Thanks, Mark. It is a joy to be with you all this morning again, and I bring greetings from Grace Community Church in Los Angeles. We have a big conference coming up this week, and so that will fill out the rest of our schedule this coming week. We're so grateful to I host that conference every year. It's an encouragement to so many all over the world. So, we covet your prayers as we head into a big week of ministry. But this morning we have an appointment with God's Word. And so, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter two. 1 Samuel chapter two.
The main answer, the main reason why I'm here is when Andrew calls, I answer. So, everything this morning, is either because of him or his fault because he taught me how to preach. He was my first preaching professor at TMS and I'm kidding because everything that we hear this morning will of course be the very word of God. And he had one requirement for what I would choose to preach. He said, everything we're doing is in the New Testament, and so please preach the Old Testament. And so, 1 Samuel 2 will be in verses 1 to 10 this morning and follow as I read the text. 1 Samuel 2, verses 1 to 10.
(Scripture reading) "And Hannah prayed and said, my heart exults in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you. There is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. Those of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who are full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and He exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them He has set the world. He will guard the feet of His faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them He will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed." (End)
(Prayer) Father, as we approach Your word, we ask that Your Spirit would illumine our minds and open our hearts to what You would have for us this morning from this prayer of your servant, Hannah. Instruct us, teach us much, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. (End)
I wanna begin by asking you a question. What are you like when you get good news? What goes on in your mind and in your heart when you receive even great news, life-changing news? When you experience a big win in life, how do you act? What kind of person does that make you? Some of you, Lord willing, and I'm not a prophet or a son of a prophet, but you will receive very good news soon.
Some of you will close on that business deal you've been working on or on the house that you've been trying to buy. Some of you will receive health news, Lord willing, that you've been waiting for. Some of you will receive a job offer or that MCAT score finally. Some of you will receive the yes to the thing that you've been waiting and praying for.
When you first hear good news, how do you respond? What's going on in your head? How do you feel in your hearts when everything you've been hoping for, everything you've been praying for comes true? At least for a little bit, you probably think about either all the hard work you put in, or all the times that you've prayed for this thing to happen. Maybe you think about how you deserve a big fat break, maybe a little vacation, or at least a big steak dinner. And maybe when the initial excitement wears off, you think about what life will be like with this life-changing news, what it'll be like with that new job, or what your schedule will be like without all the doctor's appointments. Maybe what life will be like at that new school or with that new house.
Well, 1 Samuel 2 shows us the prayer of Hannah. Hannah, whose life has been completely changed. And I believe this portion of scripture is instructive to us because her response to her big win in life is to pray. And it's instructive to us, not just because her response is to pray, but because we see in this prayer what triumphant faith should look like. You see, because here in 1 Samuel 2, Hannah offers a humble, heartfelt prayer that demonstrates how true faith is set on God in the midst of triumph. We so often talk about, and we so often rightly sing about how faith ought to be set on God in trials. Because trials test and expose our faith really like nothing else. And that's true. But I'm convinced we underestimate how triumph exposes our faith because it's in triumph that we see where our real confidence lies.
You see, when we win, we forget about God. When we win, we focus on ourselves, how we feel, what we want to do to relax, how we imagine the future to be like for ourselves. When we get what we wanted. When God indeed works in our favor, we far too often focus on ourselves and bask in our own accomplishments, when instead our hearts ought to be set on God, who is the giver of all good things. Friends, this morning, this passage shows us how we ought to pray when we get what we've prayed for so hard before.
In Hannah's prayer, we see a model of trust in triumph. Trust in triumph. Let's look at three ways we should respond when we win.
First, triumphant faith delights in God's character. Triumphant faith delights in God's character.
This first portion of Hannah's prayer helps us to ask ourselves, when good things happen, what do I find my joy in? Hannah's example teaches us to find our delight in God.
Look at verse one again: “And Hannah prayed and said, “my heart exalts in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.”
Now notice right away, the reason for Hannah's rejoicing, her heart exalts in the Lord, she rejoices because of God's salvation. God's deliverance. And as Hannah prays, she opens up her heart, and we see the joy she has in God. And it's not just because she's won. Her joy is in God.
There's a metaphor here that we see throughout the Old Testament as if Hannah is this majestic animal. Her horn is lifted high in victory. I think of growing up and watching nature shows where you see two deer or a bighorn sheep go at it, right? They pound horns or lock antlers and one ends up in victory. This is Hannah. She's lifting up her horn, head held high because she's won.
