Peninnah really ramps up her attacks. Let's look at what it says. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. When at Shiloh, Peninnah attacks harder than before. And isn't it often the case when the believer is walking close to God, that the world and the devil really start to attack that wee bit harder? See, they want to spoil our walk, our close fellowship with the Lord. They want to drive a wedge in there. They want to spoil that relationship with God. And they make it hard for us. And when the time gets hard, what do we do? Well, we should do what Hebrews chapter four, verse 16 says. Therefore, let us therefore come boldly onto the throne of grace, that we may attain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. See, when we're in time of need, when the enemy attacks, that'll be a time of need. And the Bible tells us, come to the throne of grace. Come to the throne of grace, pray to God, tell him about it. Tell him about the time and the trouble that you're going through. And then you'll obtain the grace and the mercy that you need in that time of need. He'll give it to you then when you need that grace and that mercy to help you through. Just right at the point of your need, he'll help you. But you have to come to the throne of grace to be able to get that grace and mercy to help you. You have to take it to the Lord in prayer. But as we have seen, these attacks, they really hurt Hannah. They hurt her. And we see that she weeps. And as well we've seen that she didn't eat. She didn't eat of the portions that Alcanna, her husband, give her. We see that at the end of verse 7. It says, and did not eat. And the way she feels is stopping her enjoying the holy things of God. This is in line with Deuteronomy chapter 26 verse 14 because it says, I have not eaten thereof in my morning. Because of how she feels it's hindering her from enjoying the things of God. This is a thing from God. God told them about the sacrifices and the portions and how they're to eat it. But the way she feels in her emotions, they're stopping her enjoying the things of God. And that can happen sometimes, can't it? The way we feel, and what other people say about us, it can stop us enjoying the things of God. It can stop us having that joy in the Lord. And that's what the devil in the world wants. They don't want us enjoying the Lord. They don't want us enjoying the holy things of God. And sometimes it's hard, but what does the Bible tell us to do in Psalm 37 verse 4? It says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Sometimes it's hard to delight ourselves in the Lord. It's a lot easier said than done, but God tells us in his word, delight. yourself and me. That's what he's saying. Delight yourself also in the Lord. Sometimes it's hard but we have to try and make that effort to delight yourself in the Lord and God wants you to delight in him. He wants you to enjoy him. He wants you to have the joy of the Lord. He wants you to enjoy close fellowship with him even though it's hard sometimes. But in verse 7 we see that this here process seems to be going on for years and years and years. This isn't just a one-off event because notice what it says and as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her. This is a yearly thing. It's going on for years and years. It's just not a one-off event. But in verse 8, we see that Alcanna sees his wife Hannah. The wife that he loves, he feels, he notices that she's down, she's depressed, and he's noticing she's not eating, and he notices that she's crying, and he's touched. In verse 8 we see this, then said Alcanna her husband to her, Hanna, why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? And why is a heart grieved, am I not battered to these intentions? Isn't this a picture of Hebrews chapter four, verse 15? And it says, for we have not a high priest which can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Hanna is dying. Alcanna, he notices it and he's touched. And he comes over to comfort her. And when God sees us dying, when he sees how we feel, if we're depressed and we're dying, he's touched with the feelings of our infirmities and he wants us to draw close to us. But what does old Hannah do? He lovingly and compassionately rebukes her. He rebukes her and he reminds her of his love for her. Notice what he says, am I not better to thee than ten sons? He's saying, Hannah, I love you. I know you can't have children, but I love you all the same. I love you, and I care for you, and I want what's best for you, and I know you can't have children, but I still love you. And he reminds her of his love. And in verse nine, it seems that this seems to cheer her up, because it says, so Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. So it seems that Hannah has a wee bit of the portion that Alcanna, her husband, has given her, after he reminds her of his love. And this seems to cheer her up a bit, enough to do this. It seems that she had forgotten the love that her husband had for her. And how often we can forget the love that God has for us. We can see our problems and we can see our situations and they seem to loom over so large that we forget to look up and see the love that God has for us. And yes, our problems and our circumstances might seem hard, but look up and see the love that God has for us. That's why we come to the table, to remember the Lord in his own appointed way. But that's once a week. Sometimes by the time we get to maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, we can forget the love that God has for us. How important it is every day to make a wee time to remember Calvary, to remember the love that God has for us. It'll put a song in our heart, it'll put a spring in our step and surely it'll change our outlook on life and our circumstances. We'll look just quickly at Hannah's prayer. We see this in verse 10. Although she's cheered up a wee bit enough to enjoy the portion. In verse 10, how is Hannah described? And she was in bitterness of soul and prayed on to the Lord and wept sore. She's still dying. Bitterness of soul. She was discontent. She was burdened. She was heavy laden. What's Hannah going to do now? She's going to do what we are taught to do in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 which says, come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. I wonder does that describe you? Are you burdened? Are you heavy laden? Well what does God say? Come unto me. He doesn't say go unto someone else. He says come unto me and I will give you rest. If you want to find rest, go to the Lord. If you want to find rest from your burdens and take it to the Lord, he says, come unto me. He invites you to take it to him. And this is what Hannah's going to do. She goes to the temple, to the tabernacle, and she's going to pray and cry before the Lord and tell him all about it. In verse 13, we see how she prays. It says, now Hannah, she spake in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. Can you picture, can you see her in your mind? She's praying unto the Lord. Her lips are moving, but there's no sound coming out. It's a bit like the TV with the mute button on. All picture and no sound. And Eli, the high priest, he's the religious leader of the time. And I don't think he's ever seen anyone pray quite like this here before. I don't think he's ever seen anyone pray so sincerely before, because what's his reaction? Well he thinks she's drunk, he thinks she's been on the wine and he goes over and he tells her off, he says put your wine away from you, you're drunk, you're a disgrace, wise up, go sober up girl. That's what he's gone over to say to her. But of course she's not drunk, he's just never seen anyone pray so sincerely before. Look at verse 15, we see Hannah's response to him. And Hannah answered and said, no my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit, I have I have drunk a kneeler wine or strong drink, but I've poured out my soul before the Lord. I wonder, does that describe you? Sorrowful, wed down, trouble-burdened, and you just don't know what to do. You just don't know what to do. If so, do what Hannah does. Hannah feels so down, and she's just decided, right, I'm taking it to the Lord. I don't care about anything else. I'm just going to go to the Lord and tell him all about it. And she just prays so sincerely. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks about how she's praying. She doesn't care what the high priest thinks. She's just pouring out her soul before the Lord. I wonder, have you ever prayed like that? But you don't care what anyone else thinks about how you're praying. You're just praying before the Lord, and you're pouring out your soul before him. You just tell him absolutely everything that's on your heart. You tell him everything, and you just pour it all out. You know, sometimes I believe that sometimes we can try and dress up our prayers, maybe, in a way. Maybe I'm not saying it right, but I think you know what I mean. Sometimes we can dress up our prayers and try and say big words and fancy words, and we can almost pray what we think God wants us to pray. But that's not what the hammer does here. She just pours out her soul before the Lord and tells him everything that's on her heart. Have you done that? Have you just poured out your soul before the Lord? Have you just prayed everything that's on your heart and poured it out before him and left it with him? How often we neglect prayer or don't pray like this here and we don't really tell God everything that's on our hearts. But that's what God wants us to do. He's our Heavenly Father, He cares for us. He cares enough for us that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us. And He wants to hear from us. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7 says, Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. My daughter used to be into the fishing and I remember when he was learning how to fish at the start, he would have went out to the garden to practice his casting. And basically all he done was that there. He called it casting but it was just basically throwing the thing out there, throwing the line and the hook out there. And that's what casting is. It's just throwing something away. And that's what God says, cast all your power upon me. Cast all your care upon him, why for he careth for you. And you know sometimes when we cast our care over the Lord, sometimes we're gonna be guilty of taking it back. But he says just cast it over to me and leave it with me. You know our problems and our burdens and our difficulties and our situations might seem big and insurmountable, but how almighty is our God. He's the great creator, he sustains everything. He just had to speak and creation was created. And surely He's a lot bigger than our problems. He's the Almighty and He can deal with them. He can deal with things that we can't deal with. And you know, when Hannah does this, it seems to cheer her