What Doesn’t Get Poured Out Eventually Leaks Out! | A Cloud Of Witnesses | Pastor CJ Johnson

Welcome to Northview. Welcome to everybody online, those at all of our campuses. We are just thrilled. And I love that video, because most of us can relate to that, right? The days are long, but the years are short. And you can kind of go through life glazed over, getting through the day, all to realize that these moments are fleeting. And it's only a stage that we get to be a part of with our children in those moments. And we are just honored that you would take the weekend to spend your Mother's Day weekend with us here at Northview and special shout out to all the moms. Can we just show some love to all the moms again at all of our locations? I'm one of those annoying guys who has just been spoiled in my life to be surrounded by wonderful mothers. God blessed me with an amazing mom who is an absolute riot. And I have so many favorite stories and moments of her, just doing different things within the house. And one of my favorite things was she was always having to deal with this same challenge over and over again. And that challenge went by the name of Rick, who was my older brother. Anyone else have an older sibling? There's a real thing known as younger brother wisdom. And I got to learn a lot of what not to do by watching him.

And one day, he tried slamming his bedroom door on my mom. Can anyone ever try that move? And moments later, homegirl was in the hallway with a screwdriver and a hammer. And she popped his door off the hinges and just took off walking to the garage with his door. And he was without a door for like two to three months. It was hilarious. And he had a hard time waking up. And she would come into the room. And he had this waterbed, you know those things that were supposed to save our back and then messed us all up? And she would jump onto the bed and do this Kung Fu Mama thing that would get the water shifting like a tidal wave. My mom was an absolute riot, super blessed by her. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I also married into a family where God blessed me with an amazing mother-in-law who is tough as nails. She's approaching 70. But she still operates with some closed fists. And she's ready to fight. And she's got just an amazing story. Many of you guys know Kristen is native. And so her mom was growing up on the reservation. She was a teenage mother of two in a very toxic and abusive relationship. And she decided to run away from the reservation, which if you know anything about the native background, doing so oftentimes results in you being disowned

by the family. Yet to her credit, she got a job at a factory, ended up working there for 30 years, raised five children. All of them graduated college. And she was just a wild success in her own right. And though she's now living pretty comfortably, she still thinks people are out to get her. And she's just ready to throw some blows. But I love her. And then God obviously just overcompensated for me with my wife Kristen. And I just am thrilled to get to partner with her as a teammate and raising four kids. And the other day, my daughter Presley has some eczema on her skin. And she was complaining about her eczema. And I said, I'm sorry, baby. You probably get that from dad. And our son Miles was like, you know, I think we get most of our good qualities from mom. I said, you know, I would agree with that. She's the better half. I'm curious, what are some of the things that come to mind, qualities that you received from your mother? And I was slightly insulted by the fact that they had a quick and ready list, lengthy. They started to go on down it. Things like, well, we got our brown eyes from mom. We got our big white teeth. We can all sun tan because of mom.

You just burn. And then Miles said, oh, and we got our athleticism from her. Yeah, this was three months ago. He's still grounded. I was like, pal, you will pay for that. But I love my wife. And I seen this meme the other day of this mom bent over. She was squinting her eyes looking for something. And above it, it said, me pretending to look for a toy with my kid I know I threw away two days ago. And I thought, yeah, that's my mom. And there's just some rock star moms. I always get a kick out of the statements moms make. I grew up a hip hop fan listening to LL Cool J. Come on, wave at me if there's anyone else LL Cool J fans. He had a song called Mama Said Knock You Out. Some of us were raised in that household. Mom was like, no, you fight back. You punch them. I'll show up at the principal's office and I will get you out of jail. And moms make some funny statements. I recently heard a mom say, hey, if you feel really bad about your kid watching too much television, just hit the mute button, turn on the captions, and now your kid is reading. And however you find your mom figuring it out, and we're just thankful for the creativity and the intentionality and their ability to just get it done.