She says, my mouth derides my enemies. This word derides is to speak boldly, to have her mouth enlarged. She's big mouthed, but not in her own accomplishment, not in even her own blessing, but because she has experienced what God has done, she is confident, big mouthed about God himself.
Now, naturally, we need to look at the salvation that she has experienced. What deliverance prompts this kind of praise? And the only way to find out, of course, is to look at what has happened in Hannah's life. Flip back to chapter one for a minute.
Look at the very first verse: “There was a certain man of Ramathain, Zophin, of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah, the son of Jeraham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuth. In Ephrathite, he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Panina. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”
You find Hannah in the beginning of 1 Samuel, not in triumph, but in trial. She is facing a burden not unfamiliar to the Bible, nor to our existence, even in the modern day. She is childless, barren. And she is living in a society in which her worth and identity as a woman would have been found in childbearing and childrearing. And yet, Hannah is without.
Hannah's struggle is so timeless and universal that it speaks to your struggles, whether directly or indirectly, what you have gone through, what you are going through, or what you will go through. There may be direct import for you this morning, for you or friends you have or family. Maybe those even in this church family, whether barrenness or health trials. Maybe the trial in your life is different, but just as significant. There's personal hurt, maybe, or struggle with a relationship, or pain of some kind in your life. And if nothing else, Hannah's struggle is an argument of greater to lesser in your life, I'm willing to bet. Because what Hannah is going through in chapter one, it probably overshadows, for most of us, anything you've ever been through.
And so, what we see in her life and how God works is true of your and my life, no matter what the struggle. Verse three goes on to tell of the yearly trip that Elkanah and his wives would take to Shiloh to worship and make sacrifices to God. This is at a time when God's people are in rebellion against Him, and yet Elkanah and his household are devoted worshipers. And as they make sacrifices, Elkanah gives portions of it to his family, and verse five tells us, look there, he gives double to Hannah because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Don't pass over that detail, friends. That the Lord had closed her womb. This is no accident. This is ordained by God. This is under His care. That's an encouragement already for us this morning. Look at verse six and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb. 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. There is tension and drama in Elkanah's house. Between the two wives and Hannah's barrenness and Elkanah's favoritism that we see here, it is a hot mess. Look at verse nine and we see more of what happens in Hannah's story. After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli, the priest, was sitting at the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. And this is Hannah in verse 10.
She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 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.” Before we even get to the prayer that we're looking at this morning in chapter two, this is what Hannah's prayer life looks like. She is deeply distressed in her soul, and she is praying. She is weeping bitterly, and she is crying out to God.
I wonder this morning, for whatever trial that you are in now, or whatever trial that you will come to in the coming days, I wonder if you're willing to go to God. I wonder if even when you are deeply distressed and weeping bitterly, if like Hannah, you are willing to cry out to the Lord for help.
Now Hannah, perhaps out of desperation, but certainly in bold faith and in humility before the Lord of hosts, she makes a vow. And this vow is reminiscent of the Nazirite vow we see in Numbers six. But in Hannah's day that was so forgetful of Yahweh, the single fragment of it remained, that if she were to have a son, he would serve the Lord all the days of his life and a razor would not touch his head. Surely at this point, having been barren for so long, if God were to bless her with a son, in Hannah's heart, it would only be right for this son to serve the living God.
And as we work toward the prayer in chapter two, this perspective is crucial because this is where Hannah started in the depths of despair, weeping bitterly, friends, how you get to the place of meaningful worship and thanksgiving to God that we see in chapter two, wherein triumph, your heart exalts in the Lord and you rejoice in his salvation, is that it begins in trial. You make no mistake about whose sovereign care you are under when you are going through it. Faith that delights in God's character does so in triumph, like in chapter two, verse one, but it is no different in trial.
In chapter 1, verses 12 on, the text shows us this very funny and very real interaction between Hannah and Eli, the high priest at Shiloh. And Hannah, she prays earnestly and she's mouthing the words she's praying. And Eli, apparently, he prays out loud only because he looks at Hannah and thinks that she's drunk. And then Hannah, in verse 15, says, “pouring myself drinks. No, I'm pouring my heart out, my soul out before the Lord.” And Eli, realizing his mistake, blesses Hannah.
And look at the end of verse 18. This is the life verse for some of you. Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. A little bit of blessing from the Lord and the blessing of eating food. And look at verse 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.” 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.” Hannah wins. Hannah's life is completely changed. Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, gives her exactly what she has been praying for, a son. And so, the text says, she names him Samuel.
