Let us turn once again to God's
Word and I want this morning with the Lord's help to consider
with you the content of that prayer, that remarkable prayer
of Hannah that we have recorded here in 1st Samuel chapter 2
and verses 1 to 10. We're told how Hannah prayed
and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, my horn is exalted
in the Lord, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I
rejoice in thy salvation. And so the prayer is detailed
there in the verses that follow through to verse 10. sung, or Hannah's prayer, how
here she returns her thanks to God that she had not sought his
face in vain. She had been barren, she had
no children, but how she had poured out her soul before the
Lord as we see there at the end of verse 15 in chapter 1. and now the Lord has heard and
answered her cry and so she comes with this great song of thanksgiving
and I want to consider three aspects of her prayer as we have
it set before us here at the beginning of the second chapter
first of all it is very much a prayer of thanksgiving and
it is right in our prayers that we should be found a thankful
people We are bidden oftentimes in the epistles of the Apostle,
those practical exhortations that we find at the end of so
many of Paul's letters, we are bidden time and again to give
ourselves to prayer. Those words in Philippians 4
and verse 6, be careful for nothing, he says, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. with thanksgivings,
with to make our requests known unto God. We pray to the Lord,
the Lord hears, the Lord answers, but do we remember to return
thanks to Him? We're told in Luke 17 about Christ
heals the ten lepers, but nine are forgetful, it is only one
of the ten who come and return that they might express their
gratitude and their thanks to the Lord for granting them such
remarkable healing or to be like that tenth leper to be a thankful
people and surely as we come into this the first Lord's Day
of this new year do we not have much to be thankful for when
we reflect on the year that has passed and all God's dealings
with us surely the change of the year is the time for us to
remember all that way wherein the Lord has led us. As we have
it there in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 2, words addressed
to the children of Israel, they were to remember all the way
that the Lord had led them. And as the Lord in His dealings
at oft times tried and tested them, well so too with us do
we not reflect on God's dealings and we are to be thankful. Now
the Lord has preserved us and He has favoured us to grant us
even another year. He's brought us into this year. Well here we see that Hannah
was one who was truly thankful as she considered that that the
Lord had done for her in granting her this son. whom she called
Samuel and the very name Samuel of course simply means asked
of God Samuel asked of God here was one that
she had received in in answer to her pleadings with the Lord
and she comes to return her thanks now she had certainly prayed
in a very private fashion She was barren, as we've said. This
is how the chapter opens. We read of this man, a certain
man of Ramathayim, Zophim, of Mount Ephraim. His name was Alkanar,
the son of Jeroam, the son of Eliyahu, the son of Tohu, the
son of Zoph, an Ephrathite. And we read he had two wives.
The name of the one was Hannah, and the other Peninnah, and Peninnah
had children, but Hannah had no children. Hannah was barren. How painful this was to her.
But, as she, she prays. She prays to the Lord. And what
prayer it is, it's very much private prayer. It's not so much
a prayer that she's able to articulate in words. As we see at verse
10 there in chapter 1, she was in bitterness of soul and prayed
unto the Lord's and wept sore. Again at verse 13 we're told
how she spake in her heart only her lips moved but her voice
was not heard therefore Eli thought she had been drunk And Eli said,
Unto how long wilt thou be drunk, and put away thy wine from thee?