Moms are amazing. Thank you. I recognize in a weekend like this, obviously we should unapologetically be celebrating and honoring our moms, but we also operate with the capacity to celebrate, but also understand and empathize with people who have a strain in their heart when it comes to the idea of motherhood. Chances are maybe you have a strained relationship with your mother, and that is marching. That's something that you are still currently navigating. Or maybe your journey into motherhood came with some pain, or your aspirations to become a mother have been delayed. And those are things that we certainly wanna be attentive to as a church family, and just know that if that is your experience, we love you, we pray for you, and your church family is with you through it all. Some of you have had the daunting task as a mother to really fully entrust your child into God's hands really early. And some of you carried a child in your womb that you never got to carry in your arms. And that is a real tender and difficult thing to process, but we just celebrate your resolve and the fact that you're staying with it, and you're still with us, and you're still trusting God, and we honor your faith in Him, even in that painful crisis.

And so again, whoever you are, wherever you are, can we just celebrate all the moms, everything that they do, and all the value that they add? If you have your Bibles, open up to 1 Samuel 1. If you're new to Northview, we are in a year-long study. We have entitled A Cloud of Witnesses going through the Bible, aka the story of redemption, looking at 52 central key figures in Scripture that really open our eyes and help us understand fully the narrative taking place. When you get to know their story, it really enlightens and is in many ways insightful as to how God might work in your story. One thing Scripture makes very clear is our God is remarkably consistent. Scripture would say He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so when you go into the pages of Scripture and you discover how God was faithful, and how God was merciful, and how God was mighty, and how He was intentional and loving, and how He managed to weave redemption through brokenness, well, you can stand in confidence as a believer knowing, well, He does the same thing here and now. He is still in the business of doing those things, and it can cue you in on God's activity for your life. And today, we come to a passage in Scripture where, fittingly, we are going to read a story of an amazing mom who God used in really profound ways. And these first two verses are a bit of a doozy.

Verse one says, "'There was a certain man from Ramathim, a Zulfite, "'from the hill country of Ephraim, "'whose name was Elkanah, son of Jeroahim, "'son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, "'the son of Zulf and Ephraimite.'" Someone say, dear Jesus. Those are some names. "'And this guy had two wives.'" Uh-oh. "'And one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah, "'and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.'" And again, we say it often, and it deserves being repeated because every single week, we are joined by people for the first time who may bump into a detail in Scripture and find themselves confused as to what it is implying, or maybe what is it endorsing? So the thing that we say often is just because something is in the Bible does not mean it is endorsed by the Bible. God does not avoid our mess. He does not tiptoe around the issues of humanity. No, He meets them head on. And when you get into the story of Scripture, you find it peeling history all the way back to the very beginning, and we get to see the unfolding of humanity where polygamy was practiced. And it certainly is not endorsed by Scripture.

In fact, anytime you see more than one wife, you see a lot of troubles. And I'm guessing that is very true even now. But here we find a woman by the name of Hannah. She's in a household where another woman is also playing the role of wife. And this woman, Peninnah, has been able to have children, Hannah has not. Hannah is living in a time of history and an era where a woman really didn't have any rights, any standing within society. Their worth and value was so closely and directly related to their ability to have children. To not be able to do so would have came with shame and all kinds of embarrassment. and that is the predicament that she finds herself in. Every single month we have miracle prayer and that remains a challenge that families all across our church also are navigating. And the one thing that we know for sure is that is a very painful experience. But whether or not that is your experience, the one thing that certainly will be a part of your life is the unavoidable element of pain. Pain is inevitable. It's not the thing we wanna talk about. It's not the thing that feels like good news, but this side of eternity in a broken world, we find that we are marked in very painful, inconvenient and disruptive ways.

And the overarching maybe big idea I will give you at the outset of this is how you manage your pain determines how your life will unfold. We're all gonna go through pain. What do we say around here? You don't have to go looking for trouble. Trouble knows where to find you. And at some point we all get smacked in the face. You are either heading into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or you are about to exit a storm. But the one thing that we can all bank on is this life is gonna come with some storms. And the question is, is well, how do we manage the pain? How do we navigate the inconvenience? How do we process the grief and come out on the other side in a way that moves forward towards wholeness and in a way that honors God? And I would say there is a big difference between unprocessed pain and surrendered pain. Pain can either distort things in your life. Pain can either distract you from God's purpose or plan, or pain can deliver you, it can develop you, but how you choose to process it is key. And unprocessed pain is very problematic. There's this assumption that if we'll just stuff it down and we ignore it, over time, it'll just handle itself. And what do we discover? The later it gets, the greater it gets.

