Hannah's story in 1 Samuel 1 illustrates how God seeks a foothold in a fallen world through faithful individuals. Despite her barrenness and the provocation of her rival, Hannah's deep prayer and vow to dedicate her son to the Lord demonstrate a profound burden for the spiritual state of Israel. Her prayer reveals a desire not just for a child, but for a man-child whom God could use to bring His people back to Him, mirroring Mary's prayer for the Messiah. The sermon emphasizes that God looks for such willing hearts, using faithful mothers and even children as His 'beachhead' to impact families and nations, ultimately pointing to Christ as the ultimate solution to humanity's fallen state.
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First Samuel chapter one and verse one. Now there was a certain man, the Ramaphane Zophon, of Mount Ephem, and his name was El-Hannah, the son of Geraham, the son of Elohim, the son of Elohim, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeus, and Ephesus. And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, the name of the other was Naina. And for Naina had... children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord a most in child. The two sons of Eli, Hothna, and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord were there.
When the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Canina, his wife, and to all her sons, and her daughters, portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion. But he loved Hannah, but the Lord had set up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had set 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 Al-Kana, her husband of her, Hannah, why weepest thou? You'll notice four questions here. Why weepest thou? Why eatest thou not?
And why as 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 host of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept soar. She vowed, avowed, and said, O Lord of hosts, that thou would indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid. but will give unto thine hand made a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life. And there shall no razor come upon his head.
He gave the fast 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. Eli said unto her, How long will thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. Anna answered and said, No, my Lord, I am a woman of a solemn spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not mine handmaid for a daughter of Elil, but out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace. And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. She said, let thy hand make thy 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 worshiped before the Lord, and returned, and came to her house, to Ramah, and Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass when the time was come about after Hannah could see, and she bared a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord. And the man El Cana and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow.
But Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide forever. But El Cana, her husband, said unto her, Do what she must be good, carry until thou hast weaned him. Only the Lord established his word. So the woman abode and gave her son Suck until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullets, and one heap of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the Lord. In Shiloh, the child was young, and they slew a bullet, brought the child real life. She said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord.
For this child, I pray, and the Lord hath given me my petition. which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord, as long as he liveth, he shall be lent to the Lord, and he worshipped the Lord there. About seven years ago we gave a little word on Hannah, but I was reading it over this past week and saw some things, I believe, fresh and more applicable to the subject of a mother today. In other words, you have a woman's faith or God's foothold. A wonderful example of a woman's faith seen in Hannah.
And then you have God looking for a foothold. He wants to get a foothold in his nation or among his people, the Jews. And how is he going to get a foothold? How is he going to rear up a man that's going to be his mouthpiece and deliver his will? and rebuked his people and secretly tore them back to himself. If he's going to have to have a man, he's got to have a woman to give birth to that man. He's looking for a woman to be a beachhead. And you know the value of a foothold or a beachhead. We've lived in days when that has become a very important thing in one nation seeking to conquer another or enforce its ideology on another nation.
We've known how worlds have, more or less, the world has been affected, nations have been conquered, homes have been overcome, and self also has been subjugated. Because of the foothold, a beachhead of a certain sin or a certain habit, or in this case, I hope it's Christianity that will get the beachhead, the foothold in your life. Sin and Satan, as you know, got a beachhead through Eve, a woman. Here was God's wonderful creation. Satan had his covetous eyes upon it. He couldn't bear to see this wonderful world, and a man and woman enjoying God's marvelous creation and provision.
How is the devil going to get a foothold? How is he going to get a beachhead in the world that God had created and made in that beautiful garden where he planted and placed Adam and Eve? Well, the devil works, and he works through the weaker vessel, and the woman is the weaker vessel, according to the Bible. And thus she got the ear of Eve. He got a beachhead. He got a foothold. He got her ear. And thus Eve, she obeyed the devil, and sin entered. And we know how that beachhead in Eden, when sin got a foothold, conquered the whole world and conquered the human race.
Sin. That's why all have sinned. All have sinned. Oh, how sin spread. Once it gets a foothold. Once it makes a beachhead. It's always on the aggressive. On the offensive. And it certainly can conquer land and it can conquer hearts. Sin. Many a country. Many a continent has been conquered politically, militarily, because of a beachhead. We know something of infiltration of communism. When communism wants to take over a country, it gets a beachhead.
