So you noticed how carefully I went up the stairs. I learned that from my wife. As you know, she hasn't been at our church, your church, for over a year because she had a really terrible accident at home. I found her, well, I heard her tumbling down the stairs. And Nancy, I want you to stand up. Please stand up. That's my wife. She always comes with me when I have an opportunity to preach, but she hasn't for a while because she was in bed all last summer. And we praise God that she's with us and doing much, much better. Somebody was asking about how she was doing. And the lady that asked me wanted you to stand up, so I'm blaming her. No, she didn't do that. I'm asking you to stand up. Thank you for doing that. And now I get to stand up. I thought, to be fair to me, since how many elders and deacons participated in leading worship? About five? I'd say about five. So my sermon is usually 30 minutes, so you guys, you gentlemen, can come up after five minutes and do your part for the sermon. Each of you get five minutes. I don't see them smiling. Well, it is good to be back with you. Let's turn to our text that I'll be preaching on, 1 Samuel 1, verses 1 through 20. I'll read 1 through 20 quickly. Does God really care about our little concerns? Does God really care about our little concerns? There was a certain man of Rompotheum, Sopheim, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Alcana, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tahu, son of Zeph, and an Ephratite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, the name of the other Penina, and Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. Now, this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Panina, his wife, and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her room. So it went on year by year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore, Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkina, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than 10 sons? After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall touch his head. As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart, only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, how long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you. But Hannah answered, no, my Lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink. but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation. Then Eli answered, go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him. And she said, let your servant find favor in your eyes. Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord. Then they went back to their house at Rama, and Al-Qaeda knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And 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. Let us pray together. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your word. Your word is truth. Thank you, Lord, that we have a Bible that speaks the truth, because it is the truth, as I just indicated, and I'll say it more during the message. And we thank you, Father, that you care for your people. And as we open up this wonderful passage, we pray that you'll drive home the truth to our hearts that you cared us enough to send your son, Jesus, who loves us and always will, in Jesus' name, amen. Do I do anything with this? It's on the pulpit. May I go under with it? All right. Now, I requested some water. Nobody drank from this. Wouldn't hurt me if you did. Does God really care about my little concerns? That's a great question. Let's find out the answer. Somebody has written these words about prayer. Prayer is not wrestling with God's reluctance to bless us. Prayer is laying hold of his willingness to bless us. Do you think that God is willing to bless you today? My dear friends, as we grow in prayer and maturity, God's will, God's purposes, and God's honor will increasingly concern us. That's called higher prayer, higher prayer. But however mature we may become, we will never cease to give and to have griefs and joys of our own. We've already heard about some griefs that people have had. We prayed for that person. We prayed for others. And we also have joys of our own. Some call this type of praying lower prayer. When we pray for ourselves, when we have these personal needs that we go to the Lord in prayer with, I know there's supplication in our prayer. We just heard about that earlier. But some theologians call this lower prayer. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just that God comes first. So we call that higher prayer. Our own concerns we call lower prayer. If there was a man who practiced higher prayer, then I think it was Daniel. Daniel chapter nine verse seven records this prayer of Daniel, oh Lord, righteousness belongs to you. And then Daniel prayed in chapter nine verse nine of his book, Daniel, to the Lord our God belongs mercy and forgiveness. He's praising God, he's honoring God for his mercy and for his forgiveness and for his righteousness, that's higher prayer. Like Daniel, we should also practice higher prayer for God's honor. Do you do that? I think Christians do that. They should do that. I believe most of us do that. If you don't, let's begin doing the higher prayer more often. But we should never stop appealing to God about our sorrows and our burdens. As I said, this is lower prayer. It will be necessary as long as we live to practice lower prayer. and, of course, higher prayer. Let's look at Philippians 4, verse 6. It's a verse that helps us understand lower prayer, and I'm going somewhere with this as we open up these words about Hannah today in just a moment. Here's an example of lower prayer in Philippians 4, verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. The Apostle Paul wants us to practice lower prayer. Do not be anxious about anything, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. So that's a good thing. But the same Bible that records higher prayers also records these prayers that