God has heard. And the rest of the chapter gives us Samuel's birth and being raised until the age of being weaned and him being dedicated to the Lord for service. Look at verse 27: “For this child, I prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord.” As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.
This is Hannah's salvation. This is her deliverance, which may not be the kind of salvation that we think of when we read verse one of chapter two, but as God delivers her from her plight of barrenness. It is a singular demonstration of what He does over and over and over in the smallest and in the biggest ways for His people. You see, because Hannah's name means grace or favor, and that's exactly what she receives from God. The response of her triumphant faith here shows she not only is delivered by God from barrenness, she is also a partaker in God's greater salvation because we see her faith so clearly. Let's get back to Hannah's prayer because I want you to see what's in her heart as she exults in the Lord for her salvation.
Look at verse two: “there is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you. There is no rock like our God.”
Hannah here delights in who God is rather than in her own circumstances. Even when her own circumstances have drastically changed and she has been given what she wanted most, the focus of her joy is God and His character. She declares here the holiness of God, that He is righteous and right to be separate from sinners.
There is none beside Him, no rival, no equal, and no rock who is faithful. This dependable source of strength and security, no one like Him. Here's what Matthew Henry says: “She overlooks the gift and praises the giver, whereas most forget the giver and fasten only on the gift.”
Every stream should lead us to the fountain, and the favors we receive from God should raise our admiration of the infinite perfections there are in God. When you win, where is your delight found? In the gift or in the giver? In what you have received or in the creator of what you have received? When good things happen and prayers are answered, do you pray and give thanks? For Hannah here, when she could be delighting in herself or in her son, she delights mostly in God. Verse three: “talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed.”
It sounds like she's talking smack here to Penina, doesn't it? But the verbs are plural. And so, we know she's not talking at least just to Penina. She's talking to all who are proud in their hearts before God. You see, she sees her own vindication, and she finds it not in holding baby Samuel up to prove Penina wrong. Instead, no, Hannah in triumphant faith finds her vindication in God and she lifts up the name of Yahweh.
She's not gloating here, she's declaring her confidence in God, who is a God of knowledge. He's a God who knows and sees all, and He knows those who are His, and He knows them actually and intimately. He knows every detail of your life if you are His. And that should be a comfort to you this morning. For Hannah, this God has worked mightily, and in her triumph, she delights in who He is.
There's a second thing we need to see in this prayer, and it's this, that triumphant faith rests in God's sovereignty. Triumphant faith rests in God's sovereignty.
When we win, what Hannah's prayer shows us is that our souls should find true and meaningful rest in God's sovereignty. It's the kind of rest and peace for the soul that doesn't just rest on its laurels, expecting the win that you're experiencing to lead to a series of wins, but instead a deepening trust in the God whose sovereign hand rules the universe. It's the kind of rest and peace for the soul that doesn't focus on its own achievement, in a win, and what it thinks it deserves as a reward, but that has a focus on how a sovereign God has worked, and how every win is all of grace.
Here, Hannah models this as she prays, and here she prays with word pictures, proclaiming how she has seen the sovereign God work mightily. In these word pictures, we see a theme of reversal, that as the world seems to operate in its own way, the sovereign God wields His sovereign power, and He works in the world in His own way that turns the world upside down.
Look at verse four: “the bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The baron has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.”
There are three word pictures in these verses. In verse four, first, we see warfare imagery.
The bows of the mighty are broken, and those who are feeble bind on strength. The mighty of the day are overthrown, what would be in the minds of God's people would be enemies like the Philistines, who would clash with them all throughout 1st and 2nd Samuel. And yet God is the God who reverses this. What seems like reality is up to Him. First half of verse five cuts to a scene of reversal with food and hunger. Those who have, those who were full have hired themselves out to earn more money for bread. And those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. Why? Because God has provided for them. And then in the second half of verse five, we see the reversal that Hannah herself has experienced. The barren has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.
This idea of reversal is seen as a theme throughout scripture because the Bible shows us that God's world is God's world through the eyes of faith. We see even in books like the book of Proverbs the way the world is and the principles it operates on according to mankind. And then we also see the reality of the way the world should work and the way that the world will be according to a sovereign God. You see, friends, when God works, and He is always working, when God works, He's not just trying to be counter-cultural.
He's not just trying to work against the grain. The truth in these verses is that the world is His. And He reigns over it even now. And He is not like us. That's the truth in verse two. He operates by a nature and character and principles far beyond our understanding as human beings. He cannot be defined by our sense of the world, by our standard for greatness.
