Morling Tuesday Chapel: Impossible births

Speaker: Jess Gough

Scripture: 1Samuel 1-20

Have we ever encountered the experience of trying to help, but not really helping? For example, a toddler trying to help a baby sister by check on the baby but waking her up instead. Lovely, but probably makes things busier.

In the beginning we see the pedigree of Elkanah’s prestigious line. We see Elkanah faithfully fulfilling his duties to God and his two wives. Infertility in the context of the Ancient Near East: Hannah’s primary role as a wife was to have children, but she couldn’t do that, so she was devastated. Could this be why Elkanah got Peninnah?

Judges 21:25: “Everyone did as what they saw fit.”

The description of Eli raises a serious question about the capability of Israel’s religious leaders. A leader who’s unable to distinguish between someone who’s praying and pouring their souls out to the Lord vs a drunken person? A leader who goes straight to accusation (calling Hannah drunk) before investigation the situation further (which was not being very helpful)? This assumption might reflect how Eli is already used to seeing/ the way the people of Israel usually behaves. Even Eli’s sons were scoundrels.

1Samuel 1:10: “Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.”

Do we need to put on our perfect masks? Laments: praying to God in our pain and desperation. Hannah’s prayer may sound like bargaining though. In the OT, to ask God to remember is to look back at His promises that He will take action. It’s about what God had already done, and reaching out to a God who’s faithful.

Luke 1:46-48: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed...”

We can be certain the One who we call on is the One who cares. To be seen and heard by our faithful God is a blessing, a cause for us to lift up our eyes.

1Samuel 1:20: Regarding the name Samuel, “Because I asked for him.” The Hebrew pronunciation Samuel sounds like “heard” by God, even though it doesn’t mean “heard”. (Actually this topic is under some debate. The Hebrew name שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu'el) could mean either “name of God” (Shem El) or “God has heard” (Sh'ma El).

God uses an impossible birth to mark that He is doing something significant in Israel! (Think about barren women like Sarah giving birth to Isaac, Rachel giving birth to Joseph, Manoah’s wife giving birth to Samson, and Moses surviving the great infanticide, etc). In dedicating her child to the Lord for his entire life, Hannah is given the opportunity to play a part in this great thing God is doing.

And when the virgin gives birth to a son (plus Jesus surviving the infanticide commanded by Herod), that is the most miraculous event in history! God is doing something big in this world, and just like Hannah, we are given a role to play in that.

Note: blue font=extra things I’ve added in.

Mission impossible

Last week has been an action filled “missions” week. Not only did the Morling College Chapel and the church bible study group talk about missions as topic of the week, but my friend who works for a mission school in Taiwan came by for a visit and Rev. Ross Paterson, a British missionary who’s very well known in Taiwan, being the founder of the Antioch Missions and Chinese Church Support Ministry, also came to Sydney to give a sermon!

http://am.amccsm.org/

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2406523-the-antioch-factor-the-hidden-message-of-the-book-of-acts

I saw some very touching videos on missions in bible study, such as the Tears of the Saints:

https://youtu.be/VtQbzRmmMfk

And saw a couple of articles on the aging population in first world nations:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-sex-problem-setting-demographic-160500766.html

When I prayed with my visiting friend using a daily devotional magazine, the topic is on Joshua 18:1-10, which describes how seven of the tribes that have not yet received their inheritance become very passive, wanting to remain in their comfort zones, and lost the passion to conquer the promise land. It makes us reflect on how some very well-resourced churches and Christians are becoming like this in modern days.

Ross gave a talk contrasting the church in Antioch which sends people out vs. the church in Jerusalem where people stay in their comfort zones (the talk is in Mandarin):

http://www.1503.org.au/download_files/sermons/SS_N_2016_09_11.m4a

So I thought about many issues:

There’s such an uneven distribution of resources in the world! Interestingly, in areas with rich resources, be it first world countries or Mega churches, people seem to go into decline: For instance, the population becomes infertile and faces the “aging population crisis”. And in the more wealthy churches, some people might be quite busy in ministry keeping the church running, but as numbers grow it can be plagued with infightings, with a declining proportion of people being “sent out” into the community and places of need.

In developed nations, the problems associated with human nature are still present. Competition continues and the tendency of workaholism and discrimination continues. So people continue to fight for a better life, eg. equality in the work place, better work hours, psychological therapies to heal mental woundedness, etc. These are all good things. However, whilst fighting for a better and healthier life, the fertility rate is in rapid decline. Policies and values might change for the better, but if there are hardly any young people left, there’s a lack of inheritance of these values, and what is the value in this? The heavy burden on the future generation will still be inevitable: People in developed nations live in better environments and have a higher life expectancy. The high life expectancy means a decline in mortality: since people are living longer, there will be more and more elderly people in the population proportion. We also see a decline in fertility in these nations, which means there will be less and less young people in the population. The factors described will give rise to an upside down pyramid. As the children and the elderly depend on others, people of working age 15-64 carry the most burdens. As the numbers of the elderly people increase, there will be more and more burden on the people of the working age. Although the number of children may be declining, when the people of the working age retires, there will be less people of the working age to carry the burden because there are less children coming through. According to Lawrence Kotlifoff (Economist Boston University), if the same disease patterns of aging continue in the next 20 years, it will bankrupt the healthcare system!!

And guess what populations are the most fertile today? The future will inevitably lie in the hands of these people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependent_territories_by_fertility_rate

When people grow up in horrible environments of abuse, suffering, and competition, what will happen to their hearts? All of their energies are probably concentrated on survival…the survival of the fittest! People who had to desensitise themselves from emotions in order to survive! Seeing others as potential competitors or oppressors and therefore hostile to those around them.

Interestingly, when excessive people gather in a zone of comfort, problems also happen. People start worshiping their own feelings and still go around complaining you don’t look after their feelings even when you’re already trying your best. And then there is all these people problems, and people refusing to work together as a team, etc. Just like the Israelites Moses had led! Competitions and hostility towards each other is still ever present. 

Ross said he never regretted responding to the call to go to Taiwan in 1969. He’s sure he would still have received blessings from God even if he had stayed in the UK, but he felt he’s gotten even more out of responding to the call to Asia. Ross says there would not have been a Paul if there was no Barnabas. He believes some are called to the frontline of missions, and some are called to the role of Barnabas, the nurturer of the future frontline workers.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Luke 10:2

Brenda's amazing testimony: Stepping out in faith, impossible to difficult to done!

Brenda, a sister from church, made an amazing testimony about her new music CD today! Back in 2006, when she had no background learning in music at all, the Holy Spirit inspired her to write hymns. Initially she just sang out and recorded the tunes in her head onto the mobile phone. Then, with the help of friends with musical background, she wrote out musical score sheets.

Last year, many pastors prayed for her, including Rev. Ross Paterson (who didn't even know her when he prayed for her), who said that the process of her upcoming task with go from impossible to difficult to done!

And indeed, when the doors opened last year, Brenda walked out in faith, and produced this new CD, “Forever Faithful”.

https://brendayim.wordpress.com