It gets a little sail. A few that died in the wool hollowers. They begin spreading, and they begin trying to get members and members and members, and thus the beachhead expands and enlarges. Some countries today that were freed twenty years ago are enslaved to communism because communism got a football. And I wonder if that has been true spiritually in the lives of some years or more. The skin has got a football. A beachhead! When once possibly you were free from certain habits and certain sins, now you're a slave to them, because sin got a foothold.
Sin and Satan overran the world, isn't it tragic? Possibly your home has been captured. Sin got into your family. It got a beachhead, maybe through the side attractions, the affections of one of the members of that family. or a habit got into that family. Many a family has been invaded by drink. One member became a victim and then it spread through the family and the home's wrecked. Maybe it's immorality, maybe it's adultery. Some sin got into the family. Got a beachhead just through a thought and then a meditation and then a deed and then a practice.
The family in the home is conquered. Even jealous he can do it. These various evils, they look for a beachhead, they look for a foothold. That's Satan's way every time. If he wants to conquer a man, if he wants to conquer a woman, if he wants to subjugate them, he's looking for a soft spot where he'll make a good landing, a good beachhead, a good foothold. Where is this person weak? What is their weak point? And there he attacks. First thing you know, that strong character is a weakling. Because there was a foothold game.
Now his whole life is subject to something that has conquered him. And all that's in connection with Hannah on this occasion, she was God's foothold. She was God's beachhead. For God once again reclaimed his people, Israel. Many a child has been of each head in some families, spiritually. I've known some families, didn't go to church. In fact, I was talking to a lady this week. Mr. Wilson, we haven't been going to church for years. But he said, we're going to start. It's time my little child was in church.
I shudder to think of the world my child is growing up in. And I know my husband and I have been to blame. We've neglected it, but we're going to start our child. There's a beachhead. There's a foothold. Many a little child has been the foothold God has used to conquer a whole family. The little child has come and heard the gospel, taken the good news back home and mothers and fathers have listened until they have come and they too have found Christ. And as the Bible says, a little child shall leave them. Sometimes a sermon is a foothold that God uses. You hear a sermon, I would that God, this one this morning, would be a foothold in some mother's life and heart.
A beachhead that God is going to make. And through this little beachhead, you are going to be reached. And through you, the rest of the family is going to be reached with the gospel. God wants a foothold. And I trust it will be so with you this morning. Sometimes sickness is a foothold. Sometimes sickness is a foothold. person is put on his back in the hospital. He hasn't time for God, and I've been talking to him before this past week in his very condition, no time for God, no time for going to church. God is interested that he may through sickness get a foothold, a beachhead, to get that person where he can talk to him, where that person will listen to him.
There's a beachhead that that person begins to think about the possibility of something fatal. Ah, yes, ground is being gained. They begin to realize this life is not everything. They begin to realize this body is on the decline. It's decaying. You better be interested about a life that will never decay. Life that is eternal. And through sickness, God gets a decay. Think of the background of Hannah. You start to think of your Old Testament as made up of priests, judges, prophets, and kings. On this occasion the priests had failed. They defiled the court. When the priesthood failed in Israel, the whole fabric of God's approach to man and man's approach to God crumbled.
The book of Leviticus has given to us for that purpose to show how God established an order of worship, an order of approaching him. There was the altar where the sacrifice was made, where the blood was shed, and God says sin must be dealt with. And this is how I deal with it through blood, the blood of animals in the Old Testament that poured it on to and foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But there had to be those who offered that sacrifice. And this was the work of the priests, God's representative to man, and man's representative to God was based upon the priests in the Old Testament, the Jewish priest. But now we come to this book, the first of Samuel.
and the priesthood has miserably pained. The whole Jewish economy, as far as their worship, their approach to God has crumbled. The priests are out of fellowship with God, even old Eli here, great, big, heavy, fat priest. He was so fat that later on, as you'll notice in chapter two or three, he fell off his chair and broke his neck. His two sons were wicked, committing adultery with the women who came to worship God. You read that there. These were the priests of those days, away from God and stumbling God's people. And they say, old Eli, it says here, his eyes were dim.
Yes, his vision was dim too. The lamp in the temple had gone out. Darkness had settled upon the nation. That was the state of Israel. No altar, no true worship. No sacrifices are. This is the dark day when God set his heart on Hannah. Then you have the time of the judges. The priesthood, God's order of worship had failed. Now the judges. What about the judges? Read the last verse of the book of judges. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. The judges had failed. They became idolatrous. So you have the collapse of the spiritual first, the collapse of worship, the collapse of the priesthood.
