REJOICING IN DELIVERANCE

Can I pray for you in any way?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Hannah prayed and said:

My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord, my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in Your deliverance.

1 Samuel 2:1

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Chapter 1, we studied the events that surrounded the birth of Samuel which included his mother’s promise to the Lord to surrender her child to him if she would be allowed to conceive. After her baby was born and the prescribed time of weaning had passed (the scriptures tell us this was three years), we saw where Hannah stayed true to her vow and left Samuel in the custody of Eli the priest. It’s where Samuel would remain until he grew into adulthood and become Israel’s final judge.

Now, you would think that this act - the surrendering of her only son to the Lord under the guardianship of Eli - would have returned Hannah to the downtrodden state of mind she was in while unable to conceive, weeping constantly and refusing to eat. But as we see in the opening verses of 1st Samuel, chapter , we see Hannah doing anything but get consumed by loss. Rather, the scriptures show us that she turned to God and prayed, not a prayer of petition like we saw in chapter 1 but rather a prayer of thanksgiving. I will be covering this prayer over the next few messages, specifically focusing on the reasons Hannah gave for praising her Lord, beginning today as we find her showing gratitude to the Lord for the way He delivers those who trust in Him.

In Hannah’s case, we know she had been barren and harassed persistently by Penninah, Elkanah’s other wife who had bore sons and daughters for Elkanah. This incessant aggravation from Penninah only stoked the sadness Hannah felt over being unable to have children leading her to not even wanting to eat. There, at rock bottom emotionally, we saw how Hannah lifted up a prayer to the Lord from her heart, pouring out her soul and promising to give her son to Him if she were just allowed to conceive and deliver. And as we have seen many times already in our study of the Old Testament, God heard Hannah’s cries for help and acted on them.

For the Lord did open up Hannah’s womb so she could conceive and birth a son who she named Samuel. This newborn boy was such a joy to his mother as she reveled in the blessing God had given her, not only in the baby she held in her arms but the deliverance he brought her from the anguish and hardship she had felt while barren. As she opens her prayer, we see where she is in a true place of joy and peace after handing Samuel over to Eli and his care, the depth of her happiness shining through as she says:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord.”

This is the same heart that she had prayed so fully from when in need, the prayer where she emptied out her frustration and despair so the Lord could fill it with rejoicing and thankfulness.

Indeed, the Lord had delivered Hannah from her hardship and she, in turn, delighted in that rescue and the victory over those who had assailed her before. Of interest, we never hear anything else out of Penninah after Hannah conceives and gives birth to Samuel because she now no longer had any leverage to torment her. And Hannah, liberated from humiliation, finds her horn lifted high symbolizing her newfound emotional strength and spiritual power granted from God.

Friends, we too, like Hannah, should feel our own sense of emotional strength and spiritual power through our Lord because He has, is, and will continue to deliver us through each and every day He blesses us with. And as we experience this daily deliverance, let us be in the spirit of rejoicing, giving thanks to the One who lifts up our spirits when life brings us down…the only One who can save us...the One who is worthy of all our honor, glory, and praise.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.