are more down to earth. We don't have to be fancy when we practice personal prayer or lower prayer or higher prayer. We just talk to God from our hearts. Now, if we do that, then what we're doing is we're having a childlike simplicity. I love it when our grandkids pray. We go to their bedroom at night when they stay with us, which they do a lot, which is great. And their prayers are so different than the prayers of an adult. They're so simple, and yet I trust they're very sincere. They are trying to impress their grandparents with it, that's for sure, because their prayers don't really seem impressive if you're looking at someone who you think should be polished in their prayer life. They're not polished, our grandkids, in their prayer life, but they are very simple. There's something really nice about that. So we will never outgrow the need of prayer for personal needs. And in the Bible passage before us this morning, we see a woman, Hannah, who practiced lower prayer and higher prayer. For several years, Hannah undoubtedly had one major question. Does God really care about my little concerns? There you go. Lower prayer, but personal prayer. Does God really care about my little concerns? The great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon said it this way, the goal of prayer is the ear of God. I didn't know that Spurgeon believed that. I thought maybe he had something like, well the goal of prayer is to impress God with your lengthy prayers. Spurgeon wouldn't say that. He said, the goal of prayer is the ear of God. Now, I think there are other goals in prayer, but we have to have the ear of God when we pray. We need that, and we need to ask for that. Well, Hannah desperately wanted God's ear, and as we unfold 1 Samuel 1, verses one through 20, we notice, first of all, Hannah's personal need. She needed something really badly. Hannah needed a baby. Hannah needed a baby. She didn't just want a baby, she really needed a baby. Isn't this refreshing? In a culture that increasingly doesn't even want a baby, she needed a baby. Remember the first time you saw your children That sweet little baby. I know people that wanted a baby so bad they went to great, great lengths to have that baby. Such great lengths. Surgeries and on and on it went. They needed a baby. And they got the baby. In fact, our son went to school with a young lady. She was 18. They were seniors in high school. And I'm thinking the parents needed more children because the next time she gave birth, this young lady's mother, she gave birth to four, to four. So now she had an 18-year-old and four new babies. Evidently, they needed a baby, they prayed hard for a baby, and they got four of them. Great story. Although Hannah was loved by her husband, though, she was barren. She just couldn't have a baby. And we learn here in chapter 1, verse 2, that Hannah's husband, Elkanah, had two wives. His other wife was Penanna. And in chapter 1, verse 6, we read of Hannah's misery. And basically, we read it earlier in verses 6, 7, and 8. The misery was, The second wife of her husband was always pestering Hannah, because we read there in verses six through eight that the second wife, I meant to say, the second wife, Panana, she had all these kids, it says she did, plural, sons and daughters. And so just imagine, Panana was mocking Hannah for not being able to have a child. You can imagine some of the things that she must have said, which hurt very deeply. This went on for years and years and years. And Hannah, she was depressed. She was discouraged. It was crushing her. And we read in 1 Samuel 1, verses 9, 10, and 11, these words. After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and went bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. and no razor shall touch his head. She was very specific. Not only do I want a child and need one, I want a son. And the Lord did it. The Lord answered her prayer. So that's the first thing we notice. She had a personal need. What personal need do you have that you can be very specific about it knowing that God won't be angry with you if you're specific? She was specific. Notice secondly though, Hannah's pain had a purpose. She didn't have physical pain. I don't read about any broken arms or anything like that. It was all on the inside, in her heart. Way down deep, all that pain. You know, I think that hurts more than a physical problem. And I've had physical problems and hurts. And so have you. But the pain in her heart, way down deep. Hannah's inability to have a baby was not unusual, though. It's not unusual for that to be the case in our culture and around the world. But it was an ordinary problem, underscore that now, ordinary problem that many women face, even today, which raises the question, why was such a common issue recorded in the Bible? In other words, some people might be saying, so what? She couldn't have a baby. A lot of women can't. A lot of fathers want to be dads and they can't. Why was this in the Bible? Why does the great Old Testament book of 1 Samuel begin with Hannah's personal and ordinary problem? For Hannah, it was not a trivial issue at all. For Hannah, life held no meaning while she remained barren. No meaning. That was on her mind constantly. Perhaps we can say that the story is important because it shows us that God really does care about our little concerns. You might be saying, now hold on, Pastor Toley, hold on, you just said little concern. Do you really think, Pastor Toley, that having a baby that you desperately want is a little concern? Well, let's change the wording then to ordinary concern. If you're offended by little concern, let's go to ordinary concern. She did have an ordinary concern that was a big concern for her. And I think it's almost disrespectful to say that it was a little concern. So I guess I should have changed the title of this sermon. Does God really care about our ordinary concerns? No, I'm going to leave it with little