The Birth of Samuel
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1 Samuel 1:1–2:11 (ESV)
There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.
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. 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?”
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. 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.”
As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 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. And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 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.
Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 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.
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.”
The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.” Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.”
So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli.
And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 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.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
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. 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 barren has borne 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.” Then Elkanah went home to Ramah. And the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest.
Old Testament!!
Christian books
Many of those we read about are our brothers and sisters in Christ
God’s unfolding plan - it’s still unfolding!
Christ is here - same voice
Historical context - Exodus, wanderings, Joshua’s conquest, the time of the judges, the story of Ruth and Boaz
The book of Ruth ends with this:
Ruth 4:21–22 (ESV)
Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
And then 1 Samuel begins:
There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.
We are introduced to a man named Elkanah who lived in the territory belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. We are told in 1 Chronicles that Elkanah is a Levite. How can that be? When God gave the allotment of territories to Israel, the Levites had no cities of their own. They were the ministers of God, and they lived among all the people of Israel. Elkanah lived in Ephraim.
And that this is a family of Levites is important to understand what we see here in this first chapter.
Let’s meet Elkanah’s wives.
He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord.
We see that Elkanah has two wives. Polygamy was a reality in the ancient world. And this is not the time to get into whether it was right or wrong then. What’s important to notice is that Elkanah had two wives, and had a family with one of them, but no children with the other.
We also see that Elkanah was a devout man. He would go to the Tabernacle - which was at Shiloh - for the yearly feasts as God commanded. Every year, every male had to come before God three times in the year for the major feasts:
The Feast of Unleavened bread that followed the Passover
the Feast of Harvest, or Pentecost
the Feast of Ingathering
Elkanah was obedient to these commands
And we are also here introduced to Eli, who is the High Priest, and His sons were also priests. This is similar to how Aaron was High Priest and his sons were priests along with him. They will all come back into play later in the book.
On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.
At the yearly feasts, there were celebrations that would accompany these religious observances, and families would eat together. In Deuteronomy 12 we read:
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
So imagine for a minute what these feasts are like for Hannah. God commanded that when people would come to sacrifice before Him, that there would be a celebratory meal for the household.
And this meal - this feast - was a celebration for all the blessings God has given to His people. And they and their whole household are supposed to rejoice together.
So every time they went, and the feast would begin, Elkanah would dole out the food. He would give food to Peninnah, and then food to all her children - multiple sons and multiple daughters.
Then, he would, out of love for Hannah, give her more than he gave anyone else.
But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb.
But for her, this would be nothing but a reminder of the blessings she doesn’t have. That portion of food - a double portion that would make her stand out - would be like an alarm going off pointing out that God has not blessed her.
And we see here the writer of the book, whoever it was - we don’t know - this writer points out that it is God Who has closed Hannah’s womb. God had sovereignly kept her from having children.
So while the devout Elkanah would go to sacrifice and eat before the Lord, year by year, Hannah would be reminded that God was withholding blessing from her, year by year.
And it gets worse for Hannah:
And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.
Peninnah and Hannah are rivals. I would imagine that would be the case in every polygamous family.
And the “provoke her grievously” in the Hebrew says “provoke provoke her.” You can provoke. But you can take it up a notch and provoke, provoke someone. It speaks to the level of provocation. This wasn’t just teasing. This was intended to hurt Hannah.
So we are seeing patterns repeated here. The Old Testament sheds light on certain patterns that happen over and over again throughout the history of redemption.
Hannah is being put forth as similar to the matriarchs of the book of Genesis - Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, the wives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were all barren until God opened their wombs.
Peninnah is being put forth as a type of Leah - Jacob’s other wife who he was tricked into marrying. She had children, and Rachel was super jealous of her. And they were sisters. And they became rivals for Jacob’s affection.
But there is a major difference between Hannah and Rachel. Rachel decided to take matters into her own hands and had Jacob have children with her handmaiden. That is another pattern, because Sarah does the same with Abraham when she can’t have children.
But Hannah is different. She is as devout as her husband - maybe even more than her husband. Because she never takes matters into her own hands, as we will see.
