We're back to 1 Samuel chapter 2. Two things I want you to think about as we go through this, the first
ten verses of this chapter. First, do I know this God? that she describes here in chapter
two. Do I know him? When she describes
here in this chapter the Lord, can you say that's him? That's him. You know, if you
describe a person You described one of my sons. I know whether
you're talking about my son or not by the description you give. And when I was reading this,
I thought, this woman, this woman knew the Lord. There's no doubt. There's no doubt this woman knew
the Lord. I want you to think, do I know this one? And I want
you to recognize her faith, her faith in this prayer. She
had asked the Lord to give her a child, a male child, and she
vowed a vow that she would give him up to the Lord. And she did it. But after she was told by Eli,
He said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy
petition. After that, her countenance was no more sad. She believed
God. She believed God. She believed
she was going to have exactly what she asked for, what she
petitioned for. And she walked away from that
place believing God. And it lifted her countenance.
Now, as I read to you, In the first chapter, Elkanah had these
two wives, Hannah, one that he loved, as it is written. He loved Hannah. And he had Peninnah, who seemed to be a thorn in the flesh. And we read there that Hannah
was barren. It says that the Lord shut up
her womb. The Lord gives life. He's the
giver of life. And He's the withholder of it. But Panetta had several children. And you would think by observing
these two women at a distance, by observing them, you would
think that Panenna was the one whom the Lord loved, that she
was the one whom the Lord was blessing, and that God's curse
was upon Anna. But it was not. It was not. How often are we taught in the
Word of God not to judge things by appearance? Don't judge a
person standing with God by their possessions or by what's happening
to them. If so, 99.9% of the time, we
will miss it. We will miss it. So Hannah, being barren, and
Peninnah rubbing it in her face every day, walking by with no
doubt with this smirky smile on her face, and just rubbing
it in her face. You know, that's so mean. I can't
think of anything any more mean than that. And she was just rubbing
it in her face. And so, Hannah, what did she
do? She took her complaint before
the Lord. Her problem. Her heartache. She cast her care upon Him who
cares for us. She did exactly what she ought
to have done. She cast her heartache, her trial,
her problem upon the Lord. And this is the way to handle
our troubles and our trials. The way to do it. Cast them upon
Christ who is able to make us abound in all things. I don't think any of us have
ever asked God to do something that was too great. Our prayers, I dare say this,
I dare say that I believe that most of the time our prayers
are too small. God is great. God has all power. We ought to
believe him for great things. We ought to ask great things
of God and expect them. We ought to do that. I don't want to be like Peninnah,
who took what she had been given, and if it were not for the grace
of God, I would be just like Peninnah. I would take what God's
given me and taunt somebody else with it. Look what I have. Look
what I have. The Word of God tells us, it
teaches us, who maketh thee to differ. Who makes you different? Who's given you what you have?
Who's given me what I have? In every area, God. Now it says, Hannah prayed. This
is the second time that we read where Hannah prayed. The first
time was out of bitterness of her soul. She was in such bitterness over
this. She was in such torment all the time by Peninnah over
this. And she prayed out of the bitterness
of her soul. She was barren. We cannot pray or praise God
like Hannah does here until we have prayed as she did from the
bitterness of her soul. We'll never praise God the way
she does here until we pray as she did in chapter 1, from the
barrenness, from the barrenness of our soul. That sinner said,
Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. Lord, be merciful to
me. There's no one more barren than
I am. Blessed are the poor, not in
purse, but in spirit. Why is that so? Why is the person so blessed
who is poor in spirit? I'll tell you why. Because the
Lord has made him so. You find me somebody that is
poor in spirit, that has poverty of spirit, And I'll show you
someone whom God has done a work of grace on. Poverty of spirit
and this human nature does not go together. You can find the
poorest person on this earth and be proud. They'll be proud
of something. They'll be proud of being poor.
They'll be proud of something. But when the poor in spirit, now that's of God. That's of
God. And until we have found soul
poverty, we'll never be able to praise Him like this. Not until we have that soul poverty.
