Give That Burden to God!

Highlights from 1 Samuel

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

Jan. 8, 2023

Give That Burden to God!

If you have your Bible please turn with me to 1 Sam. 1. This morning we’re beginning a series called Highlights from 1 Samuel. Highlights because rather than go verse by verse, we’re just going to hit the highlights of this amazing book and the lessons it holds for us. I encourage you to read through it when you can – it is a wonderful book and holds timeless truth for us.

The books called 1 and 2 Samuel originally were one book and are named after the prophet Samuel whom we will meet this morning.The book records the transition from Israel being led by judges to being led by kings.

Before we read let me ask you a personal question. Are you carrying a burden this morning? I mean, we all have cares and concerns at any given point in time, but there are seasons when we carry a heavier burden than usual. What I mean by burden is something that weighs heavily on your heart and mind. It might be a problem but it might not be. When we really want see something good happen or want to accomplish something worth accomplishing in life – that can be a burden too.

This morning we’re going to learn about a young woman who was carrying a heavy burden, and what she did with it.

The book opens with the story of a man named Elkanah and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Reminiscent of Rachel and Leah, Peninnah has children but Hannah does not.

³ 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. ⁴ On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. ⁵ But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶ And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷ 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. ⁸ And Elkanah, 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 ten sons?” 1 Sam. 1:3-8

Every year Elkanah goes up to the temple with his wives and families to offer sacrifices. Even though Elkanah gives a double portion to Hannah to show his love for her, this is a painful time of year for Hannah because year after year Peninnah would mock her for being childless. Verse 7 says “as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her.” Peninnah knew where Hannah hurt the most and she took every opportunity to cruelly plunge the knife and twist it in Hannah’s heart. And it worked. Hannah wept and wouldn’t eat. Year after year after year this went on.

This is Hannah’s burden. It’s something she can’t change, and she must carry it every day. Going to the house of God is the most painful time of all because it gave Peninnah a prime opportunity to rub it in.

But this year, something changed. The pain in Hannah’s heart became too much and she couldn’t carry it on her own anymore. The burden became too heavy for her, the pain overflowed in her heart and as it did it became something more than pain. It turned into resolve. Hannah resolved to take this burden, this desire, this pain, this vulnerable, raw place in her heart and bring it to God like she had never done before!

⁹ 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. ¹⁰ She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. ¹¹ 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.” Vv. 9-11

Hannah rose. She had gotten up from dinner a dozen times before but this time it’s different. Hannah rose to go somewhere. She rose to do something. Something clicked in her heart that said, “enough!” and Hannah rose to go back to the house of God. She rose to cast her burden on God like she had never ever done before.

Hannah doesn’t pray a polite little prayer to God, she pours out her heart to Him. She is a hot mess, distressed, praying, ugly crying. Her words spill out of her – not rehearsed, maybe sometimes not even making sense but the desperation of her heart is clear to God. Something has to change! And as she presses the burden that is crushing her onto God, that burden also begins to shape her prayer into a vow: God if you see my pain, if you remember me, if you don’t forget me; if you give me a son, then I will give him back to you all the days of his life!

The priest Eli sees Hannah’s lips moving but nothing coming out and thinks she’s drunk. But Hannah says, no, I’m a woman in distress pouring out my heart to God.

¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” ¹⁸ 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.

Hannah’s face was no longer sad because she knew God had heard her. Eli’s words encouraged her: may God give you what you asked for. But more than that, Hannah had poured out her heart to God and she knew God had heard her prayer. She was at peace. She had her appetite back. The burden was lifted.

¹⁹ They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ 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.”

God remembered Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to Samuel, which in Hebrew sounds like “heard by God”. Hannah was heard by God. That’s an encouragement to us when we bring our burdens to God too. But there’s more than that going on here.

1. God’s sovereign will sometimes uses burdens to bring about the best

From our earthly perspective, it just doesn’t seem fair. There are times we ask the question, “why?” We could ask that of this story. Why does God “close” Hannah’s womb (vs 6)? Why does He allow a cruel woman to get her kicks tormenting Hannah? Year after year? Those are years of pain, of tears, of a burden that grew and grew in Hannah’s heart until it was unbearable.