And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of
a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor
strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Oh, isn't this what prayer so
often is, the pouring out of the soul when we're in that situation
and we cannot find words to really express the depth of our feelings. How the saints of old knew that,
David knew it, we see it in the language of the employees at
times in the various Psalms. There in Psalm 38 he cries out,
Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not
heard from Thee. But it's not only the experience
of these believers that we read of in the scriptures it was also
the experience of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and we see him
in all the bitterness of his own soul all those agonies that
he must endure especially there in the garden of Gethsemane contemplating
that that was before him he must go the way of the cross he must
make that one sacrifice for sins forever and he's no stoic. What feelings there are indicated
in the human soul of the Lord Jesus. Remember we have it there
in Luke chapter 22 being in an agony it says. Being in an agony
he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood
falling to the ground. Oh he's bearing the curse, beginning
to bear that curse. When Adam's Cindy was told, in
the sweat of thy brow shall thou eat bread, that was the curse
that came upon man as a consequence of his disobedience in Genesis
chapter 3. And here is Christ coming to
make the great atoning sacrifice and he must sweat a bloody sweat. But it's the agony of his soul
who in the days of his flesh, we read, when he had offered
up prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death and was hurt, in that
he feared, though he were a son, always the eternal Son of God,
though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things that
he suffered. and this is our comfort that
this one, who has known such experiences in prayer, is the
one who is our advocate. Oh, we have one there in heaven
who speaks for us, an advocate, a great high priest, and is in
touch with the feeling of our infirmities. He was tempted in
all points like as we are, says the Apostle, yet without sin
let us therefore Oh let us therefore come boldly to the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need in all our needs this is the one that we must come
to and this is what Hannah has done and she has not sought the
Lord's face in vain she had prayed and it was all that that was
transpiring really in the very depths of her being such reality
as we read her prayers here in the opening chapter but then
when we come to this remarkable prayer at the beginning of the
second chapter it is very much a public prayer we have such
a detailed account of the actual content of the prayer, the things
that she said are recorded for us here by the Holy Spirit Oh
thank God that we do have these portions where we have the records,
the detailed records of the prayers of the saints of God. You can
think of that remarkable prayer of Solomon at the dedication
of the temple and it's recorded twice. We have it there in the
first book of Kings chapter 8 and then again in 2nd Chronicles
chapter 6. the prayer of Solomon. We have
also that ninth chapter of Daniel, the prayer that that godly man
was moved to make when he understood from reading in the prophecy
of Jeremiah that God had accomplished the 70 years of the exile. He
is praying for the return of the Jews from their captivity.
These prayers are recorded. and all these things are recorded
for our learning as we're told by the apostles that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope we have many
prayers then recorded here we have that lovely prayer of thanksgiving,
that song of thanksgiving that King Hezekiah also made after
he'd been sick and was recovered from his sickness in Isaiah 38. These are prayers of thanksgiving,
Hezekiah's prayer, Hannah's prayer. And what we have here in this
second chapter, the prayer of thanksgiving of Hannah as its
counterpart in the New Testament. When we think of the prayer of of Mary, what we call the Magnificat
that remarkable expression of thanks or gratitude
to God is recorded there in Luke chapter 1 verse 46 following
how Mary said my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced
in God my Saviour for he hath regarded the lowest state of
his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generations shall
call me blessed." Let us not despise Mary because of the Mariolatry
that we see in the Roman Church. She is blessed. That's what the
Scripture says. She was favoured of God. She
rejoices in God her Saviour. Let us not despise these blessed
saints of the Lord's because of the way in which she is idolized
in the Roman Church. If you compare the content of
the Magnificat with the Prayer of Hannah, there are striking
similarities. As I said, we have, as it were,
an Old Testament counterpart to Mary's Magnificat here in
this second chapter of the first book of Samuel and here we see
how these saints of God are expressing their real gratitude to God and
they do it in public the psalmist says come and hear all ye that
fear God and I will declare what he has done for my soul isn't
this what Hannah is doing as she thanks the Lord she blesses
him for all that he has done for her soul, because she says
here at verse 1, I rejoice in thy salvation. It is a prayer
of thanksgiving, very much a public expression of her gratitude.