Not until we see how barren we are before God can we praise
God like this for His mercy, for His grace, and for His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But many never pray like this.
Is her prayer recorded anywhere here? I tell you what, I don't
want recorded against me what's recorded against Panetta. She
mocked Hannah. Said, look what I've got. Look
at this train of children behind me. I don't want to be like that.
Pray God keep us from that. And now she says here in verse
1, And she lets us know right from the start that this prayer,
this rejoicing is coming from her heart, from her very, very
being. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. This heart that was broken rejoices,
rejoiceth continually. Oh, she found rejoicing in the
Lord. She found it in the end. She
didn't find it in Samuel. I know she rejoiced in Samuel,
her son. I know that. Samuel, you know, was the apple
of her eye. This was her son. This was the son that she asked
of God. She asked for this son and he
gave her this son. When she said, my heart rejoices,
she says, in the Lord. Not in Elkanah, who loves her,
though she had joy with him. Not in Samuel, but in the Lord
who's given me this. We rejoice in the Lord who has
given us mercy, who's given us forgiveness, who's given us salvation.
He's our rejoicing. Because later on, we know this,
she gives up Samuel. Is she going to go home? Now,
I know she went home probably, no doubt. There's some sadness.
I mean, she's a mother. You know, that's not easy. You mothers know that. It's not
easy to watch them go off. And she took him. He's about
12 years of age. And she took him. And she said, here he is.
And then she turned around and she went home and left him there
the rest of his life. And she said, my heart rejoices. Now, did it rejoice when she
did that? If Christ is our rejoicing, if
He's our rejoicing, what comes our way and what is taken away
does not completely destroy our rejoicing. It doesn't say we
won't cry, we won't hurt. But we will rejoice. Job did. The Lord giveth and the Lord
taketh away. And I'm sure he said that with
tears rolling down his face. Blessed be the name of the Lord. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. God has heard my cry in mercy
and he's answered me. She's not rejoicing in the gift.
She's rejoicing in the giver. The Lord. My horn is exalted
in the Lord. He's my strength. He is my strength. In Him I'll rejoice. He gave
her the strength to conceive. He gave her the strength to give
up. He's my strength. He's my horn. My horn is exalted. Go ahead and laugh, banana. Go
ahead. Someday you'll see me exalted
at his right hand. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. I have more to
rejoice about than all my enemies. I have something to say. I have
something to say here this evening. I have something to rejoice in.
I have something to open my mouth and speak about, the Lord of
glory, the one who's shown us mercy and grace. I have more
to rejoice than all this world has to rejoice in. I have the
Lord. Do you have the Lord? Do I have
the Lord? Let me just say it with this.
Selah. You pause and think about that. That's what that means.
It's a musical note. Pause and just think about what
we just said. I have the Lord. The Lord has
me. I am His. As it says in the Song
of Solomon, I am His and He is mine. Is there anything better
than that? It doesn't get any better than
that. He hath redeemed my soul. And there is none holy as the
Lord. This tells me that this woman, this lady, knew the Lord. She's not talking about the man
upstairs. She's not talking about a co-pilot.