up. Because look at the end of verse 18. It says, so the woman went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. Her countenance was no more sad, she was cheered up. She's left her problems with the Lord. She said, I've took it to the Lord, I'm gonna let Him deal with it. She's no more sad. She's cheered up, she's perked up because she's leaving her problems with the Lord and she's going to let him deal with it. And she's probably thinking, why didn't I do this all those years ago? Why have I left it so long? Why have I carried my burden about all these years? And she did take it to the Lord years ago and take your problem to the Lord, don't put it off. Take it to him straight away. And of course, we see that God answers her prayer. She has a son and she calls him Samuel. And Samuel simply means heard of God, and God will hear your prayer, and he'll answer your prayer. Now he might not answer your prayer exactly as you want it. God answered Hannah's prayer exactly as she wanted. Now God might not always answer your prayer the exact way you want it, but he'll answer your prayer, he'll hear your prayer, and he'll deal with your prayer. He'll help you, so you go. And he'll help you through, though it might not be exactly the way you want it. Take your burden to the Lord and that, and deal with it. Just as we're closing, some of the things we've seen, you know, don't be like Panina. Don't be putting all our people down. Be like the person that Hebrews chapter 10 tells us to be. Considering one another, provoking one to love and good works, and strongly encouraging one another. and how important it is to make a wee bit of time to get to Calvary every day so we can see the love of God and how it will put a song in our heart and a spring in our step as we remember the love that God has for us. And just cast all your care upon the Lord for he cares for you. Take it to him in prayer because he's our heavenly father and he cares for us. And so thank you. And perhaps we could just ask Mabby Burke to close the meeting in a wee word of prayer. We thank the Lord. We thank the Lord. We thank the Lord. We thank the Lord. We thank the Lord. Hallel, Grace, and David. If you've heard Grace, in the eyes of the Lord, we praise thy name and thank you, Lord, Father. We thank you for the liberty you've given us, for saving us, and for everything you've done for us. We thank you for the sacrifice, and we thank you for the praise of thy name, Lord. We pray, Lord, that this message will go across the internet, so people will realize and take notice. All our big problems are only small problems to thee Lord. Thy word tells us we are out of repentance for in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth out of absolutely non-existent material. There is nothing too hard for thee, nothing Lord. Yes, from a scene insurmountable to us, and yes, the day we are out of repentance this morning, our hearts are telling us to get us depressed, But thy word gives us assurance, Lord, that I will offer prayer according to thy will. I'll be tired of all that. I've prayed all this morning to just undertake this worship of thy word to our souls all this morning. But take us away from this, Lord. So we need to get together with these things and let the concerns of this world and the attacks of robbers and the devil and others, used by heaven and earth to get us in a situation where we forget that God is on the throne, and he will remember his own throne. The earth is the Lord's, and the things of the world, they that dwell within the Lord, and we thank the Lord for that. We praise thy name, Lord. We'll write it again in worship. Even when we let sinners' Christ die for us, God's men have come toward us when we let sinners' Christ die for us. And if a sinner's shape of grace will be kept by the throne of God, I went to pray beside him. Thank you, that kind of assurance, right out of the ship, right over who I had believed. And I'm persuaded that he'll be able to keep that much life that I'm going to have to come against that day. Halle found that out the other day. She went there and poured her heart out to the Lord and remained before the Lord. Yes, we've had help, at times of trouble, to come to the throne of grace boldly, confidently, to lay down. That is not forsaken place of prayer. So what he says, a prayer house is a powerhouse. And so what he's well saying, the Satan dreads it when he sees Christians on their knees, Lord. Even the weakest of gentlemen are on their knees because he knows that it's not known to the Lord. And we thank you, Lord, for that. So thank you for this work this morning. Honour and thank you for it, Lord, indeed. We pray for your journey around your home, Lord. And we pray also for our Saviour, Lord, tonight, that he preaches the gospel of the unsearchable riches of our precious Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, by will of the Lord. We thank the Lord indeed for it's good to be here this morning to remember our precious Saviour. We thank the Lord for that. On the left is the house of the Lord. We're here this morning, Lord, for the Lord Jesus Christ has promised for two of you to get out together in the name of Jesus Christ. Like that's a part of it. Don't go this morning the teaching of the message like we're going to fight it all up So if it is I give a thank you Lord for all my blessing upon us Lord our Savior or Lord Jesus Christ precious and blessed in the name of the Lord. Amen. Amen.