Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then Hannah prayed and said:
He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed.
1 Samuel 2:1, 9-10
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
This far, I have written six devotionals from Hannah’s prayer in 1st Samuel, Chapter 2…devotionals that have highlighted reasons that we should praise God. Today is the last devotional in this series, bringing the total to seven…fitting because the number “seven” is most associated with completeness or perfection in the scriptures. And we certainly serve a perfect and complete God who is worthy of all our praise and worship…a God who is our Almighty Protector and Guardian. We know this because the Bible tells us so.
Looking at our study verses, we see Hannah proclaim that the Lord will “guard the feet of His saints” and silence the wicked “in darkness”. In other words, the Lord guards His children…those He has chosen as His own, protecting them from the wicked. As long as we stay close to God, we can be assured that He will be close to us and shield us from danger. Where we often get into trouble is when we stray from Him and pursue our own desires which will always take us on a path away from the Lord. I believe it happens to all of us and hopefully we learn how much we truly need God by finding out how difficult and hazardous life can be without Him.
Note how God will reign over any enemy that might come forward, no matter how powerful they might be. We have already seen this evident in scripture as God handed over army after army in the Canaanite battles to win and possess the land He promised. We saw first hand where strength didn’t prevail and that the Lord did shatter those who opposed Him and His people…He thundered against Israel’s enemies and He will do likewise against ours.
Scripture also shares that the Lord is the judge of all He created and will eventually give strength to His king…His anointed one who will be David. We will see this as we continue our study of Samuel.
So what do we take away from these verses today? What is our reason for praise?
Well, we see that God does indeed look out for His children…for those who believe and trust in Him and walk in His light, away from the darkness where Satan resides and sin awaits. So walking in the light is where God wants us to be. There we can sing out our praises and testify to His greatness to all we see. Meanwhile, those who have chosen the path of darkness…the wicked…find themselves silenced and disempowered. For God and God alone is the source of power…and His power will never be invested in the wicked. No, instead, He shatters those who choose to oppose Him. He did it back in the days of Samuel and He still does it today. For His word is truth.
Friends, what an awesome comfort it is to know that we need not be afraid of things in this earthly existence as long as we stay near to the Lord…our Almighty Protector and Guardian. And with this sense of freedom and liberation from fear and anxiety, we can go forth and do what the Lord expects us to do…serve Him by serving others and seeking to make disciples wherever we go. And that is truly a reason to praise Him. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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