So, these two, Elkanah and Hannah, are being held up as examples of faithful followers of YHWH. They obey Him. But they obey Him because they trust Him.
They were saved by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.
And because she trusts YHWH - because she has great faith - Hannah doesn’t take matters into her own hands. She relies on God.
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. 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.”
And realize how faithful Hannah is. In the entire Old Testament, there is one woman that is said to go before God at the Tabernacle or Temple. And it’s Hannah here.
In the entire Old Testament, there is only one woman who is said to have made and kept a vow unto God. And it’s Hannah here.
She is an example of godliness like no other woman in the Bible.
She relies fully and only on God.
Why?
Because there’s nothing else she can do.
She is sad. She feels helpless. She is missing out on a blessing she desperately wants. She’s barren. And realize, in ancient Israel, barrenness was believed to be a punishment by God. And we saw that it was, in fact, God that was withholding children from Hannah. And many would say therefore that God is punishing her.
But she doesn’t believe that. She knows that God is in control, and God has a reason for everything. So because she is sad. Because she is utterly helpless. Because there is nothing within her that can change her situation.
Because she knows that God is working His will through this situation, she comes to God.
She comes to the Tabernacle. She draws close to God, and she prays: “God, look at me and see my suffering. God, please give me a son.”
And then she expresses her utter devotion to God. She says she will give her son to God, and that no razor will touch his head.
What is that about?
Well, back at the Exodus, God saved Israel from Egypt by cursing Egypt with the ten plagues. And the last plague was the death of the firstborn son. And at Passover, the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the Israelites meant that their firstborn son would not be killed.
So all of Israel’s sons were saved.
And then after God led them out of slavery, He demanded of Israel that all of their firstborn sons now belonged to Him. He saved them, and they were His. They would have to devote their firstborn sons to God - to His service.
But God, in His grace, allowed Israel to redeem their firstborn sons - actually, He redeemed them - by calling one entire tribe of men to Him - and that was the tribe of Levi - the Levites. The tribe that Elkanah was from. God commanded that they - the tribe of the Levites - would be devoted to serving Him.
Now, why would Hannah offer to God what He has already commanded?
Because she has faith. God commands much of His people. God requires much of us as Christians. But fulfilling requirements does nothing for us or God. It’s really our hearts that God wants. What He requires, He wants us to willingly give Him. He wants us to want to give Him what He wants.
That’s faith.
That is the faith He wants and the devotion He wants.
That is the faith Hannah had. That is the devotion to God that she had.
She prayed that God would give her the blessing of a son, and she tells God she will give the blessing right back. Because she knows all she has is of God. She knows that all God gives us - is rightfully His.
That is how great her faith is!
How is our faith? Do we know that everything we have belongs to God? That what we have is His, to be used His way and for His glory?
Well, here’s the thing, knowing it and living it are two different things. The real question is: do we live as if all we have is really God’s? Hannah did. It was more than just acknowledging that everything she had was God’s. Plenty of people say they know that everything they have is God’s.
But do we use what we have as if it really were God’s?
We see here Hannah’s great faith, because she did.
But there’s more. Hannah not only says that her son will be God’s, but that no razor will touch his head. This is referring to what was known as a Nazarite Vow. The word “Nazarite” means someone who is “consecrated” “separated” or “devoted”. It was a vow people would take when they were going to spend an extended period devoting themselves to the things of God. We read all about this in Numbers 6.
And there were requirements for those who took this vow - they couldn’t eat grapes or drink wine, they couldn’t touch anything dead, and they couldn’t cut their hair. And that’s what Hannah is referring to here.
She is using the same exact wording that God does when He gives the rules for anyone taking the vow:
Numbers 6:5 (ESV)
All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head.
But what was most important about the Nazirite vow is: nobody had to take the vow. It wasn’t commanded. This was a voluntary giving of one’s self to God. It was offering your life as a living sacrifice to God for no reason other than that you wanted to.
God promised no extra benefits to the person taking the vow, except that they would be separated unto Him. That was the benefit. That was their reward.