There tends to be an elasticity to some of these things, and you can try to ignore it and move on from it, but then you get down the road five years, 10 years, 15 years, and suddenly something happens that triggers something in your life that snaps you back in time to where you find yourself having to deal with a painful season in your life that you just chose not to process. You have to face those things head on if you are going to live a life of health and a life that is moving towards greater wholeness. The other option, as opposed to unprocessed pain, would be surrendered pain. It is learning to say, okay, God, I'm opening my hands and I'm entrusting you fully, and there are so many things outside of my control. One of the great illusions and idols within the church today remains things like control and certainty. We wanna have things mapped out and we wanna be able to manipulate and dictate the details of our lives. And then what you discover is you actually have very little control. You cannot predict and you cannot plan and you cannot determine how everything in your life plays out. And so it is learning to surrender those things and open your hands to God, and where unprocessed pain can lead to bitterness, it can force us into comparison traps,

and it can cause all of us to withdraw from relationships where we build up walls and we become closed off with a calloused heart. But surrendered pain, it positions us in a life of prayer. It develops within us a dependency on God, and as a result of those things, we get to experience the transformation into the character and likeness of Christ. But again, you have to surrender it to God. What is the pain in your life that you've yet to just fully lay at his feet? What are the things that have marked you in negative ways? The trauma, the things that still trigger you to this day, and maybe this week you would find yourself encouraged by Hannah to do what she does and to just surrender it all to God, to see what he might be able to do in the matter that is beyond your own capacity. What we find next is Hannah just so diligently, passionately, and with great resolve, seeks after God and lays her grievances before him. And in verse 10, it says, in her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly, and she made a vow, saying, Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant, but give her a son, well, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life. And when you jump into this,

you have to pause and discuss this idea of the making of a vow. Have you ever made any arrangements with God? You ever found that your prayer life felt more like a negotiation? God, I will do this if you do this. God, I've procrastinated. I didn't study for this exam. I am going to fail. So Lord, I'm asking just this once that you help me pass. I'm gonna go through this Scantron sheet and I'm gonna fill in the bubbles randomly to look like I intentionally selected those answers. But God, I'm asking that you would bless it and give me an A. And if you do, I'll never procrastinate again. I will become the best student you've ever seen. Ever made a deal like that? God, I've gone off the rails. I've made some mistakes. I feel like I'm gonna be in trouble. I don't wanna face the consequences. Would you save me from this crisis? I promise I'm gonna get right with you. I'm gonna be at church every single weekend. I'm gonna join a team. I'm gonna serve on a life group. I'm gonna do all the things. Just get me out of this predicament. And God maybe does so all to find that you stick with it

for a couple of weeks and then you drift back into old habits. We make all kinds of bargains, all kinds of arrangements and deals with God in our prayer life. You might be saying to yourself, God, if you would just bless me with this promotion and you would just provide and give me a pay raise, then I promise I'm gonna start living the generous life you've called me to live. And we go on and on and on, but I think it's important for you and I to understand what is happening in Hannah's story. Hannah makes a vow. She lays out some terms to that commitment and then God fulfills it. And for us in the room, we can read that and think, oh, this is how it works. I need to enter the negotiation table with God. And I would say it would be beneficial for all of us to know the difference between what the world so casually refers to as a promise and what scripture refers to as a covenant. When it comes to vows, there is a difference between a shallow, I promise type statement and a true covenant that you are making with God Almighty. And I would say that a promise often is more focused on personal assurance. God, I promise, but I need you to help me.

