Return To Sender
Pt. 1 - Special D
I. Introduction
Written by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott wrote the song Return To Sender in 1962 and was first recorded and released by none other than Elvis Presley. On November 11th, 1962 the song peaked at #2 for 5 weeks on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart because it was featured in Elvis' hit movie "Girls, Girls, Girls." The concept is that a letter or package that was either addressed incorrectly or lacked enough postage is returned to the person who sent it. There is a line in the song that says, "I write I'm sorry, but my letter keeps coming back. So, then I dropped it in the mailbox and sent it special D." The account I want to read today chronicles a special delivery in Scripture that I want us to consider this morning.
I Samuel 1:1-11, 24-28, 2:1-2 (NIV)
There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 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, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
24-28
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 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 he worshiped the Lord there.
2:1-2
Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
I think it is essential to recognize an underlying truth that Hannah knew from her prayer in those last 2 verses. She realized that not only was God the only One who could meet her need she recognized He was the ultimate source of blessing. It isn't because you have your dream job or a nice boss. God alone is our source! Everything else is a channel He chooses to use as a delivery system to get it to us. I think we should be thankful for the delivery systems, but I also think we need to look past the delivery system and remember the source.
You have what you have health or wealth because of Him. Hannah knew that do you? Or do you think you are a self-made man? Do you think the company you work for is your source? I have news for you the channel can dry up and the source will still have plenty of supply! That is why, like Hannah and like James tells us in James 1:17, we must conclude that every good and perfect gift comes from heaven above. If you have been blessed or will be blessed it is ultimately from God and God alone. It is necessary to know this so that when it is time to return to sender we ascribe glory, gratitude and giving to the right person and place!
So, with the understanding that God is THE SENDER established first I want to look at two things this account addresses that we need to see.
Lack of contentment leads to confinement.
Notice if you will that Hannah was in a great situation. She was deeply loved. In fact, Scripture says her husband would give her a double portion of meat to sacrifice each year at the temple. Then it says he did this because he loved her. It never tells us he loves his other wife. Maybe he did. But from Scripture we are told he loved Hannah. So, when he finds Hannah weeping, he doesn't understand and asks her "Am I not better than 10 sons?" I mean being a trophy husband is exhausting. Old Elk is like come on Hannah. Girl, you got all of this and you aren't content? (Come on men . . . look at your woman right now and . . .) What's the issue here! What he apparently didn't know is that Hannah was being constantly and cruelly ridiculed by Peninnah. She would constantly remind Hannah that she didn't have what she had which was children. Hannah had by all accounts reason to be content but because of the outside pressure of Peninnah she was overtaken by discontent. Her lack of contentment confines her to feeling less than, sadness, sorrow and by her own admission great anguish and grief. She is confined by Peninnah's laughter when she should have been content in Elk's love.
I would submit to you that too many of us have a Pehninnah in our life too. For all intents and purposes, we have reason to be content - we are the most blessed folks on the planet - but because of outside voices and pressures we are unhappy in what should be a happy life. For most of us Pehninnah is the media. We are bombarded with 1500 advertising images each day. Telling us we won’t be happy until we get these things 1500 times a day. If you had this, then you would be happy. An advertiser's number one goal is to stir up discontent in us. It could be our neighbor who has something we don't have. But the end result is the same. Overcome by discontent in what should be a contented place we can find ourselves confined by what others think or obsessed because of what others have! We find ourselves confined by debt we didn't have to take on, but we couldn't be content.
We must come to the place that Paul came to and learn a secret - the secret of contentment.
Philippians 4:12 - I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Otherwise, we will be discontent in situations that we should be content in! We end up giving power to voices that will do nothing but stir up discontent and cause us to miss the blessing already at hand.
Notice the depth of Hannah's longing for a son. She longed so deeply for a son that when she went to the temple to pray and request a son the account tells us that Eli sees her praying and assumes she is drunk because she is so moved that her lips are moving but no words are coming out. I think that we read that and just conclude she was praying silently and I think we miss the depth of anguish that is being revealed. When confronted by Eli she replies . . . I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief. It is essential to get that understanding to get the feeling she had.
It is out of this place of deep longing that she approaches God and makes a request. God responds. He gives her a child. That is noteworthy. God responds to the needs of His people. We have all experienced that.
However, what I want you to notice today is Hannah's response to God's response. I think we often approach God like Hannah did and we make our petitions known. And just like God did for Hannah He responds to us and births a miracle in us - financial answers, health miracles, dreams become reality. But I am afraid that too often we fail to respond like Hannah responds to God's response. How do we respond to God's response?
Hannah's response gives us a New Testament glimpse in the Old Testament. She responds to God's response by returning to sender. She literally gives her son back to God for the rest of his life. How is that New Testament?
Because in the New Testament generosity wasn’t minimized it was in fact radicalized from 10% to 100%. She gives 100% back to the Sender. Too many of us want to be New Testament believers but we want to do it without a New Testament response. We struggle with 10% when the New Testament standard is 100%.
Does our response to God's response reveal entitlement rather than gratitude? She responded to her request being responded to with gratitude and by giving her most tangible treasure back to the sender. How many of us respond to our request being met by making more requests? No pause for gratitude! Instead, we go right back to our needs list. Hannah's response revealed that she loved the Giver more than the gift. Then does our response show that we love the gift more than the Giver?
My question is simply when are you going to give your Samuel back to the sender? When will your greatest treasure be place on the offering?
Forget the 10%. In a financial series I know you expect to be challenged to give 10%. But let's go for the jugular today. When are you going to get to the place with God where everything you have is His. You can have it all. Nothing is off limits and I wouldn't dare tip after all you have done! This account forces us to examine our heart. Will we return anything back to God? Will we return everything back to God?
What matters most means most. Generosity is about value not about amount. Sacrifice is about sentiment not about cost. What we send back to sender reveals how much we value the sender!