Here, Hannah is not only freely offering her Levite son unto God, she is freely setting him apart beyond what is required even of a Levite.
This was Hannah’s freewill offering to the Lord.
And in the Bible, there is only one other time that a man yet to be born was set apart as a Nazirite from his birth. In the book of Judges we read about Samson - probably and unfortunately the most famous of all the judges of Israel.
And if you know the story, you know two things. First, God commanded that Samson be a Nazirite. In that case, God commanded specifically of him what was voluntary for everyone else. Second, Samson was a total failure. He is not a model of holiness by any stretch of the imagination.
Because: we can’t obey God’s commands just to fulfill commands.
If you’ll remember from our Galatians preaching series, we saw that God gave the Law - He gave all those commands - to show us that we can’t keep them. To show us that we need a righteousness outside of ourselves if we are to be righteous. The Law points us to our need for Christ.
And Samson personified that inability and that need.
So what the writer of 1 Samuel is doing here in our passage is setting up contrasts. Where Rachel failed by trying to take matters into her own hands so she could get what she wanted, Hannah instead relies on God and gives Him what she has.
Jacob, Rachel’s wife, was not exactly a good guy. I mean, his name mean’s “cheater”. By contrast, we have Elkanah - a devout and faithful man. And add to what we’ve seen about him that Numbers 30 allows for a husband to override any of his wife’s vows when he finds out. Elkanah does not. And that means that God counts it as his vow, too. He was right there with his wife, relying on God, and offering to God what he had.
We have Samson, commanded to live a set-apart life that he doesn’t even come close to living. He was a womanizer. A liar. Disobedient to God. And by contrast we will have Samuel. A freewill offering to God who lives a holy life. He will rely on God and trust Him. He will be a prophet. He will be a priest. He will for a time be the de facto ruler of Israel.
What we have in this family, is a type of a family we read about in the New Testament.
Type - prophecy not spoken - someone or some event in history that God uses to point forward to greater/ultimate people or events
This family - Elkanah, Hannah, and Samuel - is a type of - a pointer to - a faithful family from Nazareth.
Faithful parents that trust God in less than perfect circumstances. A womb opened up by God in the most peculiar way. A Son set apart to God Who lives a life of holiness. Who is a Prophet, a Priest, and a King.
That means that, as we will see, Samuel is a type of Christ.
So let’s meet Samuel:
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 recognizes that Samuel has come from God. Just like Christ Who he points us to.
But there’s more here. Hannah realizes that all blessings come from God. And in the Bible, children are said specifically to be a blessing from God.
From the very first birth in the Bible:
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
From that first birth, all the way to the birth of our Savior - children are a blessing from God.
And this is still the case. Think of all the blessings that God has blessed our church with over the last couple of months. (Enzo, Ezekiel, Sofia)
Children are a gift from God.
And this is why barrenness was considered punishment by God. Because God - and God alone - is the giver of life. When there is life where previously there was none - at Creation, when someone is born again by the Spirit of God and the dead becomes alive - or when a new life is brought forth in childbirth - God is the giver of life.
He alone has authority over life, and He gives it to whom He will.
Hannah recognizes that:
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.”
And the name Samuel means literally “name of God.” That is another pointer forward to Christ.
And then we read:
The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.”
Hannah will wait until Samuel is weaned, and then she will take him before the Lord, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.
And while the writer is showing us again the devoutness of this family - Elkanah still going for the yearly feasts, Hannah willing and eager to fulfill her vow to God - there is a greater truth revealed in this verse.
Once God gives new life, and you are devoted unto Him, you are in the presence of God forever.
Christians: we live in the very presence of God.
And there are two aspects to this. There is God’s sovereign grace, and there is human responsibility.
God, Who sovereignly gives life to Whom He pleases - He calls us into His presence. And He allows us to live there - to live every moment of our lives in His presence. And this isn’t speaking of God’s omnipresence - God is everywhere, but that isn’t what this is talking about.
This is talking about being in His presence, as in, having our sins forgiven. Sin is not allowed in God’s presence. Yes: God is everywhere - even where sin is. But this is talking about being in the presence of God. Accepted by God. Allowed to approach God.
