5 Dimensions of Grace—1 Samuel 1:9-18; 2:20, 21
Introduction: Oftentimes people who do exceptional things have their exceptionalism incubated in the womb of adversity. Great leaders come from bad times. People who have the passion necessary to do great exploits had that passion powered by a process of pain, as God brings greatness out of weakness. The true test of greatness is how you deal with adversity not advantage. The resistance of the process is just training to build the muscles of your faith to a place whereby you can stand in the days of peril and persecution. Our biblical character reference (Hannah) has had her faith pushed to the point where it caused her to pray towards the area of her pain.
Hannah has this strong, uncontrollable desire to produce this child [she’s barren]. But I want you to understand that just because she is childless doesn’t mean she is graceless. You need to know that just because you have an area in your life that is not working right doesn’t mean you are without grace. Sometimes a challenge can become so big to you that you fail to acknowledge the grace of God in other areas. Always pray for God to open your womb in whatever area it’s closed in but never let a weak area in your life be so big to you that you forget to acknowledge the grace of God working in you. There are five points of grace in this text that I want to discuss...
1. The Strategy of Grace: The strategy of God’s grace has Hannah married to a wealthy man (Elkanah) who loves her, caters to her, and even spoils her. She is surrounded in an environment where everything she asks for is provided to her, except what she really wants. This area of weakness (barren womb) has overshadowed the grace she had. Hannah was focused on a grace she didn’t have. Understand that the barren womb and her desire to have more was by divine design. She was not a spoiled wife wanting what she shouldn’t have but had a longing for significance that she couldn’t even understand.
God gave Hannah the grace to deal with the pressure and weight of being barren. God has strategically positioned Hannah to a place where she is coupled with someone who has a grace she doesn’t have. Her counterpart Penninah [also married to Elkanah] had what she wanted (children). She had what Penninah wanted (favor with Elkanah). God strategically graced them in the different areas; He did it to stir up hunger in Hannah. God had a plan for Hannah’s hunger (likewise with us). God blesses people around you to stir up a hunger in us; not for what they are blessed with but the God of the blessings. God is going to get something accomplished through us. He was going to fix the problem in the Temple with Eli and his sons. Part of the strategy of God’s grace is that you never know what God wants to accomplish through your hunger. (Tell your neighbor “stop tripping, God placed me here”).
2. The Fire of Grace: So Hannah goes to the temple but she doesn’t go like other people go. There is a difference between people that go because it’s the right day from a person that goes because they are on a mission. She came because she was hungry for a touch from the Lord. I wonder if there is anybody that came to church because they want a touch from the Lord. She stood out in the praise service. She didn’t pray like the other people prayed. She was hurting so bade that she prayed until it looked like she was drunk, and this troubled the priest. The sure sign of a prayer warrior is one that will pray until something happens. They get stirred up inside and whatever comes out just comes out. There is nothing like trouble to teach you how to pray. You don’t need tape series or sermons, all you need is trouble. Life will teach you how to pray and make you a prayer warrior; it will teach you the importance of prayer.
I’m not talking about church prayer but I’m talking about driving down the road with tears in your eyes praying out loud; walking around in your living room in your boxer shorts praying and seeking God. Sometimes we are too neat and organized in our prayers. But sometimes you need to pray until you hit something and stir something up and turn something upside down. We need someone to get so stirred up that when they pray they set the room on fire. We used to be riding on the wild side before we got saved but now that we got saved we’ve lost all of our fire. We get saved and get sedated and docile. But God is looking for someone with a radical prayer, praise, and worship. If you were wild when you were in the world why on earth would you get saved by a radical God and shut down?
3. The Acknowledgment of Grace: Each of you are walking in a different dimension of Gods divine grace (money, patience, children, etc.). That’s why I call it “Amazing Grace.” Someone didn’t make it; you don’t look like what you’ve been through. You should praise Him for the grace you’re walking in, and expect Him to allow you to experience another dimension of His Amazing Grace before you die. The bible says she prayed. Once she identified the issue she prayed about it; she cried but she also prayed. You’ve got to pray about it. Don’t fuss, complain, or whine, just pray. The bible says that the Lord opened up her womb. She conceived a child named Samuel. She has waited all of her life to have this child. Can you imagine how much she loves this child? There is nothing like getting something you’ve never had. People who have always had it don’t pay it that much attention. But she now has something that Penninah already had. Penninah takes it for granted but Hannah is thankful for it. Your blessing is somebody else’s ordinary. They don’t understand how you can be so happy about something they take for granted.
4. The Agriculture of Grace: Hannah says as much as I love him, when he is weaned I’m going to sow him into the kingdom and give him to the Lord. When this boy is weaned she has this sense of destiny. So now Hannah has the child and a choice; she can keep the child and stay on that dimension of grace or sow him into the kingdom of God. As much as she wanted to keep the child she brings him to the temple. She weans him, cultivates him, and gets him to a place where he can be productive in the kingdom and sows him to the Lord. Everything wasn’t right in the temple. Eli was old and half deaf and his sons were half crazy, God needed a righteous man to be planted in the temple to guide His people through this trying time they were going through. He was going to deal with Eli and his sons while He blessed Hannah and her son.
5. The Mathematics of Grace: Because she sowed her son into the kingdom she is now going to reap a harvest of three sons and two daughters. God says if you give me one I’ll give you five. It’s going to come pressed down, shaken together…..you’ve been on this dimension long enough, either you believe God or you don’t, trust Him or you don’t. Your eyes have not seen…..but if you will give me what you got in your hand I’ll give you what I got in my hand. That’s a fair trade because God’s hands hold power and authority over everything you need. God’s got blessings you haven’t even seen yet. The windows of heaven are opened and fire is falling tonight. (You take 1 He’ll take 2; 1 can chase 1,000…give and it will be given…)
You haven’t seen your children, business, and job because you haven’t given it to the Lord yet. As soon as you give it to the Lord He will open His hands and let you choose what you want. But what HE gives is so much more than what you sow. He says you will have three sons and two daughters. Five is the number of grace. 5 wounds in the body of Jesus, fivefold ministry, earth was completed on the fifth day, five pools of Bethesda, five fingers on your hand. Grace is going to pull you out of your circumstance.