She's talking about the Holy One of Israel. She's talking
about the One who is holy, the only One who is holy. She's talking
about the One who is absolute purity. He has looked upon me. He has blessed me. He's given
me Samuel, my request. Oh, we sing that song, give me
Christ or else I die. Oh, give me Christ or else I
die. He's given us what we've asked
for. Do you have Christ? She said there's none holy as
the Lord. She hits the highest chord of praise. Holy, holy,
holy is what they sing in heaven. Here's what this means. He will
do right. Wait on Him. He will do right. Just wait on the Lord. In His
good time, He'll break the enemy. He will exalt you at His right
hand. The judge of the earth will do right, for He's holy. And there's none beside thee. None besides Him. Who can be
compared to God in holiness? Who can be compared to God in
power? Who can be compared to God in
His person? None. None. Who can be compared to God in
mercy? He goes beyond what we would even think or ask. We haven't
even begun to ask. But He can do and will do. There's none like Him. None like
Him. Neither is there any rock like
our God. She didn't get this from the
Psalms. She didn't get this from David. She got this from knowing
Him. She got this from experience. Neither is there any rock like
our God. You reckon she heard about that
rock where the water gushed out? I reckon she did. Unmovable. What He has purposed
and what He has promised, He will do. Call upon Me in a day
of trouble. I will deliver thee and thou
shalt glorify Me. You can hang your hat on it. He'll do it. In his time, the trouble may
last a while, but he'll do it. He'll do it. He's a rock to stand
on, a sure foundation. I don't know how long, you know,
Hannah went through this, had to go through this for a pretty
good while because, evidently, Peninnah had a lot of children.
There were several children there. And she had to go through this
heartache and this bitterness for a long time. But she found him to be that
solid rock, that sure foundation that never moves. She found him
to be the rock to hide behind. She found him to be a rock to
drink from. She found him to be a rock to crush her enemies.
She found him to be a rock to give her shade from the heat.
She found him to be a rock. Oh, neither is there any rock
like our God. Talk no more exceedingly, exceeding
proudly. Be still. Be still. Don't say, look what I have.
Don't brag about what you have, who you are. Honestly, listen, before God,
we're nobodies. By nature, are we? By nature
now, by nature, we're just nobody. He said the nations, God said
the nations are a drop of a bucket to Him. He said that's all they
are, a drop of a bucket. And she says here, don't talk
no more exceeding prophetly. There's nothing outside of Christ
to boast about. What do we have to boast about
outside of Christ? Nothing. The rich man thought
he had something to boast about. He said, so thou hast much goods
laid up in store for many years. What am I going to do? Well,
here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tear down my barns and
I'm going to build bigger barns. And God sent that man to hell
that night. That's what it says. Thou fool,
thy soul is required of thee this night. And out there in the gate was
Lazarus. Dogs licking his sores. And that man is seated with the
Lord. Talk no more exceeding proudly
like you got it by yourself. God, it says, resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. And let not arrogancy come out
of your mouth. You know, the scripture says,
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Speaketh,
that's where it's coming from. And arrogance, is there anything
more obnoxious than arrogance? I don't find anything hardly,
I can stand a drunk. I can take a slobbering drunk
more than I can an arrogant person. Someone's walking around like,
I'm somebody. I've done this. I've done that.
I'm very intelligent. I'm very just attractive and
very stupid. You don't know God. Let not arrogance
come out of your mouth. Remember who God is and who you
are. Remember that. He remembers our frame that is
what? Dust. You have to worship, you
and I have to wash the dirt off every day. Dust. Dust. That's what we're made
of. That's what this body, this body is made of, dust. And it's
going to go back to the dust. No matter how well I take care
of myself. It's going to go back to the
dust. Remember that. Let your words be few. You know,
the scripture says this, even a fool is thought to be wise
when his words are few. That's what Solomon said. Even
a fool is thought to be wise when his words are few. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth. Listen, for the Lord is a God
of knowledge. And by Him, actions are weighed. What a powerful, powerful prayer. This woman, I mean, what she gives us in
ten verses is just amazing. Her knowledge of God. Her knowledge
of God. This woman knew God. And when
she spoke, she described the God of glory. She described Him
in her prayer. For the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by Him actions are weighed. He knows the heart. Listen, here's
what He knows. God knows Why you do what you
do. I don't. You don't know why I
do what I do. You see what I do. I see what
you do. And we have a pretty good idea.
