Heart Over Hype: 1 Samuel 1

Use this curriculum to help you further engage with the sermon, the scriptures, and each other. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring things up to encourage and guide you so that you are always growing in your faith. If the Spirit leads you away from these questions and into conversation and prayer that encourages and points you to Jesus, go for it.

scripture

Read the following scriptures together: 1 Samuel 1.

overview

1 Samuel follows Joshua and Judges, which recount Israel’s decline as they forgot God, turned to idols, and fell into chaos and spiritual barrenness. The book opens with Hannah, a woman who is childless, physically barren, and ridiculed by her husband’s other wife. Yet unlike the Israelites, Hannah chose a different path – one that can guide us today. Her circumstances brought years of pain and shame as she cried out to God and waited through his silence.

question 1

How do people tend to respond to God’s silence or to the shame that can come with certain life circumstances?

discussion

Luke 18:1-8. Hannah doesn’t get angry with God or walk away from him; she takes her deep anguish and turns it into fervent prayer at the temple of the Lord. She practices the ultimate surrender in promising to offer her son back to God should he bless her with one. Hannah exhibits exceptional faith in the middle of her anguish. Our God is a God who invites us to bring every request, heartache, and frustration to him, promising to be with us during our trials while we wait for his timing. 

question 2

Do you approach God with faith trusting that he hears you and has the power to act, and the desire to act on your behalf? If not, discuss with the group what might be holding you back.

Large gatherings and conferences that hype people up don’t usher in revival – spiritual revival for a nation, a church, and individuals is set in motion through personal surrender. Surrender is the posture that wants God more than God’s gifts; it is not empty words or promises, but real sacrifice. It means releasing the need to control your life and choices and yielding to the Holy Spirit. This requires humility and prayer, asking the Lord to purify your heart and align your desires with his. As people become spiritually alive and live transformed lives, they can help renew churches and cities.

question 3

How would wanting God more than his gifts change the way you pray? Is there an area of sacrifice that you have been reluctant to make?

weekly application

Psalm 51:17 states that the sacrifices acceptable to God are a broken spirit and a “broken and contrite heart,” which he will not despise. Spend time this week reading and praying this Psalm – asking the Lord to bring about a revival and awakening into your life.