God Is Bigger Than Anything

Tom Shrader draws from 1 Samuel 1–2 to show that Hannah's barrenness and her subsequent prayer of praise reveal a core principle: God makes human inability His starting point, and His people can trust Him precisely because He is holy, all-knowing, all-powerful, and just. The sermon moves from Hannah's story into a broader call for believers to cultivate a deep, accurate knowledge of God, arguing with A.W. Tozer that how a person thinks about God shapes every other area of life. Shrader closes by connecting three calendar dates—the presidential inauguration, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, and Right to Life Sunday—urging the congregation to hold both celebration of racial progress and grief over abortion as a present moral crisis. “God's tendency is to make our total inability His starting point. Our hopelessness and our helplessness are no barrier to His work; indeed, our utter incapacity is often the prop He delights to use in His next act.” — Tom Shrader Series: Samuel Recorded in 2009 Duration: 56 min Themes: prayer, trust, holiness, suffering, hope, justice, praise, pro-life, struggling with infertility, feeling hopeless, grieving loss, new believer, parent, navigating moral issues, young adult, feeling powerless Topics: attributes of God, omniscience, divine sovereignty, omnipotence, theology proper, knowledge of God, sanctification, biblical ethics Scripture: Judges 21:25, 1 Samuel 1:2, 1 Samuel 1:4, 1 Samuel 1:6-7, 1 Samuel 1:10, 1 Samuel 1:11, 1 Samuel 1:20, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, 2 Timothy 3:3-5, 1 Peter 3:12, Proverbs 3:5-6, Daniel 3:17, Daniel 5, Genesis 22, Hebrews 11:32-38, Romans 8:28, Luke 1:46-55, Luke 1:67-79 — About Priority Living AZ — Priority Living AZ preserves the teaching legacy of Tom Shrader. Browse the full archive at prioritylivingaz.org/archives