We enter into a saving relationship with God when He sovereignly and graciously calls us to Him and saves us. And this isn’t that sentimental and mushy “I have a personal relationship with Jesus” thing - this is a covenant relationship.
It speaks of how we relate to each other. There is a role on both sides.
So God, in His grace, take on the role of Savior, and allows us to live in His presence. God is with us. We are in the presence of the Lord and we dwell there forever.
But then there is our role. We are to appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever. We are to live our lives as those who have died with Christ and been raised with Him. We are to walk not as we did when we were dead in our sin, but as those alive unto God.
We are to live our lives remembering that every second we are in the very presence of our God. And not as in “God is watching” so you better be good. No, God is with you.
What’s the difference?
Let me illustrate it this way. There is a difference between somebody catching you doing something wrong, and inviting them to be with you while you do it. Two different things.
We are in God’s presence. He is with us. He has invited us into His salvation and into His presence. Do we live in that reality?
Hannah and Samuel did:
1 Samuel 1:24–28 (ESV)
And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 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.”
Hannah keeps her vow, and Samuel is to live his life in the presence of God.
And I don’t like the translation of “lent” in the last two sentences. That is a bad translation. The verb in “therefore I have lent him to the Lord” really means to give someone what they demand or ask for. Hannah is not saying “he’s mine but I’ll let God use him.” She is saying Samuel is rightfully God’s.
When she says “as long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord”, the word means to be demand or asked of. She is saying that he is rightfully God’s and all his days he will be devoted to God and His service. God will ask of him what He will, and Samuel will do it.
So after Hannah prayed, and God blessed her, and she kept her promise, Hannah prays to God again. And I invite you, if you are so inclined, to compare this prayer to Mary’s prayer in Luke 1 and see the similarities.
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.
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 barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Hannah exults in God and His power and His salvation. He alone is holy. He alone has power and works it through whom He will. He provides far beyond what can be acquired in this life by our own power.
He took a woman provoked by an enemy and gave her victory over the enemy by making life where there was none.
Because He is sovereign over life. He is sovereign over death. And as Hannah prays: He can even bring the dead to life.
And here is where I want us to focus: on God’s absolute sovereignty and gracious provision. This is what we will see throughout the books of first and second Samuel…
…a holy, powerful, gracious, and sovereign God Who works all things to save those whom He will.
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.
Because everything belongs to God, He can make the poor rich. He alone can exalt the humble. This is what He does for those He calls to His salvation. We will see Him do this with David.
But this is really about Christ. Our Lord echoes these sentiments often in the Gospel accounts. Because it is in Christ that God does all of this.
You see, God’s sovereignty doesn’t just mean that He has control over everything. When we think of it that way, God can seem like a tyrant. Like He has the right to do what He will, and He will do whatever He wants.
While that’s true, that isn’t the picture the Bible paints for us of God’s sovereignty. Because God has the right to do what He wants, and He does what He wants - but what He wants is to make the poor rich.
God does what He wants, and He wants to take the humble and exalt them.
He wants to bring the dead to life in His gracious sovereignty. So what He does - which is whatever He wants - is save.
Hannah started this prayer by rejoicing in God’s salvation.
And for some reason, when some people hear that God is sovereign over salvation, they’re put off by it. But brothers and sisters, this is the God Who does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. This is the God Who provides for us what we can’t provide for ourselves.
He makes life where there was none before.
I thank God that He is sovereign over all, because He does what He wants and He wants to save!
He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap. He gives us the seat of honor and makes us kings. Everything is His, He does what He wants, and this is what He does!
And as we saw, once God calls us into His glorious presence, we dwell with Him forever.
As we heard this morning as we opened worship:
Psalm 73:23–24 (ESV)
I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
God is with us in salvation. God will be with us when He comes again finally and forever.
And until then: God is with us.
God calls us, and then God is with us. He will continue - He’ll never stop! - He will continue to be with us and provide us with what we need. He will work in us what we can’t work on our own. As Hannah prayed:
“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.