The truth is God in His love and wisdom sometimes uses burdens to bring about the best. The best outcomes for the best purposes.

Life is full of burdens and the way those burdens are dispensed isn’t fair. At least not from our perspective. Your burden might be much heavier than the person next to you. Some burdens come and go in a few days or months. Others are with us our whole lives. No matter how heavy our burden might be, there are many carrying far heavier burdens than us.

Life isn’t fair and it’s not a formula. The lesson of this story can’t be: give your burden to God and He will give you what you want because there are far too many people for whom that hasn’t been the case. The lesson is bigger than that and better than that.

Our lives belong to God. When we trust in Christ, we are adopted as sons and daughters and God sovereignly ordains good for us. All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. In Psalm 139 David says of God, “you hem me in behind and before.” You’ve got my life from both ends: the beginning and the end. My life is bookended by your love.

But sometimes things can get confusing and seem jumbled up in between the beginning and the end. I came across this research article and I want you to read a paragraph with me:

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wlohe.

When we focus on the letters in between life can be confusing and not seem to make sense. But God sees the beginning from the end. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We really can’t figure everything out. Sometimes things really are total messes in between. But we can trust God not only to bring good to us, but to use our lives to bring good to others and glory to Him – which is the best good we can get!

And sometimes God uses burdens to bring about the best. Hannah carried this burden year after year until one day she rose up. She rose up with determination something had to change. She rose up with resolve to go to the house of God and wrestle with God! She rose up!

The God of the beginning and the end was working in Hannah’s life all along. In the same moment that God heard Hannah’s desire, Hannah heard God’s desire. In the same moment that Hannah moved God’s heart, God moved Hannah’s heart. That burden was put there by God in order to bring about the best.

Eli had been the priest and judge of Israel for 40 years and things had really deteriorated spiritually and morally. As we’ll see, Eli himself was a decent guy, but his sons had abused and corrupted the priesthood and the land was starved for the word of the Lord. Everything was in decline, but God was about to do a new thing!

And it came though a woman’s vow: I will give you my son all the days of his life. And Samuel was born. The priest who restored integrity to the house of God. The prophet who restored the word of God to the land. The last and one of the greatest judges of Israel who would judge righteously and who would anoint the first two kings of Israel: Saul and David.

Often God will use burdens to move us out of a “bless me God” mindset to a “help me to be a blessing to others” mindset. He will use burdens to bring about the best. The jumble of our lives can make sense when we trust that God sees the end from the beginning.

2. Give that burden to God!

When Hannah rose, the burden that had tormented her for years changed from “I need to bear it” to “I need to give it! This has to change!”

This point is tough because I don’t want it to come off as a formula – pray for something and you’ll get it. Plenty of people pray for an answer and never get that answer. Sometimes burdens are literally beyond being answered. Sometimes God lifts the burden and sometimes God gives our hearts strength to live with the burden and carry the burden.

But we should always pray about the burdens in our lives. And sometimes – sometimes – God does a work in our hearts where we rise up like Hannah rose and say, “something has to change!”I know that over the years I’ve prayed probably a million prayers. God has answered some visibly, others not so much.

But there have been a few times when there’s been a shift, a resolve, that rises up and says, “God one way or another this needs to change!” I was tempted to share stories from my own life and others where I’ve seen the same thing happen, but what I want to encourage you to do is give that burden to God. It doesn’t matter what it is, doesn’t matter how big or small it is, give it to God!

• Give your marriage to God, kids to God, finances to God, that sin that’s beating you up.
• Maybe there’s something about your life and where you are that isn’t what you envisioned, isn’t what you expected, isn’t where you wanted to be. Or something about who you are that bothers you.
• Give that desire to see your life to make a difference for Jesus – longing for a bigger meaning than a comfortable life. That’s a good burden! Give it to God!

Give that burden to God! Pray to God about it. 1 Peter 5:7 tells us to cast our cares on God because God cares for us. He wants to hear the burden on your heart. He wants to use that burden – one way or another – bring the best out in your life.