But then in the second place what we have here is also a God's
glorifying prayer It's not so much the gift that she rejoices
in. Oh, she thanks God for the gift
that she was granted this child that she had asked of God. She
calls his name Samuel. But look at what she says here
at the beginning of the prayer. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. What is it that
has the priority here? It is not the gift, it is the
Lord. She looks beyond the gift to
Him who is the Great Giver. And she speaks in the prayer
so much of the character of God because what God had done in
the way in which he has been dealing with her is to reveal
himself to her and we see various aspects of God's character and
God's attributes as she prays here she is mindful that God
is the Holy One or she rejoices in God's holiness and God's justice
She says here at verse 2, there is none holy as the Lord. Why? He is the Holy One of Israel. He is that One who is three times
holier. Again, we have it there in the
experience of the Prophet Isaiah recorded in the 6th chapter of
his book when he receives his call, his commission to be the
Lord's servant, the Lord's prophet. And he has that remarkable vision
of the throne of God. And the angels will set him about
God's throne and there sung holy, holy, holy. Lord God of hosts,
heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Oh, he is the Lord
God of Sabaoth. He is the Holy One, the Thrice
Holy One, Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Spirit. And what does
Isaiah go on to say? Woe is me! All before all that
holiness of God, woe is me! I am undone, I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips,
for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Or when we
see God in all His holiness, does He cause us to be those
who are brought prostrate before Him, humbled to the dust? Here we see Hannah then rejoicing
in God, rejoicing in His holiness, but rejoicing also in His justice. He is the just one. What does
she say later, verse 4? the bows of the mighty men are
broken, they that stumbled are guarded with strength, they that
were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were
hungry cease, so that the barren hath borne seven, and she that
hath many children is waxed feeble. In verse nine, he will keep the
feet of his saints, the wicked shall be silent in darkness,
for by strength shall no man prevail. All these gods, he is
that one who is ever a just God, just and equitable in all his
ways, in all his dealings. There's a contrast that she's
drawing between the way in which God deals with the proud and
all their arrogance and the way in which he deals with those
who are lowly and humble. Israel would oftentimes accuse
God of being unequal in His ways. They couldn't understand His
dealings, and they accused Him. And we have the language there
in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, in Ezekiel chapter 33. Look at
the words that are spoken by the prophet as the mouthpiece
of God, there in verse 17, Yet the children of thy people
say, the way of God is not equal. But as for them, their way is
not equal. And again at verse 20, Yet ye
say, the way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel,
I will judge you, every one, after his ways. God's ways are
equitable. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do rights? And here is Hannah, she's brought
to this to recognize that God's ways are just and right and equitable. He will put down the proud and
He will exalt the lowly. The bows of the mighty men are
broken and they that stumbled are girded with strength. Had
she not proved it? Well, Penny and I had taunted
her in her barrenness. And yet the Lord doesn't turn
a blind eye to these things. The Lord deals with His people. And she's brought to acknowledge
it. She sees God's hand in all that is, all that has befallen
her. God's the Holy One. God's the
Just One. And then she sees, oh, that God
is that One who is, He's unchanging. He is a rock. Here at the end
of verse 2, neither is there any rock like our God. We have the language of Moses
there in his song in the 32nd chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. He is the rock, says Moses, his
work is perfect for all his ways are judgment The God of truth
and without iniquity, just and right is He. Oh, this is that
one, the faithful God. He is the rock. And remember
how Moses knew it in his experience, had he not stood upon that rock
when the Lord passed him by. Though he could not see the face
of God yet he saw his backward part, he was kept safe there.
in that cleft of the rock, rock of ages, says top lady cleft
for me, let me hide myself in thee. Oh God is that one who
will keep the feet of his saints as we read here at verse 9. He is the unchanging one. the
faithful God, I am the Lord, I change not therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed he is the rock, his work is perfect
and this is what Hannah has lived to prove out of all that bitterness of
her soul she learns the truth concerning something of the character
of the God that has dealt with her, has granted her His great
salvation. He is holy, He is just, He is
unchanging, He is that One who is all-knowing. Oh, she speaks
so clearly here of His omniscience. At the end of verse 3 she says
the Lord is a God of knowledge and by Him actions are way. He is that one who sees all things. He searches all things. Again
we have that recorded concerning John's vision of the glorified
Christ in Revelation chapter 1. Though he seeks to describe
that that he witnesses with his own eyes and he speaks of the
Lord his eyes he says were as a flame of fire all those eyes burning penetrating
how he sees, how he searches the Swami says his eyes behold
his eyelids try the children of men all he is that God who
who is all-seeing. He is the God of knowledge. The
Lord is a God of knowledge. By Him, actions are wise. He knows all things. He knew
all about Hannah and her sad situation. There was nothing
that had come into her life that was unknown to the Lord. He's not ignorant of any of these
things. David understood that, the truth of God's omniscience.
