Marks of a Great Mother

What she does is she takes her sorrow of heart and she pours it out before the Lord. And look at verse 11, what she calls God, O Lord of hosts. That's a frequent designation for God in the Bible. Do you know what it means, Lord of hosts? It literally means you are the master commander of heaven's armies. She is appealing to God based on God's character of authority and sovereignty.

You can find amazing women of faith as heroes in the Bible because often God accomplishes great things through women. Today we continue our countdown of Skip's top 40 messages on the Connect with Skip Heitzig YouTube channel. In the number 12 spot is the message, Marks of a Great Mother, where Skip shares about God's unique love for mothers and helps you gain valuable insight to nourish your relationship with the Lord. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will deepen your knowledge of God's word even more. There's a top 10 list for just about everything, but what about a top 10 list that can actually impact your faith?

Skip Heitzig's top 10 messages will really make a mark. Here's a sample from what most people don't know about heaven. Somebody once said there are going to be at least three surprises in heaven. First of all, who's there that you thought would never make it?

Second, who's not there that you were sure would make it? And then number three, the fact that you yourself are there by God's grace. Hear Skip teach on heaven, hell, and the end times, and topics like the Holy Spirit and true happiness. And when you give $35 or more today, we'll also send you Reload Love, Lenya Heitzig's book about the founding of a ministry that's been helping children victimized by terror for nearly two decades.

Visit connectwithskip.com to give today and get Skip's top 10 messages on CD, plus your copy of Reload Love by Lenya Heitzig or call 800-922-1888. Okay, we're in 1 Samuel 1 as we join Skip Heitzig for today's study. 1 Samuel is a book is about three great men.

It's about Samuel the prophet, Saul the first king of Israel, and David, the subsequent king who was a man after God's own heart, the greatest king of Israel. So it's a book about three great men, but the book begins with a woman and a woman who is infertile, but eventually has a son named Samuel who becomes this prophet. Somebody once said, when God wants to do a great work, he gets hold of a man, but when he wants to do an exceptionally great work, he gets hold of a woman. I like that, and I think there's plenty of precedent for that even in the scripture. Israel's deliverance from Egypt began with a woman named Jacob, the mother of Moses, who had the faith to put that little basket with her son down the river.

That's how it began with a woman. The story of the line of King David began with a woman by the name of Ruth. The miraculous preservation of the Jews in Persia was the story of a woman named Esther who had the kind of faith that she put it on the line.

And our salvation in the gospels begins with a young Jewish woman, a virgin named Mary, who was visited by God. Now in 1 Samuel chapter 1, I'd like to show you three attributes of a great mother, three traits that are common to all great moms. First of all, great mothers have great problems. That needs to be said more, because sometimes we think of Bible characters as perfect people without problems, you know, they glow in the dark, they've got shiny halos, but people are people and every life has problems, including her life, the mother of the one who would be the great prophet Samuel.

Let's look at her problem. First of all, in verse 1 and 2, she has a problem with infertility. It says, there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, say that 10 times really fast, of the mountains of Ephraim and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuf, and Ephraimite. And he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, the name of the other Panina. Panina had children, but Hannah had no children.

There's a lot in that verse, there's a lot of emotion that is in that verse. She had no children. It was the hope of every Jewish couple to have children. It was seen as a blessing from the Lord, because the idea is that you live on in your kids, and they thought back in those days, the more kids you could have, the better. Psalm 127, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward, happy is the one whose quiver is full of them. In fact, childlessness was such a terrible stigma that it was seen as an affliction, a curse from God.

Look down at verse 11. In her prayer, she made a vow and said, O Lord of Hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child. Notice how she talks about her condition.

It's an affliction. In the book of Genesis, when Jacob's wife Leah finally becomes pregnant, you know what she says? She says, the Lord has looked upon my affliction. And then his other wife Rachel, because she couldn't have children, but her sister could, says to her husband, give me children or I will die. So that was so ingrained into the psyche of parents thousands of years ago, that even the rabbis, as time went on, had certain sayings, not biblical, not from the heart of God, but one rabbi even said, there are seven people who will be excommunicated from God. The first is a Jew who has no wife, and the second is a Jew who has a wife but has no child. In fact, did you know, if a woman couldn't bear a son or a daughter, that was grounds for a divorce?

If within a 10-year period, there was no child, either a divorce or the husband could be allowed in many of these cultures to marry a second wife. And that's why we see this man with two wives, because his first wife Hannah was unable to bear, and so Penina comes in and she is able to bear. So we have Hannah, and her first problem is infertility, but she has another problem. She has a rival, and that is Penina. Go back to verse four. It says, whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, the previous verse tells us that once a year he went up to Shiloh where the tabernacle was, at that time the central place of worship, and had a festival, a feast, and made offerings.

Whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Penina his wife, and listen to this, to all her sons and daughters. Now just imagine being Hannah, unable to have a single child, and you've got another wife in the equation who has many sons and daughters. It's hard to even have a meal with the family. It's hard to go to church with the family, and the worst time was this annual feast was to be a time of rejoicing, but not for Hannah. It was a time of recoiling for her. It was a time where she felt the most rejected, and then look at verse six. And her rival, that is Penina, her rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord had closed her womb. And so it was year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord that she provoked her, therefore she, that is Hannah, wept and did not eat.

Boy, Penina the pest. Not only can she have many sons and daughters, but Hannah can have none, and Penina goes out of her way to provoke her. Now it was obviously very bad for Hannah, but this does give insight into a common problem today, and that is infertility. Infertility affects more women than we might be aware of. It is estimated that one out of every eight couples cannot have children in our country. Twelve percent of the adult population are infertile.

That's 7.3 million Americans. They've gone to doctors, they've had prayer, anointed with oil. No child. What that means is every mother's day is not a happy day for them. They're happy to celebrate for others, but there's that tinge of burden that they carry because they're infertile. They want it so badly, but they can't have a child.

Now I'm going to tread carefully here, but I believe this. Childbearing is part of the sovereignty of God. I don't know why some can have children and others cannot.

I don't know why there are so many pregnant teenagers, while couples who want to have children are unable to in many cases. But I do know this. Your value to God is not based on your ability to reproduce. God loves you because you are made in His image and you are of great value to Him whether you can produce a child or not. And I also know this.

You're not alone. In fact, if you are infertile, you're in a long list of women of faith who are infertile. Here's a little list. Sarah, Abraham's wife, was infertile. Rebecca, Isaac's wife, infertile. Rachel, Jacob's other wife, infertile. Ruth, the wife of Boaz, in her first marriage unable to produce children. Elizabeth, John the Baptist's mother, infertile.

Now, do you notice something here? That in this scripture, the most childless women are often the righteous women, the matriarchs of faith, women of great faith, while many of those who can easily conceive were not so righteous. So it doesn't mean that if you have children, you are a better person or you're godlier than somebody else, and that if you're infertile, that you're not. In fact, if you're unable to bear a child, it doesn't mean you're cursed. I believe it means you are kept. You are reserved for other blessings. And hear me out.

I can think of a few. Number one, God may still be preparing you right now to be a parent in the future. Just because the doctor says you are unable to have a child doesn't mean you're unable to have a child. You know how many babies I've dedicated from this pulpit for parents who were told you'll never have a child, and now they're on their third or fourth.

So God may be preparing you now, even though you're not able to bear right now. Second, he may be preparing you to be foster parents or adoptive parents. Folks, there are more kids needing parents out there than parents wanting children. And you would have not even thought that until an event like infertility comes into the relationship, and now you are open to it, and wonderfully so.

And then number three, here's a possibility. He may just want you available for a very specific work that having children would preclude. That is, it would be difficult for that special calling God has on your life if you were to have children.

You don't know that until the Lord reveals that to you. Great mothers then have great problems. That's number one.

That's the first attribute trait, character trait. The second trait, great mothers keep great priorities. As we look at this woman named Hannah, we understand that her relationship with God and her husband and her son, whom she will have, are right on target.

Let's look at her priorities. First of all, with her God. Verse 9, so Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the Lord, and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. And then she made a vow and said, Lord of Hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me, and do not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.

That's a Nazarite vow, a special vow. And it happened as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her and she Eli watched her mouth, and Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she was drunk. Any good priest, right, would think that. And so Eli said to her, how long will you be drunk?

He was so encouraging. Put your wine away from you. And Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.

What a snapshot. Her hot tears mingled with her heartfelt prayers. Some of you know what that pain is like. When there are tears in our eyes, there's travail in our hearts. And this woman poured all of that before God.

Interesting. There's no record at all in the text that she complains to her husband. This is your fault.

Or give me children or I die. She's not complaining to her husband. And there's nothing in the text that says she's wanting to fight back with Penina, her rival, who was provoking her at all. But what she does is she takes her sorrow of heart and she pours it out before the Lord. And look at verse 11, what she calls God, O Lord of hosts. That's a frequent designation for God in the Bible. Do you know what it means, Lord of hosts? It literally means you are the master commander of heaven's armies. She is appealing to God based on God's character of authority and sovereignty.

He is powerful and based on your power as the commander of heaven's armies. I ask you this, I give you this request. Notice also in verse 12, it said, as it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord. Mark that. This wasn't a quick little popcorn prayer.

Let me just shoot one up and then I'm done. She prayed and continually prayed and repeated that request before God. And then look at verse 17, Eli answered and said, go in peace. And the God of Israel grant your petition, which you've asked of him. Now that's a benediction. That's a blessing. That's a well-wished statement.