Psalm 115:3: “our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.”
Isaiah 55.9: “for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Trinity, I wonder this morning if when you pray, if you pray as if God is just like you? Do you pray in a way that He must want for you exactly what you want for you? Do you pray according to your own understanding? Or do you pray in a way, at least sometimes, that knows that you don't know what's best for you? But that you have a Heavenly Father who knows exactly what you need.
That's the gospel, because all you and I ever sought was our own sin, our own fleshly desires, and yet God knew exactly what was best for you and I, and that was the sacrifice of His own Son on the cross, and He gave us the forgiveness that only He knew in His wisdom that we needed, and He gave it freely. We live in a world that tells you to take everything into your own hands, to make yourself into something, to take yourself to the next level, to take care of yourself, and of course, to ensure everything. But we live in God's world, and He's in charge.
I wonder if you've had the pleasure of working on a Word document or an important Excel file and you've had the pleasure of losing all of your work. It's happened to too many of us, right? The computer freezes. The device crashes and resets the app. What do you do as you begin to work on your file again? You begin retyping the essay or re-crunching the numbers.
Maniacally, you begin to hit Control S. Every paragraph, Control S. And then every sentence, Control S. Every couple of words, Control S. Every word, Control S, right? That's what this world is telling you. You need to be in control of your own life and your own death, and you need to take the right supplements to make sure of that and grip your life so tightly, it at least feels like you're in control, because you wouldn't want to lose all of your hard-earned work. And you sure want to have all the credit when it's said and done.
But when we win, we need to think not about what we did, but what about God is doing and what He can do. We need to realize that we rest in the arms of a sovereign God. And so, in trial or in triumph, we need to worship and wonder at what He has done for us, and all that He has promised to do, and we can be sure that He will do it. In trial or triumph, more than anything else, we ought to look to God and rest in His sovereign power. And because His ways and His thoughts are higher than ours, we ought to trust Him more and treasure Him more and thank Him all the way along.
You see, it's not just that God is sovereign and could work this kind of reversal in His world, it's that He does work in this way. And we need to see here in Hannah's prayer that because of who He is, is the creator and sustainer of the world, everything is up to Him. It's what Hannah calls attention to in verses six to eight:
“The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and He exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash sheep to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and on them He has set the world.”
It's plain truth there, friends. Life and death are up to Him. Poor and rich are up to Him. Who rules and reigns in this world over countries is up to Him. Because why? The very pillars of the earth, the foundations are His. He put them in place.
In Hannah's day, in this period of the judges, not unlike now, God's people had long lost sight of this sovereign and faithful God who had chosen them in this very fashion, not because of their greatness or their might, but because of His grace. Listen to Deuteronomy 7: “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set is love on you and chose for you were the fewest of peoples but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath he swore to your fathers.”
It's God's word to Israel. Listen to what God's word is to us. 1 Corinthians 1: “For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world. Even things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, ‘let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”
If you are His, this morning, remember the sovereign grace of our God in saving you. And in now, even today, working in your life every step of the way. And especially when you win, rest in God's sovereignty and thank Him for all that He's done.
There's one final thing we need to see in this passage, and it's this, that triumphant faith hopes in God's salvation. Triumphant faith hopes in God's salvation.
Finally, here we see Hannah's prayer is an example for us in steadfast hope in God's final salvation.
A few years ago, I went to the middle of nowhere. I won't tell you exactly where, because maybe some of you are from there. I don't think so, but maybe. From the airport to my friend's house. Again, actually, in the middle of the night. Flight delay, and he picked me up.
All I saw were farmhouses and no other kind of building in sight. A couple of miles of fields and a farmhouse. A couple of miles of fields and then another farmhouse. In fact, the place I went to, the town, I would call it, on Google Maps, it was categorized, like if you tap on it and you look at its details, it was called a village. Just under 2,000 people in that town.
And I remember thinking when I got to my friend's house and began to wind down, in my pride, in my city kid swagger, I remember thinking, does God really work in places like this? By the end of my trip, I saw that he certainly does. A thriving church community, faithful people, and God very evidently working in the lives of many people in that town. And that's the question that would come to mind at the beginning of 1 Samuel. Look back there again: “There was a certain man of Ramathim, Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim.”
That hill country with a name you can barely pronounce. And this is at a time, remember, when God's people are far from him. The book of Judges ends with this: “In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
And so, as we move into 1 Samuel, nothing seems different. Judge after judge after judge, a vicious cycle of sin and judgment.
