Keith Battle - God's Waiting Room

I’m going to get into the Word of God right now, and if you have a Bible, I’m going to be in First Samuel, Chapter One—the Old Testament book and the first chapter of that book. So, if you have a Bible, you can follow along with me there now. If you have one, but you don’t feel like getting it, that’s all right; the verses will come on the screen for you to follow along with me as we go into this message today. In First Samuel, Chapter One, I’m going to begin reading at verse one from the New Living Translation and will end my reading at verse eight. Here’s what the Word of God says to us today: «There was a man named Elkanah who lived in Rama in the region of Zuph, in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph from Ephraim.» Verse two: «Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.» Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not. Each year Elkanah would travel to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies at the tabernacle. The priest of the Lord at that time was the son of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas. On the days Elkanah presented his sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to Peninnah and each of her children. Verse five says, «And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children.» So Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children. Year after year it was the same; Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat. «Why are you crying, Hannah?» Elkanah would ask. «Why aren’t you eating? Why be downtrodden just because you have no children? You have me! Isn’t that better than having ten sons?» Look at verse two again; it says, «Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.» Verse five: «And though he loved Hannah, he would give her only one choice portion because the Lord had given her no children.» Verse six: «Peninnah would taunt Hannah and make fun of her because the Lord had kept her from having children year after year.» Verse seven says, «It was the same; Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat.» And verse eight says, «Why are you crying, Hannah?» Elkanah would ask. «Why aren’t you eating? Why be downtrodden just because you have no children?» I want to use the subject today: «In God’s Waiting Room.» Let’s pray: Father, please speak to us through your Word now. Make preaching easy, transformative, and life-changing, and we thank you for this opportunity. In Jesus' name, Amen.

God’s Waiting Room. Waiting is a very difficult thing to do, particularly in the world we live in, which seems to be obsessed with speed. We want everything fast; we want our food fast, and we want to get our vaccinations fast—in and out of the vaccination site. We tend to go in the fastest lines; we choose the shortest checkout line and the quickest check-in points because we like things to happen quickly. Waiting is very difficult for us. I know personally, some of you may be familiar with a story in this book of First Samuel. There was a king named Saul who was waiting with his people for seven days for Samuel to show up and bring the Lord’s sacrifice on behalf of the people. They waited seven days, and after seven days, Samuel didn’t show up. Saul broke covenant and broke the law, offering a sacrifice himself because he got tired of waiting. Maybe you can relate to that. We all know what it’s like to be waiting on someone to do something for us, and when they don’t come through, we do it ourselves because we just get tired of waiting. I know in my world, I’m used to waiting—whether it’s in an antecedent room, a green room, or a pastoral lounge. I’ve been waiting for years for it to be time to speak, waiting for the song to be sung, the prayer to be prayed, or even now in virtual spaces where I have speaking engagements or interviews to do. They have these virtual waiting rooms or these virtual green rooms, or these virtual back rooms where you’re just sitting there waiting for your name to be called and for your airtime to come. For me, waiting is just difficult; it’s just uneasy. I just don’t like waiting. If you can relate to that, just put in the chat right now: «Me too! I don’t like waiting for stuff.» But if you think about it, some of us don’t even like waiting for things that aren’t even that serious. We can’t wait for a television show we’ve been looking forward to, or we can’t wait for a certain movie to come out. We even say, «I can’t wait to go on this vacation.» But imagine what it was like to be Hannah. Imagine what it was like to be in a situation where you’re married…