In other words, I'm not saying you're going to have children, but I hope you do. I hope God will bless you in that. Go in peace. Verse 18, and she said, let your maid servant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad.

It's interesting, isn't it? She goes in sad. She comes out glad. She goes in with sorrow of heart. She leaves that time of prayer with a peace that passes all understanding.

Let your request be made known to God and the peace of God, which passes all understanding will guard your hearts. So all of that to say, here is a woman who has a real relationship with God. It's not just a yearly offering. She's a yearly offering. She's not just going through the rituals of going to church.

No, no, no. This lady has a depth in her relationship. And can I just say, on Samuel's behalf, what a great mom he has, what a great heritage Samuel would have, he has a praying mother. And praying mothers do more than anyone else. Praying mothers are greater than any politician running for office.

You wonder who's going to change our country? Get a mother to pray. Get a group of mothers to pray. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States said, no one is poor who has a godly mother. And he remarked, I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. And one of the prayers that I pray is God give your church godly mothers.

Why? Because you can't pass on to others what you don't have yourself. So here's her relationship with her God, the priority of pouring out whatever's on her heart in her life to God. Let's now look at her relationship with her husband. In verse 4, it says, whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he would give a double portion. For he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. I'm going to have you Skip down to verse 8. Then Elkanah said, her husband said, her husband said to her, Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat?

And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than 10 sons? Now, I don't know how helpful that last statement was. Honestly, there's a little bravado in that statement. Am I right? I mean, she's just broken hearted because she can't have a child. And he comes along and says, baby, you got me. What could be better than that?

I'm like better than 10 kids, maybe even 11 on a good day. OK, whatever. But aside from that, I want you to notice there is an understanding between Hannah and her husband Elkanah. And there is great love between them. Verse 5 explicitly says he loved Hannah, gave her a double portion. You know, in the Middle East, when you want to honor somebody, you give them more food.

You give them a double portion. You might remember that Joseph, when all of his brothers came to him, when he was prime minister in Egypt, and little Benjamin, his little brother was there, he gave Benjamin five times more portion of food than the rest of the brothers. It's just an indication of love and of favor. Oh, by the way, gals, in the Middle East, in many Middle Eastern cultures, the larger the woman gets, the more there is to love.

That's how many cultures in the Middle East see it. So it's like, sweetie, I love you so much, I have twice as much. Just remind your husband of that.

You put on a couple pounds. There's just more to love. OK, it's biblical.

I better move on. Here's a couple, they understand each other. Here's a husband who is dwelling with his wife with understanding, like Peter writes. Somebody said, marriage is like a long trip in a tiny rowboat. If one passenger starts to rock the boat, the other has to steady it or they both go to the bottom together.

I think that's good. I think that's actually a helpful little picture of marriage. You got to steady that boat. You know, people say love is blind. Well, if love is blind, marriage is the eye opener. And you need to pour in understanding and love and stability for that relationship to go long term. There has to be a love for God and a love for the husband and wife. One teenager said, quote, I wish my parents had known that unless marriage partners truly love one another, there is little they can teach their own children about marriage.

And that's their own children about the love of God or Christian living, close quote. You know, I've discovered kids love to see their parents love each other. They might think it's mushy and gross and all, but I remember clearly when I would kiss Lenya in front of Nate and he would go, oh, that's gross.

And then he'd go, do it again. Kiss mom, go ahead. And they go, oh, man, you know, but they just love the idea. There is such a stability when those parents love each other.

By the way, that's the best gift that you can give your kids. Love God and love your spouse in front of them, in front of them. So great women have great priorities and she has a priority toward God, toward her husband and toward her family. Verse 19. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew his wife and the Lord remembered her.

That is, they had physical, conjugal, marital relationships. And so it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Shmuel, the Hebrew for hearing, God hears, Samuel, saying, because I have asked for him from the Lord. Now the man Elkanah and all of his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow, but Hannah did not go up for she said to her husband, not until the child is weaned, then I will take him that he may appear before the Lord and stay there, remain there forever. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him, only let the Lord establish his word. So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him. In those days, a weaning wasn't a couple months or a couple years, it was several years, could be five to seven years or more.

A child was weaned for a long time and the idea of weaning isn't just physical nurturing or breastfeeding. The idea, the word means to deal fully with and it has the idea of spiritual training as well as physical nurturing, spiritual training. That's Skip Heitzig's number 12 message on our Top 40 Messages countdown from the series Mother's Day Messages. Find the full message and more of Skip's teachings, including his latest sermons and current teaching series at youtube.com slash calvaryabq. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong, connecting you and many others to the gospel. You know, the world doesn't understand Christians and with good cause.

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