And the whole focus there is you getting out of jail, right, you getting out of your predicament, you getting out of your pain, you getting out of your crisis but a covenant is focused on a relational structure and function and framework that you are making a commitment that as you honor your end of the deal, you understand that it will edify, strengthen and draw you closer to God. It is something that comes with a broader perspective. It is something that comes with more consideration. What are the habits, the disciplines, the priorities and the commitments I need to make all so that I can hold up my end of the deal in this covenant vow that I'm making with God. I would say, throw caution to the wind, be careful when you start making vows with God. In scripture, there's no sidestepping the serious nature of placing your integrity on the line and saying, God, I'm all in and I am vowing to hold up my end of the deal. Deuteronomy chapter 23 says this about vows. It says, if you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it. For the Lord, your God will surely require it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what is past your lips for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord, your God. Essentially, what scripture is saying is,

be careful that you don't put yourself on the hook voluntarily for something God didn't command or demand of you. That be careful that you don't enter into. to some covenantal arrangement with God that you are not thinking through what is gonna be required of you to fulfill it. Because the moment you engage in a covenant with an all-powerful, all-knowing, always righteous, holy, magnificent God whose integrity and credibility is impeccable, well, suddenly you now are held accountable for your end of the deal. It's important to point those things out because you can read Hannah's story and take it to endorse the wrong thing. God is not a genie in a bottle to grant us our wish. He is the Lord of the universe who desires and deserves our full adoration and devotion. And so she says, Lord, I vow, if you give me a son, I will give him back to you fully and completely. And as the story progresses, we find her doing exactly that. The moment her son is born, he is commissioned and placed into the efforts and the work of the Lord and used mightily in ways that we will get into later in this study. But there comes a point where this is being birthed out of her prayer life.

Some of the most powerful, beneficial, insightful things that will take place in your life spiritually will be birthed out of seasons of prayer. And there's this moment where she's in the temple, she's praying with authenticity, she's laying it all before the Lord and the priest nearby sees how she is behaving and engaging with God and starts to assume poorly of her. In fact, he sees her processing her grief and his assumption is, well, she's drunk. And he brings that to her attention to which she responds in verse 15, "'Not so, my Lord,' Hannah replied. "'I am a woman who is deeply troubled. "'I have not been drinking wine or beer. "'I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. "'Do not take your servant for a wicked woman. "'I have been praying here "'out of my great anguish and grief.'" And the statement there, I was pouring out my soul, grips me. I believe that prayer is the pouring out of your soul. Prayer is in many ways asking God to experience your theology. God, I know you're good. I know you're faithful. I know you are righteous and merciful. I know your grace is sufficient. I know you provide a peace that surpasses understanding. I know that your joy is often my strength.

I know you have a plan and a purpose for my life. I know that you are sovereign and intentional to work all things together for my good. And I am asking and I am placing my faith before you, requesting that once more, I can experience my theology here and now. When was the last time you audaciously and with some boldness and some honesty approached God in prayer and truly poured out your soul to Him? Sometimes that's what you need to do. You need to pull over into that vacant parking lot where no one's there and you just need to let the tears out. You can weep and process your grief and you can be honest with the things rattling around in the depths of your soul. And God is able and willing and available to take those burdens from you and I. And I would say this when it comes to pouring out your soul that what doesn't get poured out eventually leaks out. When you don't place the burdens and the things that are tormenting your heart and mind into the rightful and able hands of God, eventually those things leak out into other circumstances and situations and show up in your relationships in unproductive and dysfunctional ways. To not process your pain allows those things to live just beneath the surface and what doesn't get poured out, well, eventually it leaks out.

