“TIME FOR A LITTLE MORE KAIROS TIME”
I SAMUEL 1:4-20

4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters.
5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.
6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.
7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.
8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.
10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.”
15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.
16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.”
17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.”
18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her.
20 And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.”

Tell me if you can relate to this experience that I had last Monday. I stopped in to Honey Dew Donut shop. As soon as I walked through the door I saw that there were eight or ten people in line. So, I got back in my car and left. I don’t know about you but I hate waiting in really long lines. I hate waiting in long lines at the grocery store. Why is it that I always end up in the line where they need to do a price check or the sweet little old lady gets into an argument over an expired coupon? I hate the long line that you have to deal with to pay your $2.00 toll on Route 95 in New Hampshire. I hate the long line that you have to stand in at the post office to mail your Christmas cards. I hate waiting in line. How about you?
Of course, to be fair, some people feel the same way when it comes to ministers and their sermons. Take the man who got up to leave in the middle of a minister’s sermon. “Excuse me,” the minister said, “but where are you’re going?” The man turned around and glared at the minister. “I have to get my hair cut,” the man said. The minister couldn’t believe it. “Why didn’t you get your hair cut before you got here?” “Because,” the man replied, “I didn’t need a haircut when you started your sermon.”
People these days don’t like to wait. We want what we want and we don’t want it tomorrow or a week from tomorrow. We want it now. The same thing is true when it come to our relationship with God. We don’t want God to answer our prayers tomorrow or a week from tomorrow. We want God to answer our prayers right now. That was certainly true for the rich man who was involved in a big business deal. The business deal was a merger that had the potential to earn the rich man a couple million dollars. Well, the rich man decided to not to take any chances. So, he went to a big cathedral and sat down in a pew next to a poor man who was also there to pray. The poor man bowed his head. “Lord,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just lost my job and I don’t have enough money to buy food for my kids.” The rich man slowly shook his head. He then pulled out his wallet and gave the poor man a hundred dollar bill. Then as the poor man sat there in stunned silence the rich man bowed his head. “Lord,” he said, “Now that I have Your undivided attention how about that merger?”

Yes. Sometimes you even get impatient with God. You don’t want God to answer your prayer tomorrow or a week from tomorrow but sometimes that’s what happens. You pray and then you wait and wait and nothing happens. When that happens you could end up feeling the same way the psalmist felt when he cried out, “How long O LORD! Will you forget me forever?”

Hannah may have felt that way. Hannah prayed and prayed for a son and nothing happened. Hannah didn’t give up though. She kept on praying and eventually God gave Hannah what she wanted. Hannah gave birth to a son and named him Samuel.

So, here’s the question of the day. Why didn’t God make Hannah wait and after making her wait why did God choose that particular moment to give her what she wanted? As we wrestle with that question there is one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty. God didn’t give Hannah what she wanted because of the deal that she made that day in the Temple. Hannah’s deal was a simple one. “O LORD,” she said, “if you give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life…”

What Hannah did that day is very similar to what happens when a person says, “LORD, if You let me win the lottery I’ll give you 20% of all the money I win.” Or the person who says, “LORD, if You let my sister live I’ll go to church every week.” Or the person who says, “ LORD, if you let the Patriots win the Super Bowl this year I’ll put an extra $10 in the collection plate every Sunday for a whole month.”

God doesn’t make deals like that and God didn’t give Hannah what she wanted because of the deal she made that day in the Temple. No. If you want to understand why God made Hannah wait and why God choose that particular moment to give Hannah what she wanted you have to look at the difference between chronos time and kairos time. Chronos and kairos are Greek words that have to do with different kinds of time. Chronos or chronological time is what we live with every day. It’s the time that is measured by the ticking of a grandfather clock. Chronos time says that there are exactly sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year.


Chronos time is what we live with every day. When it comes to God and prayer though you’re dealing with a different kind of time. Instead of chronos time you’re dealing with kairos time. Now the essence of kairos time can be seen in some famous words from the Book of Ecclesiastes. It’s a passage that has brought comfort to millions of people over the years. It’s the passage that starts with these simple words: “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”

Kairos time says that there is a time and a season for everything under heaven and God is the one who knows when the time is right for everything under heaven ; not you or me or anyone else. God knew when the time was right for Hannah to give birth. God knows when the time is right for your prayers to be answered.

You can see the difference between chronos and kairos time in a story about a father who scolded his son one day. The father scolded his son when he came home late from school. The father was convinced that the walk from the school to their house should only take about 20 minutes and he decided to prove it. The next day the father made the walk with his son. When they got home the father turned to his wife and admitted that he had been wrong. The 20 minutes was a reasonable amount of time the father said, “but I forgot to consider such important things as a side trip to track down a trail of ants…or a stop to watch a man fix a flat tire…or the time it takes to swing around a half-dozen telephone poles…or the time it takes for a boy to get acquainted with two stray dogs.”

Life becomes a lot better when you embrace kairos time. That’s because chronos time is all about keeping schedules and stress. It’s all about rushing from here to there to get things done. Kairos time, on the other hand, is all about waiting for God and being ready for the blessings and the grace filled moments that God will bring into your life when the time is right.

That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago out in Franklin, Massachusetts. It happened when 3 year old Ryan Baima made an amazing discovery while playing in his back yard. Did you hear about this story? It was on the 6 o’clock news. Ryan was digging in some dirt when he discovered a pair of wedding rings. The wedding rings had been in the ground 33 years. Joan Mulligan, the original owner of the house, lost them back in 1976 while she gardening in the back yard. Ryan found the rings even though eight truckloads of dirt had been removed from the yard over the last couple of weeks. When Joan Mulligan got the call from Ryan’s mother she couldn’t believe it. She was so thrilled she gave Ryan $50 and here’s the best part of the story. One of the reasons Joan Mulligan was thrilled is because she now has time to get the wedding rings repaired and ready. Ready for what you ask? Ready for a big event next year. You see next year Joan Mulligan and her husband will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. Kairos time says it wasn’t a coincidence that Ryan Baima found those wedding rings just before Joan Mulligan’s 50th wedding anniversary. So the next time you’re waiting for a prayer to be answered just remember you can do one of two things. You can live by chronos time in which case you’ll bow your head with the psalmist and cry out, “How long O LORD. Will you forget me forever. Or you can enter into kairos time in which case you’ll bow your head and calmly join the psalmist in saying, “Wait for the LORD. Be strong and let your hearts take courage. Yea, wait for the LORD.” Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes November 15, 2009