concerns because he cares about the little concerns too. Well, we read in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, these books have stories about great kings, David and Goliath, and even though Goliath wasn't a king, David became one, and the great exploits of people like David, on and on it goes. It's a great book about these things, but 1 Samuel also tells of a God who cares about the poor and downtrodden, and she cared about Hannah. I mean, he cared about Hannah. It's the story of a God for whom no pain, no sorrow is too trivial to demand his care. Do you pray about those little concerns? Or do you think, God doesn't really care that much? Well, we read in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30, these words. It deals here with something that you might think is very trivial. We read there in Matthew chapter 11, Verse 28 through 30, come me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So here's a verse about coming to God when you're heavy laden, nobody else knows about it, it's your concern. And it's a lot like having a major headache. Nobody might see it this morning, but God cares about that headache. Maybe during the message, you put a little aspirin in your mouth and you swallowed it. God saw that, God cares. In fact, in Luke 12, 24, it teaches us that God is indeed the God of the sparrow and the lilies. That little rabbit that I saw last night in our backyard, I had an apricot. Just got finished. with the best part of the apple. I heaved it from our deck out there and it landed about, it was a great shot, about three feet or two feet from the rabbit. He must have eaten on that thing for over an hour. We went to bed, I got up and I looked out the window and it was light enough to see that he was still munching on that little bitty core. Late his day, But God provided that core for that little rabbit. God does it for all of us. He provides for us. And so God's response to Hannah's grief is not at all unusual for God. God does it all the time. He responds to our grief. It might take a while. He responds to that grief. We read about it in Lamentations on which God cares. Lamentations chapter three, verse 32. What a great verse. But though he caused grief, He will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. Now, I'm not afraid to read this verse in this church, because these words could be very offensive. I'm going to be preaching at a church in August that is not a Reformed church. They've invited me to speak. And there are all kinds of people that go there. And if I use this verse, I'm not going to say, OK, folks, I'm not going to give a big explanation. I'm not giving an apology. Here's what it says. Though God causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love. Do I need to apologize for reading that? And do you believe that verse? I hope every one of us really believe it because it's in the Bible. Well, why are you bringing this up? Because some people think maybe God was heartless. Maybe God treated Hannah incorrectly, giving her all that grief, delaying what eventually he gave to her, a baby. Is God really that, some people would say it, I've got to be careful, is God really unfeeling? No, he's not unfeeling. C.S. Lewis once wrote these words. Sometimes God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts to us in our pain. I know what he's talking about. My wife knows what he's talking about. You know what he's talking about here. I'll read it again. God whispers to us in our pleasures, but shouts to us in our pain. Dave Vandermeer, that wonderful Christian pastor, great friend, great loving man, you know that story, he lost his wife, I know Dave, he used to be an elder in the church where I was a pastor, I've seen him for years preach, I've heard him, he's... God is shouting to him in his pain. I don't know what God's telling Dave, I don't know what God's telling you. I know what God has told me, at least some of it, when I've had pain and suffering, and part of it is draw closer to the Lord, rely on me, depend on me, pray for your little concerns. Yes, but pray for this big one that you have too. That same pain was used for God to produce Samuel. Samuel, Israel's last judge and first prophet who was Hannah's son. God used that to bring Samuel into the life and be A great blessing to God's people. God's larger purpose for Israel was linked with the loving purpose for Hannah. God's purpose for your pain is linked with a greater purpose. Like that man that put a new floor in our bathroom after things were flooded, and in the basement after things were flooded last week. He talked to me about his Christian faith, about the motorcycle accident that broke so many bones. He's back to work now, about his wife that died. She was an alcoholic. He worked with her. She came to know the Lord. He said, I want to live 10 more years so I can be with her. Well, you want to live longer so you can bring glory to God. What a great man he was, but still in pain, still in pain. But God has this greater purpose. for him, and I told him that. He said, well, I don't know what the purpose is. It's to keep doing what you're doing. I suppose that's where you are now. That's the will now. Just keep trusting him. Keep being a good Christian example to me like you've been these two days that you've been working. Keep it up. Keep praying, God. What next? Who knows? Who knows what could happen? I'm not going to say he might cure have a cure for cancer, this man, because he's not into any of that medical training. Well, God, he not only saw the future, but he brought that pain and suffering into Hannah's life for a reason. And therefore, the reason was she could have all this joy that she has a baby. Oh, what joy. Are you doing that? Are you experiencing the joy of the Lord because even though you're presently in some pain and suffering, maybe not physical, but turmoil, you're trusting the God of the Bible. You're praying this lower prayer