So we think. But God knows the very motive
of why we are here. Why we give what we give. What
we do why we do what we do. By Him, actions are weighed. They're weighed. I wrote that
down in my other Bible that I had. I wrote that down in the back
of my Bible. By Him, actions are weighed. And the bones of mighty men are
broken. Now, who's in control? Who is
in control? Is God waiting on us? Pharaoh, where are your chariots
at? They're at the bottom of the sea. Nebuchadnezzar, what
are you doing eating grass? Why are you out there eating
grass? Because he was lifted up with
arrogance. He walked out on that porch one
day and he said, I'm somebody. By myself, I've gotten all this.
I've done this. God said, you're going to pasture.
I'm going to put you out to pasture. And for seven years, that man
went out there with the beast. Filled it with grass. His fingernails
grew like eagles' claws. And then one day, his reasoning
came back to him. God gave his reasoning back to
him. And then he recognized the God of heaven and earth. He recognized
the one Hannah's speaking about. The bows of mighty men are broken. Men think they have strength. In God's time, after he has fulfilled
his purpose in what power and strength he's given men, he takes
it away. God makes it very clear in the
Word of God concerning Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
is not the only person. It's just written about Pharaoh.
I raised you up for this purpose. And that can be said of every
world leader that's ever been on the throne. I raised you up
for this purpose. And after God fulfills his purpose, He dethrones them. That's who God is. That's who He is. Men are only
empowered by the will and purpose of God. And when He has fulfilled
His purpose, He'll break their strength and give them their appointed
end. Christ said to Pilate, Pilate
said to him, and you know this very well, Pilate said, don't
you know I have power to release you? I have power to let you
go. I have power to crucify you. There stands the God of heaven
and earth, and here's a little maggot saying, don't you know
I've got, that's like a toddler saying, don't you know the glass,
and don't you know I've got the power over you? The Lord said, you don't have
any power at all over me. He kept his mouth shut during that
whole trial. All those accusations that were
thrown on him, all the spitting, all the slapping, all the plucking
of the beard, he kept his mouth shut until Pilate said, I have
power. And the Lord said, no, you don't.
Power belongs unto God. Our belongs to God. And then he says here, he says,
the bones of mighty men are broken, and they that stumble are girded
with strength. Let me ask every one of you to
believe the gospel. You believe God, you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. How many times have you stumbled
since you believed? How many times have you stumbled
since you believed God? And He said, I give you strength
to get back up. I give you strength to continue
on. I give you strength. The reason you and I continue
to believe is because He's given us strength to do so in the heart. He's put strength in the inward
parts. Oh, they that stumble are girded
with strength. They stumble because they had
no strength in themselves. He lets us stumble. At times
He lets us stumble. But He always girds us with strength.
Rejoice not over me, O my enemies. Though I fall, yet shall I rise
again. And they that were full have
hired out themselves for bread. I want you to note now how the
order is reversed. They that were full of themselves have hired out themselves for
bread. God turns things upside down. Rich made poor, poor made
rich. God takes the man who's full
of himself and he pours him out, while he takes the man whom he
has made spiritually poor, and he fills him with good things,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And they that were hungry ceased.
Oh, they ceased to be hungry. Those who hunger or thirst after
righteousness, he said, they shall be filled. And the barren
hath borne seven." The number of perfection. In Him, you're
complete. You're complete. And the Lord killeth and maketh alive. And she doesn't
apologize for it, too. Hannah does not apologize for
her description of who God is. This is who He is. The Lord killeth
and he maketh alive. What a profound statement coming
from this woman. Our Lord said not even a sparrow
falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. How much more
human life? This is applicable in both the natural realm and
the spiritual. No one dies by accident. We don't just grow old and die. When we die, the Lord takes us
out of this life. His hand is directly involved
in it, and he makes us alive. Now, he
has to kill our proud spirits. He has to kill our arrogancy. before He makes us alive. There's a killing that has to
be done in order to make it alive. Isn't that taught all the time? Does not a grain of corn have
to fall to the ground and die? Is that what Scripture says before
it brings up fruit? Something had to die this day
for you and I to live. There was a cow that had to die.