Thou knowest, he says, my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest
my thoughts afar off. Oh, the Lord knows all about
us. Knows everything about us. Knows just where we are. Knows
all those things that trouble us and perplex us. And isn't
this a comfort? This is what this poor woman
had to prove, the goodness of God. And how God tells his people,
I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of peace
and not of evil, to give you an expected end. There is an
expected end. There is that that God in his
wisdom has appointed for his children. Again, look at the
language of the Prophet, Isaiah chapter 46 and there at verse
10 we read of this God who is declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure and what is
that pleasure of God? It's God's good pleasure It's
that that is good. Or says David there in Psalm
119, thou art good and thou doest good. And all God's actions,
you see, are wise. In the day of his rough wind,
we're told he stayeth his east wind. You know, with our Friar,
he understands that we're dust. This is the God that we have
to do with. Hannah then is so conscious that
God knows. And she has not sought his face
in vain. He is the Holy One, the Just
One, the Unchanging One, the Omniscient One. He is that God
who is God. And what does that mean? It means
that He is Sovereign. He is Sovereign. and she speaks
of him again here at verse 6 the Lord killeth and maketh alive
he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up the Lord maketh
poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up he raiseth
up the poor out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the
donkey to set them among princes and to make them inherit the
throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and
He has set the world upon them. Oh God is that One who is absolutely
in control of all things and even when He is dealing with
His people in strange ways. It's interesting that we have
that expression that's recorded there in verses 6 and seven. We have that in several
parts of scripture. We find very similar words back
in Moses' prayer in that 32nd chapter
of the book of Deuteronomy. And there at verse 39, see now
that I even I am he and there is no God with me. I kill and
I make alive, I wound and I heal neither can anyone deliver out
of my hand but not only there in Deuteronomy
we have the same words spoken in the book of Job in Job chapter
5 and there at verses 17 and 18,
behold It's Eliphaz who is speaking,
one of Job's friends. As we said before, though they
are poor comforters, yet they come out with some most profound
statements. And Eliphaz here, what does he
say? Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore
despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty, for he maketh
sore and bindeth up, he woundeth and his hands make whole." And
we see how in the context you see this wounding and making
sore is part of God's chastening. And God deals with us, and God
deals with us times without number in ways that seem to be so contrary
to flesh and blood we can't understand. But he who makes sore is the
same who binds up his children. He who wounds is the same who
makes them whole. He who kills is the one who also
brings life. And we have to learn that. This
is the strange life of the Christian, is it not? There is that dying. There is that dying daily. There
is that mortifying the deeds of the body. And yet there is
that communication of new life, that spiritual life. Oh, God
is in all of these things. God is that one who is sovereign. And how it's not easy always
to bow to that sovereignty. Oh yes, we can talk about it.
But it's one thing to be talking about it, it's another thing
to live in the sovereignty of God. We have to live that sovereignty. how God humbles, how God humbled
even that proud Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar took all his reason
from him, he behaved like a beast of the field and then he is brought
to acknowledge, to confess all the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing and he that is God doeth according
to his will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what
do us there? What has the Lord done? You see
the Lord is in all that Hannah has experienced. There at the end of verse 5 in
chapter 1 it says, the Lord had shut up her womb. The Lord's hand is in it. But
then she pleads, she cries, she calls, and the Lord hears, the
Lord answers, remarkably. There in verse 19 of that opening chapter,
at the end we read, the Lord remembered her. the Lord remembered her wherefore
or therefore he came to pass when the time was come about
after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his
name Samuel saying because I have asked him of the Lord the Lord
remembered her therefore he came to pass all God is sovereign God hears,
God answers prayers but He doesn't answer us in the way that we
might expect or anticipate but how we need grace to bow to his
sovereignty to bow to his sovereignty, to acknowledge him, to live that
great doctrine of the sovereignty of God her prayer, it's a God
glorifying prayer, she's learned something of God, of the character
of God and we see it in the manner in which she expresses herself
throughout this prayer and then In the third place, this prayer
we see to be a Christ-centered prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ
is in this prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ is everywhere
in the Scriptures. Did He not say to the Jews, search
the Scriptures? In them you see that you have
life, eternal life. But He says, these are they that
testify of Me. He's everywhere. Now, I think
I mentioned this before, in that useful book of Mr. Spurgeon's,
Commenting and Commentaries, in which he goes through the
commentaries that were available in his day and gives wonderful
direction concerning what are the best of the commentaries.