Hannah couldn’t have children. So she bowed herself before God and submitted to His sovereign will. Why? Because He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.
And He did. And He provided for her in His sovereign grace what she lacked the power to do.
And Hannah recognized that, and was faithful to Him in keeping her vow. She willingly gave Him what He sovereignly commanded.
And she believed by her faith that lead to faithfulness, that God would continue to bless her in His sovereign grace. How? By guarding her feet.
By being sovereign over not just the giving of new life, but the living of that new life. She believed that God would sovereignly provide grace for her to walk according to faith.
Brothers and sisters, God provides grace for us to walk according to faith. To live in His presence. To use everything we have knowing it is really His. To rely on Him and His power rather than ourselves and our power.
Because not by might shall a man prevail. Not by His own power.
Only, by the power of a sovereign God Who does what He wants, and Who wanted to save us from the punishment of our sin, and Who yet wants to save us from the power of sin.
And how did, and does, He do that?
Through Jesus Christ.
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 Judge and this King, the humble One Who will become exalted in power - it is none other than God’s anointed. Literally, God’s Messiah. He will exalt the horn - the power - of His Messiah.
All of this that Hannah prayed. The sovereign grace. The holiness. The power to save. It is all in Jesus Christ.
Who, in His sovereignty as God, did not put demands on His people for salvation. He put demands on us to show our need for salvation. And then He sovereignly met those demands for our salvation.
In His sovereignty, the exalted One humbled Himself that we may be exalted. The sovereign God to Whom all things belong, He didn’t consider those things worthy to hold onto for His own advantage, but instead took on humanity and gave them up.
In His sovereignty, God became poor to make us rich.
He - the God in Whose holiness Hannah relished - lived out for us the holiness we in our power could not live out ourselves.
And instead of us who He sovereignly called being broken in judgment, He sovereignly chose to be broken for us to take our judgment.
And He gave us what we could never gain for ourselves.
Yes, God is sovereign and He can do whatever He wants. But this is what He wanted to do.
And He still wants to do more.
He wants to guard the feet of His faithful ones.
So I want to leave you with three lessons we can learn from this faithful family we considered today.
First: Always remember that God has a purpose. God is sovereign and has a reason. Do you have an abundance? God has a reason. Do you lack anything? God has a reason.
Are you suffering? God has a reason. Are you not getting that thing you want so desperately: the opportunity, the job, the relationship? God has a reason.
Let me ask you: He Who can do whatever He wants, and yet did what He did in Christ for you, can you doubt that God has a reason for you being exactly where you are?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Like Hannah, no matter what: trust God. He has a plan for you. He is doing what He wants - and what He wants is to save. Always remember that.
And that brings us to number two.
Second, remember: whether we are on the mountaintop, or we are low in the valley - no matter the situation God has us in - like Hannah - we only have one place to go - One Person to go to. Taking matters into our own hands is not going to help us. We need to go to God.
As Paul said:
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
It is not by our own might that we will prevail. It is only in the power of a sovereign and gracious God that victory is found.
So we need to go to God. We need to seek Him.
And how do we seek Him?
Well, third, remember: God gave us life, and He demands that we give it back to Him, but He wants us to do it willingly.
He will guard our steps, but we still need to take steps. This is how God works salvation in us from the power of sin.
Remember, once God brings forth life in us, we are in His presence forever. And He wants us to remember that all we have is His, and remember that it is only in His power that we can give it all back to Him, and He wants us to willingly lay all we are and all we have before Him.
Our life is not our own.
Because God did what He wanted, and He wanted to save us. He wanted to create life where there was none.
And now we need to live that life unto Him.
And we can, because He is with us.
Like He was with Hannah. And as we will see, like He was with Samuel.
He has given us everything.
Let’s give Him everything.
And that starts with taking a step. A step that He will sovereignly guard if we take it for Him.
What have you not surrendered to God? Your time, your possessions, your relationships, your mind…your heart?
These are all His anyway.
So willingly give to Him what’s already His.
Take a step this week - today - this morning - take a step towards God, the God Who does whatever He wants, and Who wanted to save you at a great cost, and Who wants to be with you.