This morning we are beginning a 6 week journey through the book of 1 Samuel called “Could I ask you for a favor?” During this time, we will be looking at some of the stories that shaped Israel’s national identity. Each story is one of God pouring his favor lavishly and graciously in response to the virtuous lives of his people. This morning’s scripture lesson is from chapter 1, verses 1-20. 1 Samuel 1.1-20: Hear the Word of the Lord.
The author is clear. This is no once upon a time story. This is a real story with real people and happens in real time in a real place. The man’s name is Elkanah. Elkanah has two wives. One is Peninnah. She is a very good wife. She bears many children. She is quite the homemaker. The other wife is Hannah. Hannah is a very good wife too. She is picturesque and beautiful. She is the one Elkanah really and truly loves.
It hits us like a ton of bricks. “Hannah had no children.” In a time when survival meant having children, and not having children meant not surviving, having no children was a very bad thing. In a culture whose understanding of life after death did not mean an eternal life as we think of it today, but rather experience life after death through the continued existence of their name via offspring, having no children was a very bad thing. In a society where status, wealth and power were largely determined by the number of children one had, having no children was a very bad thing. And so it comes as quite a punch in the gut when we are introduced to Hannah and then are told she “had no children.” You can almost hear the reader gasp with horror as she read of the curse that weighs so heavy in the life of Hannah.
It’s bad enough that she is unable to have children. She surely has to deal with the self-inflicted mental effects and stresses that come along with such a stigma, but we also find that she has to deal with ridicule and jealousy from the other wife. Day in and day out, Hannah must endure such pain. Even when they make their yearly pilgrimage to sacrifice to YHWH the provocation does not cease. In fact, it becomes worse. It goes on like this day after day and year after year.
One year, Hannah’s pot boiled over. The irritation was just too much to handle any more. Elkanah was sensitive to Hannah’s needs and at the feast gave her a double portion because he loved her so much. But she couldn’t take it. She was so upset she couldn’t eat. Again, Elkanah affirmed his love for her. It didn’t matter to him. He loved her for who she was, not for what she could produce for him. But this still didn’t help, the torment just continued. She got up from the table and went to the temple. She stormed past Eli, the Priest, ignored all the formalities of worship and began pouring her heart out to God. And then Eli piled on too. “What are you? Drunk?” he asked. Hannah just continued sobbing, opening her heart to God. “Why?” she asked. “Why God? Why do such terrible and evil things happen? Why?”
The news this week spread through the valley like wildfire. Tragedy stuck yet again. This time it hit too close to home – right here in Toronto. It was news of a mother – a mother who now has no child. Baby Jake, a wonderful child from all accounts, is dead. His father is in jail, charged with murdering 16-month-old Jake. A broken mother weeps. Friends and family grieve. A small town community mourns. Numbness – denial – sadness – anger – outrage – confusion. They cry. They question. “Why?” they ask. “Why God? Why do such terrible and evil things happen? Why? He was a baby! He was innocent? What did he do to deserve that? What did we do to deserve that? Why did you let him be killed? Why did you take him? Why? Why? Why?”
These questions have plagued us since the beginning of time. Perhaps no other question has been more problematic than this question of theodicy. Perhaps no other question is as difficult as this question of evil. Why do people suffer? Why do bad things happen to good people? It is all just so evil. It is such a difficult question because there is no easy, or remotely adequate answer. I wish I could stand here this morning and give you a nice neat sermon, answering all of these questions with three straightforward points. I wish I could address these things in a way that you would say, “Ah, that makes since, now I won’t have to wrestle with that one any more.” However, these are just wishes. There are no easy answers. There are no simple solutions. There is no magical remedy to the problem of evil in life. Instead, I’d like to reflect, for just a moment on this problem of evil.
Evil is a consequence of free choice. Evil is the absence of God. Many of us believe that every person is free to make choices in one’s life. One is free to eat hotdogs or hamburgers. Watch sports or drama. One can choose to love God and participate in his holiness or reject God and participate in evil. If one is free to choose God, then one must also be free to reject God. Evil is the absence of God’s holiness in the world.