That's first. The next thing you have the collapse of civil government. You have the collapse of the moral and the social set up in a nation. It starts with the spirit. When the spirit of failed, when that begins to fold, the rest begins to tumble. That was true in the book of Judges. That's true in a man's life. That's true in a whole. when the things of God are neglected, whether in an individual or a family, then look out. When God is relegated to the background, when other things get preference and priority, and God is just an afterthought or a second thought, if we haven't anything else to do, nowhere to go Sunday, why, we'll go to church.
I think some people must have a list of all their grandparents and their uncles and aunts and fifty-third cousins. They'll go down the list. Who haven't we visited? We'll go and see her this Sunday. Anything to get out of going to church. Anything to get caught out of the mind and out of the heart and out of the night. That's where it all begins. When that happens, then look for the next situation. Salute will. Every man doing that is right in his own eyes. Go on! Now I'll please myself. That's the book of judgment. Then the prophets came along. Samuel was the first of the prophets. And he was a good father.
After him the prophets made it. What a sad picture it is. The prophets became partial, self-will, rebellion. So you see the disorder, the line. First of all, God's order of worship. Fail. Set aside. Then you have the judgment. Every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. The prophets come, they fail. If I was struck this past week, possibly you saw it. Mr. Gray's article in the paper, he had quite a nice editorial in there, and it was concerning religion on the decline in America. Did you read that?
I think it was, look, the decline of religion in the United States. And it struck me, and it became quite interesting reading, because I remember, and he referred to it about ten years ago, they had the greatest wave of religious interest in the history of America. When they found out about sixty-five percent of Americans were going to church who were interested in church. And you may remember. It said the church going in America reached its peak after the war. And I remember saying it right from this pulpit. Some of you may recall. What about this great upsurge of religion, interest in church going?
When I made this remark, I have it somewhere in a sermon I preach back there. What's going to become of it? It's a wonderful opportunity for the preacher and the church. If they will give the gospel to these people who are crowding into the churches and the auditoriums are packed, if the preachers and the folk will give them the old-fashioned gospel, preach the word of God to them, and not become so interested in politics and other affairs, building huge churches and begging money all the time, preach the Bible, preach the gospel, give them the word. This thing can prove a great blessing. The whole nation can get back to God, and there'll be a great revival.
But I said this the pulpit today, the pulpit, the vote of the Jews will begin to sin out. I need that remark. What an opportunity for the churches and the preachers of this country, when the people are instilling the church, again in the gospel. But if they fail, it simply means that the people will attend for two or three years and some less and some of you more and say, well, I tried religion that didn't meet my needs. And they'll stop going to church. Instead of that, they'll go to the beach and spend Sunday some of the way to get rest. Their version. Mr. Gray pointed that out last morning. the very thing we have mentioned.
The pulpit halfway, the people are falling off from church attendance. It's going down, and it's a rule, the pendulum sway. The higher you go, the further you fall. And the possibility is, in the next few years, you'll see church attendance go to an all-time low, and it went to an all-time high a few years. That's human nature. Men and women are going to say, well, I tried the church. I went to church. I was interested. But I didn't hear what I wanted to hear. I didn't get what I wanted to get. Let me tell you this. The pulpit's going to be a lot to blame in that day. But the sad thing is, says the Lord Jesus, if the blind leave the blind, both fall into the ditch.
Both the pulpit and the few will be lost in that day of judgment. If the preachers have failed, they'll bear their responsibility, but they've led their pockets failed by not giving them a book. That was the state back in Israel. The priesthood failed, then the judges or the politicians, they failed. Then you have the prophets, those who preach, those who preach God's message, they failed. Then you have the kings. Saul was the first. people's choice. God set him aside and brought in King David right down to the time of the monarchy in the Old Testament.
It was very spotty that if he won good king and then three or four bad ones, another good king and a few more bad ones. And the time of the occult and the time of the monarchy in Israel ended up with a crucifixion of Jesus Christ. God says, do you want to see the kind of king I want? The Lord Jesus Christ was a prophet. He was a priest. He was a kid. He was the only perfect prophet. He was the only perfect priest. The only perfect kid. He's the only one could have set this mess right. And when he came, they crucified him. Remember, friend, this worm is going to deteriorate and degenerate until that one comes back and sets things right.