Does God really work in places and at times like this? And friends, if we're honest, it's a question that's easy to ask now if you look at the news every now and then. Does God really work in times like this? It doesn't seem like it, but I believe the resounding answer found in 1 Samuel 2, 9 and 10 is true then when Hannah prayed it and it's true now. God is indeed working. He is always working and He is working in His ways and by His timing.
That's the truth we find in Hannah's prophecy in verses nine and 10. Look there at verse nine: He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness for not by might, shall a man prevail.
As Hannah has seen, God's deliverance is far beyond a matter of physical strength or ability. But verse nine shows us again the counterintuitive, unexpected way that God works, and especially the way that he saves the wicked are cut off in darkness because their existence is defined by their own efforts. They think that by might, they will prevail. They think that because they're the strongest or richest that their success and riches in honor will last them forever. Doesn't it seem like that's the way the world works sometimes? Isn't it sometimes discouraging to see that? The truth in verse nine is that the faithful prevail and the faithful prevail because they are guarded and strengthened by God, while the wicked are cut off by the failure of their own rather mighty efforts. God is working and God guards the feet of the faithful ones.
And then in verse 10, He destroys those who oppose Him. Look at verse 10: “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them, He will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed.”
This is the full and final judgment of God against His enemies. Everything we see in 1 Samuel 1 and 2 points to the rest of what scripture points to. All of history will find its culmination in a time yet to come. And it's the time when God will win and God will win fully and finally.
A long time ago, when I was a high school student, I took architecture classes that we affectionately called architecture class, architecture. Because I may not look it, but I'm old enough that things like CAD, AutoCAD, weren't a regular thing back then.
And so, what did you do for your project? You took a big piece of foam core and a utility knife and a straight edge, and you began to cut out a foam core model of whatever you had designed with pencil and ruler. We built scale models of the buildings that we tried to design in our high school minds.
Dale Ralph Davis calls Hannah's prayer, and especially verses nine and 10, “a scale model demonstration.” “A scale model demonstration of what God is doing and what He is going to do in eternity.” You see here, God has worked wonders for Hannah by showing His grace to Hannah. Grace. And Hannah is a microcosm of the hope that God's people would have through Hannah, even amidst their sin and rebellion against Him.
Because through Hannah, God's people are given Samuel, the last judge over God's people, who would anoint Israel's first king, Saul, and then anoint Israel's second king, David. Listen to David's song in 2 Samuel 22, and it echoes what we find here in 1 Samuel 2: “For this, I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations and sing praises to Your name. Great salvation He brings to His king and shows steadfast love to His anointed, to David and His offspring forever.”
And we know through King David would come the ultimate King, Jesus. Here we've seen a barren and hopeless woman, Hannah, by God's grace and power, given a son who would lead his people. Her prayer of thanksgiving, an example for us of how triumphant faith prays and exalts the Lord.
And over a thousand years later, another barren woman from the hill country, Elizabeth, would give birth to a son. We know him as John the Baptist. The son would be the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. After me comes He who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
And so, God again would work in the life of a barren woman, both for her good and for the good of His people. But it was Elizabeth's friend, Mary, who would sing a song patterned after this prayer of Hannah. Look at Luke one with me. Luke one and verse 46: “And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord. And my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from the thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy.”
In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has remembered His mercy. He has fulfilled His promises to Abraham and to David. He has worked salvation for all who would believe.
And yet the greatest win is yet to come. It's what 1 Samuel 2 verse 10 speaks of, when He will judge the ends of the earth and give strength to Hs king and exalt the horn of His anointed, that will happen. When Jesus our Savior comes again in victory.
But Trinity, until then, in every trial and in every triumph, let's respond in faith to this faithful God who will reign over all forever. Let's have faith that delights in His character, rests in His sovereignty, and hopes in His salvation. Let's pray together.
(Prayer) Father, thank You for Your word, because in it, we find great help. This morning, we see that in trial or in triumph, our response ought to be one of delight in You, and one of further rest and trust in You. And Lord, not to be short-sighted, one of hope in your salvation. That You will do exactly what You have said You will do. You will bring us home to You, and it's only by the blood of Christ that we can have this kind of faith. And so, Lord, I ask this morning that You would work in this church family, that You would even this morning bring some to Yourself, savingly, and that for so many others that God, You would grow them in faith. Faith that trusts You in triumph. We pray all this and we thank You in the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen. (End)