Evil is real, evil is personal, and no one is immune from it. In the last year a twelve-year-old little girl, Antonina and I worked with at St. Paul’s died in a house fire. Another 7 year old that we taught in Sunday School when she was three was raped by her father. And now a 16-month-old baby in our community was murdered by his father. Evil is absolutely real. The man who raped the little girl is my friend. We worked together. We studied together. We are friends. I have replayed the two years I spent with him over and over again in my mind. Did I miss something? Was he crying out for help? Could I have prevented this? How does such a good man become so evil? How? Why? Where are you God?
While the question of evil is about as clear as the Ohio River after a rainstorm, Scripture is very clear about how we are to respond in the midst of evil. We are not called to understand evil. We are not called to explain evil. We are not called to conquer evil. These things only God can do. We are called, however, to be faithful to God, even in the midst of such evil. Perhaps this sounds no easier than explaining evil, but consider Christ. He wanted out. “Take this cup from me,” he begged as he sobbed drops of blood. “Daddy! Daddy! Why have you forsaken me?” he pleaded in the agony of the cross. “But that is Christ!” Sure, then consider Job – David – Paul – consider Hannah. In the midst of such evil and such personal hardships, Hannah remained faithful.
I’d like to suggest three things that allowed Hannah to remain faithful. The first is her endurance. We see in the story that she endures Peninnah’s incessant ridicule, irritation and provocation. She endures it year after year. There is no telling how long this went on. In the midst of such evil situations in life, we have no answers. There seems to be no end. There seems to be no timetable for withdraw. It seems that the evil and the suffering go on forever. Paul exhorts us to endure such hardship as discipline. The old saying is “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” So it is with evil and our faith.
Paul goes so far as to encourage us to endure, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Hannah is able to endure Peninnah’s harshness because of Elkanah’s undying love for her. A double portion of the feast, and unconditional love because of who she was spurred her on to endure. We can endure evil because we have hope. We have hope because of God’s great love that has been poured out to us.
Second, Hannah’s faithfulness in the face of evil is made possible by her continuing worship. Year after year, she endured hardship yet remained faithful. Year after year, she journeyed to Shiloh to worship the Lord. Worship is simply our focused attention and our intentional adoration of the Triune God who created us, who redeemed us, and who calls us to share in his holiness. The way we approach life is a matter of perspective. My truck seems large. Next to a semi, however, it seems not so big. Next to a train, a semi seems small, and next to the barges that plow up and down the river the train even seems small. So too, the evil in the world looms so large. When we see it next to the greatness of God, however, our present suffering tends to fade.
Worship, too, is an activity of the community. True worship is when the community of faith gathers to adore God. We never worship alone. Paul encourages us to never cease meeting together as many have done. Why? Because faithfulness requires the community of the faithful. None of us can walk through the valley of the shadow of death faithfully on our own. In the community, our pain is shared and our faith is strengthened. When we cannot continue our brothers and sisters can carry our load. Evil can be endured faithfully, but only when live is lived in worshipfully adoring God together with the entire communion of the saints.
Finally, faithfulness in the face of evil requires the utmost open and honest prayer before God our Father. Hannah got up from the table and went to the temple. She knelt before YHWH, opening her heart and sharing her pain. Eli thought she was drunk because such behavior was just not proper. A woman should not have gone where she went. Prayer was not silent, it was aloud. People didn’t just go to God, they went to the priest. There are rituals and forms that must be followed. Hannah wasn’t concerned with any of that. She simply bowed her life at the feet or her Father and emptied herself in his lap.
There is no shame in questioning God. How many of the psalms question God? How often do we hear David asking where God is, or when God is planning to deliver on his promises? Job is most famous. He questioned God constantly, but the key is he never cursed God. God desires to know us. To know us requires us to be open and honest. Only when we are open and honest, sharing with God our heart: our hurts, our questions, and our anger, is there room in our heart for his favor to be poured. Only after Hannah was able to open up in prayer to God was she able to leave uplifted and encouraged. “She went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was no longer sad.”
Faithfulness in the face of evil, by endurance, worship and prayer opens the door for God to favor us in the midst of evil. Eventually, Hannah did conceive a son and she named him Samuel. We don’t know how much time elapsed between her prayer and God’s answer, but by God’s grace the darkest of nights was transformed into the brightest of mornings. In so doing, God showed the world he pours out his favor upon those who remain faithful. To the glory of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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