He's God's prophet. He's God's priest. He's God's kid. He was here on earth nineteen hundred years ago as God's prophet, preaching God's message to the world. Christ is now God's priest. He's our priest at God's right hand. We have an high priest now in the heavens. And through him God's people offer their sacraments that he's coming as God's king at the future. And that's the Book of Revelation. So God's prophet, God's priest, and God's king Cain, nineteen hundred years ago, and the thing, the situation was so terrible after the old priesthood had failed, the judges failed, the prophets failed, the kings failed.
And the whole thing summarized. They committed, all of this crowd together committed, the most dastardly crime the world has ever known or ever will know. God sent his only son to correct this situation. to reduce man from his sin and bring man back to God in the name of one of the prophets. Do you wonder if the world being in the mess is in? No. Against this dark background you see Hannah. Here's God's little. God looking out over the sea. The awful state of his people. I want a man. I want a man. Before I get that man, I've got to find a woman.
Who is she? Where will I find her? Ah, but here is a dark light, a bright light in the midst of the growing darkness. There was a heavy cloud over Israel as a nation. There was also a heavy cloud over a woman by the name of Hannah. She was barren. She had no children. And yet she was burdened of state and nation. This woman asked, it was not so much that she was barren and couldn't have children from a purely natural stance. Every godly exercised Jewish in the Old Testament. The burden of their heart was, they knew a Messiah was coming.
They knew a promised King was coming. They knew God's Son was coming. And the desire, because Christ is spoken of, is the desire of women. Every faithful Jewish... long to be the mother of the coming Messiah. Of course, many didn't have that, but those who are exercised in the Old Testament, Godly women, they long to be the mother of a coming prince, a coming God. Here is Hannah. Though she's longing to be the mother of a son, not just to have that natural thrill, but she's burdened about the state of the nation. Oh, she said, if only a man could be raised up, if only a man could be raised up, that God would use the speechless people to bring them back.
And oh, if I could be the mother of that man, she said, if God will give me a man, child, I'll give him back to God for the rest of his life. And it was her burden for the nation, her exercise for the pitiful state of her feet. She said, Lord, give me a man, child. You know, isn't it amazing? Samuel was her firstborn. had no prior children. Jesus Christ was the firstborn of Mary. And if in Hannah you have God getting a foothold in Israel, you have in Mary the mother of the law, God got a foothold in the world through Bethlehem.
It had to start back there in the Old Testament. Here is God looking for a woman and he found My, the light had dawned out in the temple, Aikabah, the glory had departed from Israel. And here's a woman proud in Greek. Oh, God, give me a man-child. Give me a man-child. I want one that God can use. I want a man who voice God's mind to bring God's people back. I wonder how many mothers we have like that today. Do you have a desire to have children that God might put his hand on and use them?
She says, for this child, I pray. She prayed long and hard for God to give her a man-child that God could use for the rest of his life. You see how she was threatening? She tells you that in verse six. Hannah threatened before the Lord. She felt herself chastened by the Lord. She felt God was chastening her. And notice she's being provoked by the other wife, because Al-Kanna had two. The other wife, she had sons and daughters. Though she was all the time needling Hannah.
And Hannah speaks of her as her adversary. You can imagine what Hannah had to go through with. So you find... Hannah provoked by her adversary, the other wife, misunderstood by her own husband.Alcanna was a scroddeny man, and yet he misunderstood Hannah. Why, says Hannah, what are you praying all the time for? Am I not better to you than ten, son? You're all the time wanting a son. Why better to you than ten of them? He didn't understand that we were not. And then when she's praying in the temple, O Eli, saw our lips moon, he says, you'd drop the moon. You woman of Belial.
Because in those days when anybody was living a wicked life, they were called Belialites. Sons of Belial or Galatas of Belial. And Belial means worthlessness. Worthless. Sons or daughters of worthlessness. And he thought that she was drunk. And he said, you're drunk. Put away your wine. She was misunderstood by her husband. She was misunderstood by the priest. what blows she says no don't call me a daughter of the leaf I haven't taken any to drink I'm not a worthless woman a common woman shows you what the Bible thinks of drinking doesn't it a man or a woman drinks like David Frank intoxicating themselves to work that's what she thought Well, God thought of something worthless.
So here is Hannah, and she's burdened before the Lord. Others may be satisfied with formal worship in Israel, see them going to the temple. Others are satisfied with what's going on. All they're doing is going through the routine. There's no spirit there, there's no light there, nothing of the power of God there. As Hannah saw the people go to the temple and coming back, going through all the routine. Oh, Hannah says, God's not in it. The light's gone out. There's no power there. Hannah was burdened. Just think of the burden of this poor soul. Her husband provoking her.