But in addition to that, when you and I pour out our soul to God, we create the margin within us for God to pour into our soul in a way that only He can. So many people are filled to the capacity when it comes to their thoughts and their emotions. They run around full of anger and rage and agitation and frustration and fear and timidity and insecurity and all these things. bottled up within them, and it's not until you create space and you empty out your soul before the Lord that he is able to pour in the things that only he can provide. I'd say it this way, if you're a note taker, prayer is when you pour out what you can't carry all so that God can pour in what you can't produce. It's just saying, God, I trust you. I'm opening my hands. I'm surrendering it all to you. And she comes to him and she weeps bitterly. Out of great anguish, she lays it all before the Lord. And I think that is wonderful. Folks, there is no substitute for prayer. I would say when it comes to God's word and prayer, those things are uniquely set apart as wonderful gifts, things that edify, strengthen, and fortify our relationship with God. And you can run around the world trying to find different things to replace those and to supplement your faith,

but you will discover there is no substitute for the infallible word of God and the gift of prayer where you and I can access the throne of God and we can lay our burdens before him. But that said, prayer is, it's tricky. Prayer's clunky. In fact, I don't think prayer is really easy for anyone at the outset. I get the feeling often when I talk to people that they beat themselves up for unnecessary reasons when they don't have some spiritual momentum early on when it comes to their spiritual disciplines. No, praying and developing a prayer life, it requires time and consistency, and you have to learn to give yourself some grace and not begin to think about it as a performance. I once heard a theologian say, I can think of nothing great that is also easy. I think most of us would agree to that. Anything worthwhile, anything valuable, anything beautiful, wonderful in this life, well, it requires effort. A car in neutral doesn't coast uphill. No, it drifts and rolls to the lowest point. Anything worthwhile comes with some effort. And he says, I can think of nothing great that is also easy. And then he followed it up with this statement. Well, prayer must be then one of the hardest things in the world.

Give yourself grace if you find yourself approaching God through prayer thinking, this is a little tricky. Maybe it's even a little awkward. I can remember the first time I truly started diligently leaning into prayer and thinking those thoughts of, okay, I'm gonna close my eyes and let me get this right. I am talking to an invisible person and not just an invisible person, one God existing in three distinct persons, the Holy Trinity. And so we come into these moments and we get so hung up on how do I say it? How do I articulate it? Dear heavenly, holy, righteous God, Father, Son, Spirit. We attach all these things to it. I once had a lady email me concerned about my closing prayer of a sermon. And she said, I am distressed and disappointed that when you prayed, you had your eyes open and you didn't have your hands folded. To which I thought, how did you see my eyes were open? She was raised in a legalistic church where she was taught that if your hands are not folded with your fingers pointed to heaven, your prayers lack accuracy. Folks, that's not in the Bible. And sometimes we can attach very clunky, religious legalistic things to our prayer life. And what you need to understand is when it comes

to your prayers, God is not looking for a performance. He is not grading your vocabulary. He is receiving your vulnerability. And he wants you to experience the true him. And the only way to do so is to present the true self that you need to bring to the table. I think vulnerability is terrifying for all of us. You ever had one of those moments where you opened up and you shared some personal details with somebody and you maybe disclosed some matters of the heart and then you woke up the next day with a vulnerability hangover and you thought to yourself, oh my gosh, what did I do? What did I say? And tragically, most of us discover that. A lot of people in your life are not able and trustworthy enough to have that type of access. We have a tendency within humanity where we use a person's history as weaponry. And what that does is that jadens our perspective on God, and it comes with hesitation and timidity in our relationships. And we assume that God is going to respond to our vulnerability the same way other people respond to our vulnerability. My wife often says, there's a big difference between authenticity and transparency. Authenticity is telling everybody something. Transparency is telling somebody everything. Should I run it back? Authenticity is telling everybody something.

So you can go through life true to yourself. You don't have to pretend. You don't have to put on a facade. If you're having a bad day, you can say, hey, it's a rough day. You can tell everybody something. But transparency is when you tell somebody everything. And the good news of having a relationship with God is you can come to him fully vulnerable, honest, and transparent. And he receives you and I as we are, as his children, despite the predicaments that we're facing. But to do so and to develop a life of prayer, it is gonna be clunky at first. And I think it's important to understand, maybe think about it in terms of linguistics. How do we learn to communicate? We learn to speak by someone speaking to us, right? That's how we learn to communicate. Someone speaks to us and over time, we learn how to speak back. And that is why the combination of God's word and prayer is so beneficial to you and I. When you open up the pages of scripture, you can hear and sense and gain the voice of God. And you can come in contact with the wonderful promises and purposes and plans that he has declared over your life. And you can discover the things he prefers to talk about with his kids. You can bump into the conversations that he desires to have with you and I.