Very useful book, Commenting and Commentaries. But he is somewhat
critical of Robert Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary. He says that
Hawker, the problem is that Hawker sees Christ where Christ is not. He doesn't dismiss the book,
he recommends the book, but he just makes that comment. that
Christ is seen where Christ is not but I very much disagree
with Mr Spurgeon there because Christ is everywhere and Christ
I say is here in the prayer and we see it when we come to the
climax of the prayer in verse 10 the adversaries of the Lord
shall be broken to pieces out of heaven shall he thunder upon
them the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth he shall give
strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed." And
there's the closing words of the prayer that the Lord God
will give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now remember, this son that has
been born, Samuel, for whom she is returning her thanks unto
the Lord was the one who was to anoint David as king. It was David who was to be anointed
as the king in chapter 16. The Lord said unto Samuel, How
long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from
reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and
go, and I will send it to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can
I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill
me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I
am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice,
and I will show thee what thou shalt do, and thou shalt anoint
unto me him whom I name unto thee. And then Verse 11, Samuel
says unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There
remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not
sit down till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in.
Now he was ruddy, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is her. then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward so Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah he is the one who is to anoint the Lord's
servants and here we have you see at the end of the prayer
he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his
anointing. But David is a type of one far
greater. David's greater son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't the Lord Jesus Christ here
at the end of the prayer? We read of the horn of His anointed. And the horn,
of course, is that that is symbolic of strength. And the Lord Jesus
Christ is that one who is mighty. He is mighty to save. God says
in Psalm 89, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have
exalted one chosen out of the people. It's the Lord Jesus who
is mighty to save, able to save to the Ottomans. It is the Lord
Jesus who is the Anointed One. God giveth not the Spirit by
measure unto Him. And so when we come to the end
of this psalm, we see really that Hannah is imploring the
name of Christ. This is a prayer that centers
in Him. the Messiah who was to come,
the Anointed One and of course all true prayer is that prayer
that invokes the name of the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ
speaks in those discourses in John, John 14 and 15, and 16,
we see how several times He speaks of the necessity of prayer being
offered in His name, and the sureness, the certainty of those
prayers being answered. John 14, 13, Whatsoever ye shall
ask, give my name. That will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my
name I will do it says the Lord Jesus and again in chapter 16 verse 23 in that day you shall
ask me nothing verily I say unto you whatsoever you shall ask
the Father in my name he will give it you hitherto have you
asked nothing in my name ask and you shall receive that your
joy may be full All we are to be those who would implore that
name. The only name under heaven given
amongst men, whereby we must be saved. Even as we come to
the end of Hannah's beautiful prayer, a great prayer of thanksgiving,
how she makes reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, David's greatest
son. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth. He shall give strength unto His
King, and exalt the horn of His Anointed. O let us be those then
who would above all things be thankful for that unspeakable
gift of God, that He did not withhold His Son, even His only
begotten Son, but was pleased to deliver Him up for sinners.
Here is our comfort, there is all that fullness of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ and should God deny us everything
else what a blessing if we have Christ the hymn writer says though
He take away our all Himself He gives us still all that unspeakable
gift Hannah then was moved to pray she prayed she said my heart
rejoices in the Lord mine horn is exalted in the Lord my mouth
is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation
and then at the end the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to
pieces out of heaven shall he thunder upon them the Lord shall
judge the ends of the earth he shall give strength unto his
king and exalt the horn of His anointing. Oh, the Lord bless
to us His own Word. Amen.