Leading The Way

Guest (Male): International Bible teacher and evangelist Dr. Michael Youssef introduces you to Hannah, a woman experiencing a season of profound brokenness. On this episode of Leading The Way audio.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Some brokenness drives some people into alcohol and drugs. There's some brokenness drives some people into anger even toward God. There are still others who may be driven to false religion and godless ideology.

Hannah's brokenness drove her to the knees of prayer. Hannah's brokenness drove her to the altar of God, not bitterness or revenge. Hannah's brokenness drove her to the prayer closet.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading The Way for a lesson from Dr. Michael Youssef, shining a bright light on the beauty that can shine through brokenness. Everyone experiences difficult seasons in life, and today Dr. Youssef introduces you to Hannah, revealing how instead of turning her anger to bitterness, Hannah took her brokenness right to the feet of the Savior.

It's a valuable lesson that changed the trajectory of her life and can do the same for you. So listen along with me as Dr. Michael Youssef begins an episode of Leading The Way audio that he's called "Living a Life of Prayer."

Dr. Michael Youssef: Turn with me, please, to 1 Samuel chapter 1. First, I have to tell you about that tale of two wives. That woman that I'm going to focus on today, name Hannah, which means favored or gracious. Either word can mean that in Hebrew. This woman was truly gracious. She was selfless. She was thoughtful. Although her name could mean favored, as I told you, but she was far from feeling favored.

She was inwardly broken at her physical inability to conceive a child. And as we look at her life, you will see that she was favored by God even when she did not know it. That she was favored by God and God revealed His favor to her after her brokenness.

Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. The other wife was named Peninnah. Even though Elkanah favored Hannah over Peninnah, perhaps because she was gracious in spirit, but Peninnah was able to have children and Hannah couldn't. There's a possibility that Elkanah took Peninnah as a second wife because Hannah could not have children. We don't know that.

What we know for sure is that there was an intense and painful relationship between those two women, the two wives. Look at verse 6 with me. 1 Samuel 1:6. "Hannah's rival provoked her till she wept and could not eat." Year after year, this gracious woman was taunted and tormented by Elkanah's second wife.

And what Elkanah's response? Men, are you listening to me? I don't want you to miss this. I don't want you to miss Elkanah's response. It's really important. I'm going to show you. This is a very hard lesson. I cannot say I have learned. That I am learning. It's a tough lesson. Verse 8. Elkanah said to Hannah, "Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" Read my lips: that is a no-no.

What is he doing? He's like most men. He aimed at fixing the problem. We men are fixers. We just have to fix every problem. When our daughters were teenagers and whenever they'd come and mention a problem, as soon as they want to talk about a problem, I'm already having half a dozen answers to their problems. I got solutions. I've always been full of solutions.

And I would give them half a dozen. "Would you do this? No, no, no. But what about this? And what do you do this? What about no, no, no. What about this?" I made it worse. Until my wise wife said to me, "They just want you to listen. They want you to listen."

Men of God, listen to me. Whenever your wife is hurting or downhearted, the last thing she wants to hear is how good you've been to her. When she's burdened, when she's sorrowing, when she's heartbroken, she needs empathy. She needs understanding. She needs prayer. Not self-patting on the back.

Trying to fix her sorrowful heart makes absolute sense to us men. It does. In fact, when we are down and discouraged and we're with another man in company of a good and godly man who gives us an answer or gives us help us out to think through things, we immediately perk up. But that's our logic. That's not how women feel or want most of the time.

Question: what do wives need when they're emotionally down? They need your silent presence. Oh, that's difficult. I know. No words, no advice, no solutions, no fixing of the problem. And listen to this: prayer on her behalf and asking God to bring her comfort is a great way to minister to her. But even in the rare times when she does not even want you to pray aloud, pray silently.

All right. I'm going to move on. Now you got it? Guys, you got that? You see, there's one thing I need to say that before I get back to the passage about polygamy, the pagan practice of multiple wives. The Bible always records the practice of polygamy. Did you get that? They record it. But never endorsed it. Not once.

In fact, the first reference to polygamy in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 4 when a man by the name of Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. Lamech, the first polygamist in the Bible, was the descendant of the first murderer in the Bible, Cain. After Lamech, we see polygamy happens again and again and again in the scripture. Yet the Bible never once commended it. Not once.

The Bible never once portrayed it in a positive light. In fact, in every case, without exception, these relationships caused grief and conflict for everyone involved. As a result of Abraham marrying Hagar, Sarah's maid, what happened? We have 3,000 years of conflict between the descendants of Ishmael and the descendants of Isaac.