And when you understand how God speaks to you, you gain clarity as to how you can begin speaking to God. But no, again, God is not looking for your sophistication. He is looking for your sincerity. And when you are honest with the Lord, he's able to do some of his greatest work in your heart. And as time progresses, it says in verse 20, so in the course of time, that statement jumped out at me as I was studying for this sermon. In the course of time, Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son and she named him Samuel, saying, because I asked the Lord for him. That idea of time being a course. Ever thought about all the different courses we bump into in life? A crash course, an obstacle course, a golf course, a four-course meal, a math course. And it's interesting to think of time as a course. But one thing you discover in your relationship with God, and as you go through a journey of faith, God's timing is unique. In fact, it's at times annoying. Ever been frustrated with God's time? Like, bro, I don't know if you're ever early. I know you're always on time, but early does not seem to be a part of your function. God's timing is hard to figure out at times. However, as you do so, you discover his ability to work through every season,

every trial, every moment, every year, every month, every day, he's present and active in your life. And even when you feel like you're down to nothing, God is always up to something. That time is something we learn a great deal about in our faith, that some of the wisest people you will ever meet are those who manage their time well. Time is the one thing we want the most, but it often is the thing we use the worst. Time flies, but you're the pilot. And what we discover is time is free, but it's also priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. But once it's gone, it's gone. Life is here today, gone tomorrow. What does scripture say? It is but a vapor and it is learning to open your hands and trust God with the time of your life. And what you discover and what we see in Hannah's story is God doesn't waste your time. He doesn't waste that season of confusion. He doesn't waste that season of grief. He doesn't waste the sorrow, the pain, the heartbreak, the agony, the anguish. He doesn't waste any of it. And as you stay to the course over time, you find that God was productive with your time. And it is learning to, again, stay open-handed, surrendering all that you're managing

and all that you're facing to God, knowing that I'm going to get down the road and I'm going to discover that you did exactly what I wish you would have done had I known what you knew at the moment. You get down the road and you look in the rear view mirror and suddenly you can trace the hand of God and you find yourself thankful and full of gratitude at times for the moments in your life that were uncomfortable and filled with inconvenience, yet now in hindsight, you see them as a blessing in disguise. You ever found yourself looking at something and you thought, man, that was a terrible season, but in some way, now I'm thankful that it happened. You hang around the church long enough and people of faith, you will hear some pretty bizarre statements. Statements like, man, it's weird to say, but mom's cancer was one of the best things that ever happened to our family. It's weird to say, but my son's car accident was one of the best things that ever took place in his life. And somehow you see God's ability to use the situations that often break us down to break us out. And he uses them instrumentally to shape our character and to oftentimes loosen the hold of things that are entangling us and trying to hold us in bondage. And it's again, learning to say, okay, you're God, I'm not. And faith is often trusting in advance

what will only make sense in reverse. And so she has the child and in verse 27, she says, I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord for his whole life, he will be given over to the Lord. And here we find Hannah fulfilling her end of the deal, fulfilling the vow that she made and she gives back to God. And ultimately that is as parents, something we all must do. One of the hardest things as a parent is accepting the truth and the reality that God loves and cares about your kid more than you do. Anyone find that one hard to accept? You're like, come on, God, I'm obsessed with this kid. But something that comes with a great deal of peace and even at times confidence and delight is knowing that the God of the universe, an almighty, all knowing, always present, unconditional loving God cares deeply about your child in ways you cannot compare to. And she opens her hands and entrust her child back into the Lord's tender care. I think this is where the difference between ownership and stewardship trips a lot of people up. We're very possessive in nature, we want control and we think things belong to us. And then life teaches us that we are here today, gone tomorrow at times and life progresses and all things ultimately belong to God.