And the other wife of Elchanna, kneeling at all the time. The new priest, saying she's a drunkard. And she looks out and sees the condition of the rest of the people, going to church and coming back, going to church, coming back when they came back. They're no different than when they came. The whole thing is just a mix. She thinks or several others may bring their burnt offerings and go through the Jewish ritual, but I'll bring a broken heart. And that's what she brought. A broken heart. You know that's the flesh that you can bring. God wants broken heart. For this man or this woman will I look thee, who is of a broken heart and the tremble of my words.
And here it is, Hannah. She couldn't seem to reconcile herself through a barren and ruthless life. And she, the nation, continues. Oh, she says, God, give me a son. Give me a son. She are weeping in verse seven. Few are the tears shed today over a barren... and fruitless life in many spiritually and the state of their children. I'm amazed sometimes to hear the way parents talk about their children. The spiritual aspect and need of their children, which is most important, is not even in their thoughts. All we're planning for their children. God's added, here's a woman and she's weeping.
Oh, do we have more mothers like this? Hannah not only petting and not only weeping, but Hannah's praying in verse ten. The urgent need of the hour was for a man of God. She speaks in verse eleven. You have God's eye, God's heart, and God's hand. Is this the kind of son you cover? Or I will put her daughter to. God needs missionaries. I wonder what kind of a son you are. What kind of a daughter is you are? Quite a question to put some of you mothers in. Do you want a son that God can use? Do you want a lovely daughter?
God would put his hand on and send to a missionary? Oh, perish the thought. Why, some mother would be scared of death. Their son or daughter come in and said, I'm going to a missionary. They don't want their sons and daughters to be there. What do they want? Their sons and daughters said they. Boy, I want a son. I want him to be popular. I want my daughter to be popular. I want to be queen. Yeah, I want her to be popular. Well, far. And as for my son, I want him to be popular, pleasure-loving. I want him to be seeking power and prominence. I want him to be wealthy, a big business executive. I want to be a politician. I want to make a mark in the world.
Yeah, I want him to be great in the side of the world. What's the kind of sons and daughters parents want today? How many, like Hannah, I want a son who will be great for God. Not great for this world, great for the next world. When you think of the sons who've made their marks in this world, likely broken their parents' hearts on the way in doing it, they'll have nothing in the next unless they're born again. But the sons who've been dedicated to God, even before their birth in this world, have lived to the glory of God, they'll be the big men in heaven.
Take no mistake about that. What kind of a son do you want, or do you have? You know, mothers today hold the answer to the... situation of this world for the future if it ever lasts that long the Lord's coming so near questionable of any sons you now have or will have will ever grow up to mean much because the coming of the Lord is so near I don't see how things can continue much longer they are the coming of the Lord is so near it used to be especially in the south I found that out when I came down thirty some years ago the desire of every mother was And among her sons, one would be a preacher.
One would be a preacher. If the first one didn't turn out to be a preacher, then it had to be the second one. And none of the older ones went to college to study for the ministry. The last born, the youngest junior, he surely had the pressure turned on him. He had to go and be a preacher whether he could preach or not. He likely some would have been better than a veterinary surgeon. Something like that than a preacher. But they had to go. The last son, all the others are not preachers. He's got to go and be a preacher. Likely some of them are modernists today, preaching trash to great audiences. One had to be a preacher. But he was called up, God did not let him make any difference. The one's got to be a preacher.
Friend, unless he's a preacher whom God can use, will accomplish nothing. And so much depends upon the mother. What are you putting first in your child's life? physical. I know the body's a wonderful thing. A wonderful machine. Nice to develop it. Children need fresh air, fresh food. They certainly need recreation. And the parent is wise to develop the child. Well, my Bible says concerning this, physical exercise, bodily exercise, profit for a little while. But godliness is profitable unto all things. So the life which now is, and that which My mother took great pains in my body, gave it the best she could give.
And I believe every mother is the same. There was one thing my mother put ahead of that, and that was my soul. All was speaking to me, as long back as I can remember, speaking to me about my soul and praying for me, that God would put his hands on me and use me for his work. You know, if we're going to have sons like Samuel, We've got to have mothers like that. We're going to have sons like Billy Graham. We've got to have mothers like Mrs. Graham. And I know the Grains. I've been in their home. I know Mrs. Graham well. She's a member of one of the churches up in North Carolina where we preach. Mrs.