Jacob's polygamy created bitterness among his children until Joseph was sold into slavery. David, oh my goodness, David, his polygamy brought about murder and rape and violence even among his own children. And what do I say about Solomon? He married so many wives, but what they did is they turned his heart away from the Lord. And we ended up for the last time of a unified Israel. Nowhere in the scripture do you find an example of polygamous marriage that is healthy, harmonious, and commended by God.

Here Elkanah's polygamy or polygamous marriage, we see that same corrosive forces at work. Elkanah was a Levite. You know what the Levites are, right? They're the priestly tribe of Israel. But he was not good family priest. But our focus is not on Elkanah. It's on Hannah's prayer of brokenness. Our focus is on how God replaced the years that are eaten by the locusts.

Now listen carefully. There's something really, really important here. I don't want you to miss that probably even few years ago would not have made sense. At this point in Israel's time, in Israel's history, it was a time of social upheaval just like ours. Why do I say this? Because in that historical context, it was the time of the judges.

This was the time when the nation of Israel has lost its biblical moorings just like our country. It was a time of moral confusion just like we're experiencing now. It was a time when Israel drifted aimlessly just as we do now. It was a time when Israel lost its moral and ethical rudder as our time is now. It was a time of national division and bickering as our time is now. It was a time when they were truly leaderless as we are now.

In the book of Judges, we hear that again and again that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. In other words, like our times, they said, "I have my truth, you have your truth, there are no absolute truths." They viewed all religions to be equal in value. Idolatry was rampant. Pagan religious practices were practiced by God's people more than the Ten Commandments.

They worshiped Baal and Ashter and Moloch more than they worshiped Yahweh. Oh, they worshiped Yahweh one day a week, but the rest of the week they were worshiping all these other gods. Even the priests of Israel were engaged in many corrupt practices. And that is why Elkanah practiced polygamy, which is a pagan practice.

But I need to hasten to say, and I really do, I hope that you take heart, that in the darkest of times, whether we get darker or not it doesn't matter, but in the darkest of times the sovereign God will intervene and He will do what He does best. He's a delivering God. We don't know that God is raising a Samuel somewhere in this time of darkness and despair.

Peninnah was cruel as Hannah was gracious and kind and thoughtful. No doubt Peninnah's sharp tongue caused Hannah to stain her pillow with tears every night. I don't know about you, but you may have someone like that in your life. You may have someone somewhere in your orbit. Someone whose tongue is sharper than a surgeon's scalpel. Someone whose words wound you deeply.

Listen carefully, please. Let Hannah's ultimate outcome be truly an encouragement to each one of us who are in that situation. You may have made mistakes in your early life and you are paying for it now. You may have engaged in a relationship in the past that has caused you untold pain and suffering now.

Even though your situation is different from Hannah's, but you may identify with her regret. I want to remind you, I want to remind you, I don't want you ever forget, don't ever forget, don't ever forget that the sovereign overruling God is the same God who ministered to Hannah can minister and bless you today.

You may have acted in the flesh instead of the spirit. You may have jumped into a situation with both feet instead of praying. You may have tried to improve God's will instead of obeying Him. You may have tried to accelerate God's timetable instead of waiting on Him.

What you need to do is this. Listen carefully, please. Start thanking God that He's the God of second, third, fourth, fifth, and untold number of chances. You need to thank God for His forgiveness. You need to start thanking God for His overruling power. You need to start asking God to reach all the way deep down where nobody else can reach your brokenness and perform a miracle and repair, renew, and redeem the past.

Some brokenness drives some people into alcohol and drugs. Some brokenness drives some people into anger even toward God. There are still others who may be driven to false religion and godless ideology. Hannah's brokenness drove her to the knees of prayer. Hannah's brokenness drove her to the altar of God, not bitterness or revenge. Hannah's brokenness drove her to the prayer closet. I'm going to say more about that in the next message.

But Hannah truly gives us a beautiful example of grace under fire. Character that is tempered in the furnace of adversity. Peace in the midst of the storm. And faith under pressure. Look with me, please, at verses 9 to 11. After they celebrated the feast, Hannah went to the altar to pray. Eli the priest, whose family was messed up, they call it dysfunctional these days. I call it messed up. His own family was messed up. He was in his usual place.

In deep anguish, the word of God said, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow. "Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant, but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all of his days." This is the very first prayer by a woman recorded in the scripture.

Now it doesn't mean that there were godly women who have prayed before her or since, but this is the first one to be recorded in the scripture. These other prayers were not recorded. I am absolutely convinced that we are going to be astonished when we get to the other side of glory, to heaven. And we'll see how many answered prayers that God answered as a result of these nameless and faceless women of old.

Absolutely convinced. I can categorically tell you that the reason I am serving the Lord today is because of my mother and my sister's prayer. Saint Augustine of Hippo credited his salvation to the prayer of his mother, Monica, who prayed for him daily, daily. Never give up one day for his salvation. Now we call him Saint Augustine.