combined with this higher prayer. Lord, I know you're righteous. I know you're good. I know you're sovereign. You can help me. Please help me. There, we just combined both lower and higher, and I don't want to dwell on that too much, but Hannah did it. And Hannah is in heaven now full of joy. No more suffering will meet her there in heaven if we know Jesus as our Savior. If we've embraced him as the one who came to planet Earth, was born on planet Earth, was raised from the dead, but before that suffered on the cross and died for sinners. Sinners like Hannah. She wasn't perfect. Neither am I, neither are you. We're sinners saved by grace if we trust in Christ. Like Hannah, God could have plans to do something through your pain that extends far beyond your own life and time. Who knows, because of your pain, perhaps God will give you an increased capacity to help others who suffer. And we read about that in 2 Corinthians 1, 3, and 4, which teaches that because you're suffering because you've had discomfort, you can help others who are suffering and have discomfort. Through your pain, you can experience a deepening relationship with God. I know that's happened in my life. Through the things I've suffered, I've had a deeper walk with God. You can do it too, and maybe you already have. So as we begin to close the message and prepare for the communion service, God blesses those who trust him according to his wise, holy good, and sovereign will. He is calling the shots. He hasn't lost control. It looks like the world is on fire and has lost control, but he's still in control. And he's still loving his people dearly, more than Hannah loved her little boy. And by the way, that little boy, after he was weaned at three years old, she and her husband brought him to Eli at the temple. And she kept her promise. She made a vow. If you give me this son, a son, I will bring him to the temple where he will serve as whatever Eli wants him to do. And it was good work. What about you, friends? What vows have you made to the Lord? The Lord kept his word. He heard you. But what about the times when he hasn't answered that prayer yet or not the way you liked it? Keep trusting Him. Keep it up. Don't give up. Are you trusting Him? Those who neglect prayer are those who pray without faith. Those who are praying without faith need to repent of it because they're despising, they're not despising, they're depriving themselves of peace and joy. What about you? Are you lacking some joy today and some peace because you're still waiting for God to answer your prayer you just gave up? 1 Peter 5, 7 declares, cast all your care upon him for he cares for you. I have a relative that died of cancer who told me, I said, are you praying for yourself? Yeah, I prayed a few times, but I quit praying because it shows that I'm not really trusting God if I keep praying. And I, wow. Keep praying. It doesn't mean you're not trusting God. Do as Daniel did and praise God for who he is. Oh God, you're a righteous God. I'm not just saying that because I heard a sermon about higher prayer, but you really are. You know what's best for me right now. You don't want me to get well right now. You don't want to do away with this pain. Right now, I want you to ask me to be joyful even in the pain, even in the sorrow. The Lord who reigns also is a God of grace who invites us into his presence. Hannah's experience shows us two things that happen when God's people pray for him. In faith, the first thing is prayer changes things. My dad had this great big banner in his store where he made a living. Prayer changes things. I love that. Every time I walked in there, prayer changes things. So we closed with these thoughts, dear friends, Are you trusting the Lord not only for little concerns, but the biggest one, which is your salvation? That's a big concern. Are you going to heaven or that other place called hell? Are you prepared to meet the Lord today if you were taken by death? How would you answer if he said, why should I let you into heaven? What are you going to say? Well, It better be because you've trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, therefore the Lord is going to say, well done, my good and faithful servant, and you're going to be ushered into heaven. And that's really what we're praying for today, that all of us would be the kind of Christians, like Hannah, that even if we're suffering, we still believe that God is faithful, and we ought to be praying about it. Are you doing that today? What about that big concern I just mentioned? Are you really a Christian? Well, what do you mean by that? Well, when we serve community today, we're gonna talk a lot about that, and we're going to do what we're taught in the Bible. We're going to remember the one who died on Calvary's cross for all who would trust in him for their salvation. Are you doing that? Well, let's bow our heads as we go on to the Lord in prayer, begin our communion service in just a moment. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for 1 Samuel, chapter 1, verses 1 through 20. Thank you for all the Bible. We pray to the Lord that what we've seen about Hannah would be true in our own lives, that we would be passionate about our needs. And may our greatest need be to just know Jesus better every day and to just trust him for our salvation and sanctification. Hannah was such a woman of character that she got distraught because she didn't have the baby that she needed, and you answered prayer. There are many things, Lord, that we think we need. Maybe we really don't need some of those things, but we do need Jesus. More and more we need to walk with him in humble submission each day and worshiping him daily. So we go before you this morning as we begin to prepare for communion that you would prepare our hearts for this sacred opportunity to remember your son who gave his life on the cross for sinners. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.