As God said Himself, His ways are
not our ways. He has revealed over and
over that He uses the humble, the rejected and the least expected by the worlds
standard, to bring monumental change.
Paul said it as articulately as one could state by the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, “But God has chosen the foolish things of
the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the
world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and
the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen,
and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that
no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:27, 28).
And yet, what we too often see in the church
is a mirroring of the world’s standard.
Get the most charismatic personality, the most gifted, the most
influential, the most educated, etc, etc.
Can these things be redeemed? Of course they can, but they must be
continually laid down before the Lord, or they can soon become idols.
What are the examples we see in
Scripture? We see Moses the one who
stammers and stutters as the spokesperson for God. We see Gideon who was cowering in the
winepress, who ends up leading an army.
Then there’s David the “least of his brethren” tending the flock who
ends up shepherding a nation.... or Jesus’ choice of disciples, and on and on.
We look at the life of Hannah. She is seen as a reject by her culture, a
woman who could be perceived as being “judged” by God, unable to do her
“created function” of bringing forth children for her God fearing husband. A woman mocked by her husband’s second wife, even
reminded daily of her condition by her mocker’s children. The pain is so deep, so constant so consuming,
the Hebrew word used is “raam.” In 1 Samuel 1:6 he New King James translates
it that she was made “miserable” but
it’s literally “to roar, to thunder, to tremble, to be violently agitated.”
It’s from this deep pain, this place of
absolute humiliation, that a prayer is birthed that will impact millions of
people possibly in her lifetime but beyond that, for generation to come.
I believe the key position God is
revealing here in 1 Samuel is humility, and I submit to you that humility is closely linked to desperation. Desperation is linked to a revelation of ones
absolute helplessness and weakness, and from this comes the blessed place of
God displaying His strength and glory in that weakness and humility.
Friend, it’s the humble who receive
grace. Our God said it Himself,
repeatedly (Proverb 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5).
Father chose Hannah, this humble, broken
woman, to be entrusted with Samuel. Not
Peninnah the mocker, the one who by man’s eyes appeared “blessed” and “favored”
but Hannah. Because man looks at the
outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
We must renounce self-dependence as
individuals and as a church. We’ve
relied too many times on our gifts and talents, our equipment and presentation,
on... can I say it? Money.
We see over and over from Scripture who
Father’s ear is open to, it’s to the humble.
We see over and over whom the Lord chose to have revealed in Scripture
as getting His attention. The
desperate. Whether that was Bartimaus,
or the woman with the issue of blood, or Jairus, or Martha and Mary, or the
Syro-Phoenician woman... they were people of desperation, they were
humble/ed. The Lord was truly their only
help. If we want to be heard and be the
movers and shakers He wants us to be in prayer, there must be a self
examination (James 4:8-10 see context of drawing near) and the prayer of David
for God to search us, and try us and see if there is any wicked way (Psalm 139). Renounce all pride, and let us even take the
proper position of worship (which in Hebrew and Greek is connecting to
prostrating oneself). Total humility!
I close with a testimony in regards to
this. When my wife and I served in
Senegal, we were working with the largest unreached people group of West Africa
at that time, the Fulakunda. There were
no known Fulakunda believers where we were placed. We were told what was to be “strategic” by
our well intending mission agency, go for the head of household, the men for
they have the most influence.
We quickly realized the impossibility of
this task in this muslim stronghold, and saw no real fruit that we could
see. We resorted to a deeper place of
desperation (He knows how to bring us to that point if we’re willing!) in our
prayers. My wife’s language teacher was
the last one probably anyone would say would be a person of “strategy.” The fourth muslim wife of a man who showed no
concern or care for her, sexually assaulted at a young age, full of pain and
anger and a liar.
Yet as we prayed, God was working... His way! I had a dream one night that the well in our
backyard there in Kolda, Senegal, began to overflow, and overflow, and shoot up
water and flood the whole area. It was out of control! In my dream it was going everywhere and I was
nervous, until I heard the voice of the Spirit speak, “This is of Me, says the
Lord, let Me have My way.” And suddenly
my nervousness turned to joy and I was exclaiming, “Yes Lord! Let it go all over!!!” It wasn’t but a few weeks later, with my
wife in a deep place of humility herself, that she led her the first known
Fulakunda muslim to Jesus, her language teacher, Ami Nango.
The one who seemed the least likely candidate
to make any impact, was Father’s choice.
Ami would go on to lead many women and men to Jesus! She was a Hannah, a true person of humility,
whose past pain and sorrow was redeemed, and her life truly testified of the
yoke of heaviness being removed and the garments of praise being placed on
her! The Lord is awesome!
Let us never forget this fundamental
truth, the Lord is drawn to humility! If
you want to be heard by God you must go down, if you want to be seen by the
Father, you need to pray in secret....
Hannah was heard, her child Samuel would
even be named for that reason, “Heard by God” and would go on to be the final and
best judge for the nation Israel before the beginning of kings. And it was because of Hannah's prayers....
In closing, look at the heart of
Hannah’s praise/ prayer to the Lord in chapter two of 1 Samuel... and what she
emphasizes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on humility....
“The bows of the mighty men are
broken,
And those who stumbled are girded with
strength.
Those who were
full have hired themselves out for bread,
And the hungry have ceased to hunger.
Even the barren has borne seven,
And she who has many children has become
feeble.
“The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings
up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
He raises the poor from the dust
And
lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of
glory.