John and Charles Wesley, who transformed England for Christ in the 18th century, it was because of the faithful hours that Susanna Wesley, their mom, had spent in prayer for each one of them. Only in heaven will we know how many millions of answered prayer because of the prayer of faithful, godly women.

Before I run out of time, I need to tell you several things. Very important aspects of Hannah's prayer before I get to it in absolute details and look at the ingredients of that prayer. Her prayer was unspoken. Her lips were moving, but she made no sound. She was not trying to be eloquent or profound or articulate. She prayed out of deep anguish.

Look with me, please, at verses 12 to 18. 1 Samuel chapter 1. Eli the priest assumed that she was drunk. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? You read the scripture, it reveals human nature the way it is. It's amazing how easily we can misjudge people, how easily we impugn their motives and jump into the wrong conclusions. He thought she was drunk.

Another aspect of Hannah's prayer is that she made no attempts to draw attention to herself. My goodness, listen to me. This is a breath of fresh air in this age of victimhood. It's the age of woe is me and feeling sorry for ourselves. Hannah was not trying to impress anyone. She was not trying to draw the sympathy of anyone. She was not manipulating anyone's emotions.

Why? Because she knew there's only one person who could answer her prayer. She knew there's only one person who could give her all the power and the help she needs. There's only one person who could do the impossible. Only one person who could hear even her silent prayer.

You know I often take huge comfort in the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:26. "In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. When we don't know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans."

Verse 11. Hannah makes a vow to the Lord. "If you give me a son, he will become a Nazirite." Actually, that's a word *nazir* or *neder* in Hebrew. And the word means that he's going to be consecrated totally for God's service. That he's going to be set aside. He will be set apart for God's service.

And man, did she keep her word? Did she keep her promise? And that's what I told you that gets to me. I'll talk more about it. But please don't miss what I'm going to tell you. There is nothing wrong with making a vow unto the Lord. But please, please, please, before you make such a vow, be absolutely certain that this is a vow that you will keep no matter what.

You see, there are some people who say all sorts of things to the Lord in times of desperation, but then when the pressure is off, they backtrack in their vows. Listen to me. God cannot be mocked. God does not forget. And just because He's merciful and loving and forgiving, you cannot make a promise if you have no intention of keeping it. Can I get an amen?

The last thing I want to call attention to is that there is a blessing in persistence in prayer. I remember in my book *Never Give Up*, the story I told about George Müller because when I was a young guy and I would read George Müller's biography and how he prayed and within minutes God answered, within hours God answered. And then I really read his real biography and discovered that he had prayed for things for 40 years, and he persisted in prayer.

The opposite of persistence is giving up. Oh my goodness, I am absolutely convinced there are so many casualties in the Christian life because of lack of persistence in prayer. The word of God warns us again and again that our struggle is not with flesh and blood. Our struggle is not with human beings. Listen to me. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but with the spiritual evil forces and they never give up, and so should you. Never give up.

Let me conclude with my own testimony. There is no place in which persistence is more rewarded than when you are battling these spiritual forces on your knees. There are no battlefields in which victory is more certain than when you persistently wrestle with the powers of darkness through prayer.

There is no battlefield in the world, not Hastings, not Waterloo, not Gettysburg, not Hiroshima, that is more crucial to the outcome than the battlefield in your prayer closet. This gracious woman Hannah has just shown us that we can win great victories on the knees of prayer. All of her agony, all of her pain only drove her deeper into God's heart instead of revenge and bitterness and anger. She made a promise to God and she kept it, and her son Samuel blessed the world.

Guest (Male): Thank you for taking time in your day for Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef and his encouragement to take the battles of life right to the knees of prayer. Do you need someone to join you in prayer? How about considering connecting with a Leading The Way pastor or counselor? You can start at ltw.org/jesus.

Now as this episode ends, the Leading The Way team wants to take just a minute to share a brief story about a young man in Morocco whose life was impacted, whose life was changed after listening to Dr. Youssef and Leading The Way.

Here is what he writes: "After hearing Leading The Way, I felt led to learn more about Jesus and the Christian faith. This quest ultimately led me to truth. You see, I listened more and more, eventually reaching out directly to the Leading The Way team in Morocco, and they shared the gospel with me."

Won't you join Dr. Youssef in reaching people right there in your neighborhood and in neighborhoods just like yours all around the world through Leading The Way? You can be a part of the Open Door campaign when you call 866-626-4356 or reach out online at ltw.org.

That's ltw.org. And you can write to us too. We love getting your cards and your letters. Write to Leading The Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. This program is furnished by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.