1 Samuel 2:1-10 Devotional

One Birth, Many Blessings

Main Point: God Blesses Those Who Submit to Him, But Destroys Those Who Stand Against Him. So Submit to Him.

Illustration: All of you here this morning have one thing in common: you are all children. Whether you knew your parents or you were best friends, you are all here this morning, you were all born, so you were all children. Then, many of you have had children of your own. Maybe they are still living and visit you often, maybe they live across the country, or maybe they died many years ago. Have you ever heard someone say something along the lines of “have a legacy that lasts long after you are gone” and many times they are talking about children. When you have children, then they have children, then they have children, you have had a great impact on the world by your single act of having a child. It is a little bit like dominos, you tip one domino over of having a child and then many things result. You may have a child that is a teacher, so they teach many students and then their students go on to do great things. The point I am trying to get across is that by having one child, many results follow in their life and others’ lives just by doing this one act.

In our bible story this evening we are going to learn of how one woman’s prayer resulted in the saving of the world. Now that is big, I mean we are talking about a few words someone says and the entire world is saved? This sounds like some super hero movie or something.

The passages we are covering today is 1 Samuel 1:11 and 1 Samuel 2:1-10.

The book of Samuel is in the Old Testament, it comes to us as a transition book in between when Israel had judges and when they had kings. So Israel has just had many judges who defeated nations around them, some bad, some good. And in our story, the last judge is going to be born. The last general of Israel really, and then they will have their first king. This last judge’s name is Samuel, for which the book is named. Our story is about Samuel’s Mother. In our immediate context, it is important to know that Hannah, Samuel’s mother is barren. Meaning that she cannot have any children. If you think back to Sarah, Abraham’s wife, she was barren and unable to have a son at first. This is the same position that Hannah finds herself in. We are going to read two passages of scripture, one which is a prayer of Hannah asking God for a child, and the second is a prayer of praise toward the Lord after giving her her son, Samuel.

1 Samuel 1:11 “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.””

1 Samuel 2:1-10 “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 pines away. 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”.

Let me quickly make a note about the structure of this sermon, usually in sermons you have points as you walk through different sections of the text. Point 1 are the first few verses, point two are the following verses. Well in this sermon there are two points, but the first is looking at the entire passage and so is the second. The difference is the first point is viewing the passage from a perspective of what it reveals about the Israelites and the second point is about what it reveals for all of mankind.

1. Israel Perspective

Hannah tells the Lord in her prayer of petition that if he gives her a son, that she will commit her son to the Lord. If the Lord gives her a son, she will give the son right back to the Lord for him to serve the Lord. This is exactly what happens. Hannah has a son and names him Samuel. Then he is committed to the Lord and then she praises the Lord. Hannah’s prayer is one of adoration and sincerity. Her heart exults in the Lord, she rejoices, she is in awe of her mighty God. There is something interesting about Hannah’s prayer however, her language sounds more as if she had just defeated someone in war than have a child. She uses language such as the bows of the mighty are broken, speaks of how the Lord is a rock and judges those who go against him, he raises people form the dead. What is going on here? As Hannah’s prayer is a prayer of praise, it is also one of prophesy. Remember how when you have a child, many affects come? If your child is a teacher, then they will teach many children and change lives. Well, if your child is a judge and a prophet like Samuel, you change the history of nations. So what we have here is Hannah is prophesying the history of Israel.

Her son is going to submit to the Lord’s commands in establishing the first kingship in Israel. Samuel will listen to God and select Saul as king, and then after Saul comes David. So really, without Saul there is no David, without Samuel there is no Saul, and without Hannah there is no Samuel. So because Hannah prays to the Lord and has Samuel, Israel is going to become a mighty nation. All of the praises in Hannah’s prayer are going to come true for Israel: he is going to make the poor rich, he is going exult the low, Israel is going to inherit a seat of honor, and they will see how God will be their rock.