Graham, to me, was a modern hamper. She prayed for Billy Graham, the timeless work that God was going to have. You never met a more godly woman than Mrs. Grace. We're going to have sons that God can use. We've got to have mothers that God can use. Mothers that can be in God's hands viable. Those mothers can in turn use their influence in bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If there are to be salutes, there's got to be answers. If there are to be Timothy's, There has got to be mothers like Timothy have, Eunice.
There has got to be grand. There's got to be mistress. What kind of a son are you going to have? A lot depends on you. I'll tell you some of the preachers see something. Not long ago, a mother I could hear two blocks away. Boy, the kids went up, I was looking for some to go up through the window. She got mad, she got here, and boy, the kids went out this door, that door, and cat gone out too. She was cleaning the house. I thought, man, what an atmosphere for children to draw up in. What an atmosphere. I could mention names in North Carolina when I was there.
A woman comes to me, weeping. Pray for my children, Mr. Wilson. To pray for my boys are not safe. I could have said, yes. And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you. Hardly a week passes. You don't blow your top. Poor kids have got to get out. Then you want to see your boy saved. You come to me and ask me to pray for him. And you living that kind of life? No. There's the home. That's where children are getting their first impression. God's looking for mothers and fathers. who are spiritual, who are bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Having time to go into the rest of it, other than to say this, in the next chapter, you have ten verses devoted to Hannah's praise to the Lord for Samuel. For Samuel came. She gone to the Lord, and God got them back. God gave Hannah, Samuel. Hannah gave God back. in the first ten verses. You know, it's very remarkable. If you read the first ten verses of chapter two, and read the first ten verses of Luke two, you have Mary's song of praise when Jesus was born, you have Anna's song of praise when Sammy was born, and you compare the two songs, and they're very similar. Ten verses in each one.
I never noticed that in the history. And if you notice the content of their song, both of them. God was everything. God was Mary's joy. God was Hannah's joy. God was Mary's strength. He was Hannah's strength. God was Mary's deliverer. He was Hannah's deliverer. God was Mary's salvation. He was Hannah's salvation. And he was Mary's foundation. He was Hannah's foundation. And these two godly women, their prayer and praise to God was very similar. In other words, they were happy mothers. Oh, how happy Hannah was. For this child I prayed.
God gave them to me. Not only did she pray for him before his birth, she prayed for him during his life. But as she saw Samuel bringing God's people back to God, oh, how proud she must have been. She was a happy mother. You were a happy mother. And you say, well, I know Christ is my Savior. The Lord Jesus. save me. He's my strength. He's my joy. He's my deliverance. My salvation. He's my foundation. I'm resting on him. And because I know Christ is my Savior, I'm in a position now to train my children for him. I know God and now I can acquaint my God with my children and bring them up in the nature and admonition of the Lord.
I trust you. Will he be a happy mother or a sad mother? In my life I've been called into court. Can I be a witness? try to help out. Families called on the poor young man going to the gallows, going to the electric chair. This happened in North Carolina. He committed murder. There stood the mother, leaving her to break her heart. I don't think she had gotten the door of her church. Neither had that open. She's breaking her heart, trying every avenue to get her boy off. I would even call him and see if I could use my end. Too late.
He went to the election. Like they put a finger on the neglect of that mother, giving up her child in the nurture and admonition of her. But anything he shattered, for a mother or a father to look out upon a prostitute daughter, a rebellious drunken son, and though the blame was right at their own doorstep, they didn't go to church, they didn't read the Bible, they didn't take grace at the table, they didn't get the kids in Sunday school, thence at the sad harvest they read. How much better to be a proud mother. And many a time I've seen my own dad sit and weep as I've reached up in Canada. Because he led me to Christ. He wept with joy.
That's my hope. Wouldn't you like to be a mother and a father sitting back someday in your son's kitchen and off to a place of God? A lot depends on you. Do you know, Christ? If not, why not come to you as a son? If you are a Christian, yield yourself again in complete dedication. God will give you the grace and wisdom to bring up your children in the nature and admonition of the Lord. Say, for this child, I pray. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, come to be announced thy blessing on my world.
Speak to all our hearts, especially that of prayer. May there be better mothers and better fathers going home from this beginning. The result will be better sons and better fathers in the days of death.