And for seasons, he places things in front of us that we get to steward. And that is something that we need to consider. Our focus shouldn't be control, we should understand that with these things comes accountability. In addition to that, our assumption shouldn't be that everything is permanent, but we should live with an awareness that most things are temporary. But rather than drifting into some bizarre form of entitlement, a stewardship mindset anchors yourself to an assignment. God, for whatever reason, this is what you're doing in my life. God, for whatever reason, this is how you gifted me and these are the ways in which you've blessed me and these are the things that you've placed in my hands and I am going to steward them to accomplish your purpose and plans for my life. It's about an assignment, not entitlement. Folks, we're not entitled to anything when it comes to God. And know this, if all we get and the only thing we receive is Jesus Christ on a cross living out the perfection of life serving as an atoning sacrifice to pay ransom for you and I, and then defeating death, hell, and the grave, where he resurrects three days later. If that's all we get, we are blessed and spoiled beyond measure. The fact that he does remarkably more is astonishing.

And this woman goes from a place of pain, to a position of prayer, to an experience of God's provision, to experiencing a privilege that he entrusts her with. It's an amazing story that over time, her gratitude became stronger than her grip. God, you're so good. And even now, with whatever I'm carrying, I know you're with me. And I'm thankful for all that you've done in my life, and I know you're not done. So Lord, I'm loosening the grip, and I'm living a life of gratitude, knowing that there's a good chance I'm going to get down the road and look back on this moment and find myself thinking, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen? I think there is a danger to answered prayers. I think an unanswered prayer, well, it tests your faith. Do you trust God? Do you still find confidence in his character? An unanswered prayer, it tests your faith. But an answered prayer tests your heart, reveals your motives. Why do you want God to intervene in your situation? How will you use that provision if he shows up the way you desire? An unanswered prayer often, it tests our heart. But in closing, what I love about this story and what I love about all of scripture

is every book, every page, every paragraph, every sentence points to, illuminates, foreshadows, and opens our eyes to Christ and his glory. What do we say around here? Scripture is the Father's portrait of the Son painted by the Spirit. And here you have Hannah opening her hands and surrendering and giving her one and only son back to God. And in the Gospels, what you find is God opening his hands, giving his one and only son as a ransom for the salvation of the world. It's an amazing thing. And I would encourage you to consider how good God has been to you despite what you're going through. And to close it with a couple of thoughts about parenting, it's Mother's Day weekend. Hannah's going to go on to raise a mighty man who is a great hero of the faith. And I would say to all the parents in the room, your greatest accomplishment, there's a very good chance it will not be something you do, but someone you raise. And so one of the best questions we can often ask ourselves is, what kind of human, what kind of Christian is my home producing? And how do we live open-handed with our pain as well as our children when it comes to the goodness of God? Amen? At this time, would you stand to your feet at all of our campuses as we close in prayer?

Let's pray. God, we are so thankful for your goodness, thankful for Hannah's story that opens our eyes to your ability and desire to work in similar ways in our own. And God, you are fully aware of the different pains and heartbreaking situations represented in our church. And Lord, whether it is something in a marriage, a family amongst siblings, or a child, maybe it's the extended family at large, that, Lord, it is your ability to bring reconciliation and forgiveness and wholeness back into the fractures of our homes. Maybe the pain is related to a physical illness or injury. Lord, we acknowledge you as the great physician, and we stand here full of confidence, once more placing our faith in you, knowing that in any moment, you can touch an individual's life and do the miraculous and heal them in a way that medicine and doctors cannot. But Lord, we are also thankful for the ways in which you use qualified and brilliant physicians and their skills to bring about. You're healing purposes in and through our life. And so God, if individuals are carrying physical pain, Lord, I ask that you would just be so attentive to them and that your presence would be made known. For the business owner or the person going through professional career challenges, Lord, be ever present. For the individual managing toxic thoughts and feelings,

Lord, would you be ever present. And God, we lay all that we face and experience before you. And once more, we stand in faith knowing that you are good. And even when we cannot see it, God, you are on the move in our life. And so we swell up in gratitude, and we loosen our grip, and we surrender all of our lives to you. In Jesus' mighty and matchless name, we pray. Amen.