And most importantly, verse 10 says that “the Lord will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed”. Who is his king? Likely, Hannah is speaking of King David. David is going to be a great king who will lead Israel in spiritual and physical victory. “David is the ideal for Israel’s future messianic leader”. He is the great king they have desired and he only comes as a result of Hannah’s prayer. Not only though should we view Hannah’s prayer with looking at Israel’s future, but the future of the world. David is an important ruler for Israel, but through David’s line comes a king far more powerful than he. Through David’s line comes Jesus Christ. God incarnate, the second person of the trinity, is a great great great grandson of king David. When David comes to be Israel’s king, Israel is in turmoil with a wicked king ruling a wicked people. When Jesus comes to earth, he finds a wicked people who have sinned against God. God, being perfect, then has to punish sin. He cannot just leave sin unpunished or he would be unjust. So what did Jesus do? He took on the punishment of man’s sin which is death. Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross and killed. But three days later he defeated death, rose from the grave, ascended to heaven, and is now at the right hand of the father. There he is able to mediate for those who he has saved. ‘

2. Eternal Persepctive

I would now like to spend a majority of the rest of our time going through Hannah’s song with an eternal perspective: Hannah explains that her heart rejoices in the Lord, her mouth boasts over her enemies, and she delights in her deliverance. Friends, because of Christ we can rejoice in the Lord. A perfect God has saved wretched sinners like you and I. God has eternally defeated our enemy: sin. The sin we were once entrapped in, we could not escape, we can be free and delivered from it. We can die to sin and live to righteousness.

Then she says that the Lord is holy, there is no one besides our Lord and he is a rock. Our Lord is holy and set apart and he is our rock. Does this language of a rock remind you of any New Testament passage? Matthew 7:24-27 ““Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”” If we build our lives on how God has chosen to save us then he is our rock.

Next, verses 3-4 show the upsidedowness of the kingdom of God as my pastor often says. The Lord weighs deeds, those who were once strong are made week, the wealthy are now searching for food, the one with many children now has no more. Does this remind you of any of Jesus’ words? It reminds me of the beatitudes when Jesus says that the meek will inherit the earth, the poor in Spirit will receive the kingdom of God, and more. Friends, if you wish to be blessed by God in salvation then you must not to go him proud of your good works or seeking to bring something to the table. You must go to him knowing that you have nothing to give to a holy and perfect God. The mistake Israel makes over and over in the Old Testament is believing that they do not need God, they worship other God’s, disobey his commands, live with no reverence towards God. I think we can be tempted to do this today too. How often do we excuse sins in our life because we are doing just fine: maybe you tell yourself you don’t need God right now, you are fine. I have money in the bank, I have a family, I have done all of this for myself. Verses 4 and 5 in our passage show that these are the people who really have nothing because they are trusting in themselves for deliverance. This morning, know that God sees you as a hopeless sinner who can do nothing by your own accord. At some point too, we will die and we cannot help our own death. No person can stop death. Encouraged yet?

Let’s keep reading though: verse 6 “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up”. Truthfully, we are hopeless sinners who are dead in our sins. But God has chosen to send Christ. The king who has brought salvation to the world. God does raise the dead! Hannah knew this! She knew God’s power and God’s love for his people. I remember once hearing at a funeral of one of my former pastors that saintifacation can be summarized as this: the longer you walk with the Lord the more you recognize the severity of your own sin and the more you realize God’s love for you, a sinner. We even see in verse 8 that the Lord has set the foundations of the earth, but before he did this he chose to save you. Verse 9, “he will guard the feet of his saints”. The Lord loves those who he has saved and he keeps them in his hand with a tight grip. Hannah also says “it is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered”.

As Christians, we should boast in our weakness because in doing so we boast in God’s love and his strength. Is this something you regularly do? Do you tell others how weak you are but how mighty your God is. Practically this might look like the following conversation: “I keep running to sin, I can feel myself starting to wander, time and time again I have to go back to the Lord to ask for forgiveness. But he is so loving and compassionate to forgive me. He has crucified my sin on the cross of Christ and if it were not for his love I would still be trapped in his sin”. I hope that this is the direction we wish to bring all of our conversations. In the last week, how many of your conversations could the other person leave saying “they certainly are week and sinful, but that God they serve he must be mighty, strong, and compassionate”. This not only encourages other believers, but is a way to evangelize, to share the gospel.

A mother’s prayer who brought Samuel, who brought Saul, who brought David, who brought Christ can only happen because God ordained it. Now none of us are going to play an impact in the immediate line of Christ, but we can add those to Christ’s number. We began this evening by explaining how having a child impacts many lives, but how much more so does leading someone to the Lord or encouraging a like minded believer impact lives. Let us have the faith Hannah did to pray to God boldly, and then to praise him whatever the circumstance. But in all things, submitting to God.

Let’s pray.