The Gift Given Was the Gift Given

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The Gift Given Was the Gift Given

1. You Can't Control the Outcome, But You Can Control Your Inputs

The story begins with a couple who had long prayed for a child. When the Lord finally answered their prayers, they were overwhelmed with emotion. But even from the beginning, their joy was tempered with the knowledge that one day they would bring their son to Shiloh to give him back to the Lord.

In 1 Samuel 1, we meet Elkanah and his two wives: Peninnah, who had children, and Hannah, who did not. This ancient cultural context allowed for a second wife if the first was barren, but this wasn’t God’s design. It led to rivalry, pain, and complexity.

Elkanah could not control Hannah's ability to conceive. Hannah could not force an outcome either. But both could control their inputs: Elkanah gave her a double portion out of love, and they faithfully continued going to worship and sacrifice.

We live in a world that is also filled with complex emotions, especially on a day like Mother's Day. Joy and sorrow, fulfillment and longing often coexist. And like Hannah, we are reminded: we can’t control outcomes, but we can be faithful in our inputs.

2. In Our Pain, God Invites Us to Pray

Hannah's pain ran deep. Her rival provoked her year after year, especially during worship at Shiloh. The provocation led to tears, to fasting, to deep sorrow.

In her pain, Hannah turned to prayer. She didn’t just mutter a few words; she poured out her soul in anguish. Her prayer was raw, intimate, and full of faith. She made a vow that if God would give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord for all the days of his life.

Prayer in pain is not about performance. It’s about authenticity. Hannah didn’t hide her grief from God. She brought it directly to Him.

We, too, are invited into this same kind of desperate, honest prayer. Our God is not repelled by our sorrow—He meets us in it.

3. In Our Waiting, God Invites Us to Worship

God didn’t answer Hannah’s prayer immediately. There was a season of waiting, a season where the only thing she could do was continue worshiping, trusting, and remaining faithful.

Our culture hates waiting. But the waiting is not wasted. It’s an invitation to worship. When we lay down our need for control and enter into the presence of God through worship, something shifts in our hearts.

Hannah shows us that the waiting time is not idle time. It is fertile ground for faith to grow.

4. In Our Receiving, God Invites Us to Give

Eventually, the Lord remembers Hannah. She conceives and gives birth to Samuel. But Hannah doesn’t forget her vow. She brings Samuel to Shiloh, just as she promised, and gives him to the Lord.

She says, “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord.”

The gift given was the gift given.

Too often, we receive something from God and cling to it tightly. But Hannah models an open-handed faith. What God gives, we are invited to release for His purposes. We are blessed to be a blessing.

This principle applies to children, to jobs, to resources, to time. Everything we have is a stewardship, not a possession.

5. Jesus Is the Ultimate Gift Given

The story of Hannah foreshadows something greater: the gift of God’s own Son.

Jesus was given so that we might live. He gave His life for us so that we might give our lives to Him. Hannah gave Samuel back to the Lord. God gave His Son for the salvation of the world.

We are invited to respond to that gift with faith, surrender, and worship. Whether we are mothers, fathers, married, single, or wherever we are in life, the most important question is: have we received the gift of Jesus, and are we giving our lives back to Him?

Let us live with open hands. Let us be faithful in our inputs. Let us pray, let us worship, and let us give back to the One who has given so much to us.

SERMON DETAILS

Speaker: Ben Marshall
Sermon Title: The Gift Given Was the Gift Given
Date: May 12, 2024

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

• 1 Samuel 1

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