That's how you eat a hamburger. I don't know where the word blown
comes from. Whatever it comes from, it had to die. I probably
don't want to know where that thing came from. But anyway,
something has to die. And for you and I to live, Christ
had to die. Christ had to die. God the Father
had to put His Son to death. for us to live. The Lord killed and maketh alive.
You know what this is really doing? I know I'm taking this
too long. But what this is really doing, it's just putting it into
the hands where it belongs. It's not in our hands. Life and
death is not in our hands. It's in His hands. We don't sing
here, but there's a song, He's got the whole world in His hands.
Does He? He sure does. It says everything that has breath
is His. When a child is born and it cries,
it's God who gave it life when it's conceived in the womb. And I tell you what, when it's first
conceived in the womb, it's alive and it's a child. What a profound statement she
makes. He bring it down to the grave.
And he bringeth up. Spiritually, he brings us to
the grave. And we see what we deserve. We deserve death. We see that now. We see it. And then he lifts us up in Christ.
He brings us up. He brings us up. The keys of death and hell are
said to be in his hands. And how often has God taken a
man or a woman to the very mouth of the grave and then raised
them up? I think of Todd. I think of Todd
about several years ago. I remember visiting him in the
hospital years ago, back in the 20s. And he was very, very sick. And they thought it was the end
of it. And God raised that man up. Took Him to the grave and raised
Him up. The Lord maketh poor and He maketh
rich. He brings low and He lifts up. He makes us poor in spirit. If
we're poor in spirit, He's the one who makes us poor in spirit
or we wouldn't be that way. We'd be proud in spirit. He makes
us rich in Christ. There's no one more rich than
those who believe God. But even in this world, he allows
men to be rich. Though they don't give him the
praise for it. But he does. He allows it. He
makes them rich. The rich and the poor are his.
They're his. He brings low. that he might lift us up. Has
he brought you low? Has he brought me low? If he
has, he's done it, that he might lift us up. He raises up the poor out of
the dust. You know, she's talking about
herself here. She's not, you know, she's talking
about herself. She's saying, the Lord has lifted
me out of the dust. He's lifted me out of the dirt. And that's, as I said, that's
what we are, dust. In Christ, though, listen now,
in Christ, he's made us partakers of the divine nature. In Christ. And he lifts the beggar from
the dunghill, from his own stench. From his own filth. Have you
ever really been around a real, real beggar? When I was 17 years
old, I worked in a, 16 or 17, I worked in a grocery store. And it was an old man, I mean
he was an old man. He lived down in an old trailer,
I mean it was small, it was small. And we called him Rat Man, that's
what we called him. We called him Rat Man because
he lived down there where all the rats were. Just rats all
around there. And when he walked in that store, we just went this way. It was a real stench that you
would not forget. He lived in that. He lifted the beggar from the
dome hill. Now, by nature, we do not see
ourselves like this. No. We're all dressed up. We
smell good. We look like beggars. Nobody
here looks like a beggar. But I tell you what, we are mercy
beggars. What Cecil Roach called us, mercy beggars. Dust and dung is our headquarters.
But now, because of Christ, and in Christ you live among princes,
we have been made kings and priests unto God. And we shall inherit
the throne of glory. This beggar inherits the throne
of glory. And the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and He has set the world upon them. He has the
power to do exactly what he said he'd do, what he promised he'd
do. He's got the power to do it. If he sets his world upon
pillars, you and I are not a problem. We're not a problem. He'll keep
the feet of his saints. Take that one with you. You feel
like you're not going to make it? Have you ever felt like you're
just not going to make it? How are you going to get through
it? The reason you and I have not
fallen away It keeps our faith from falling. He keeps it. He's going to silence the wicked.
Verse 9, I'm going to close. He's going to silence the wicked
in darkness. Someday He's going to cast the
wicked into hell. He's going to shut up all the penitents.
There will be no more penitents in our face. No more. And the
adversaries of the Lord are going to be broken to pieces. And the
Lord shall judge the end of the earth, and he shall give strength
to his king? Who's she talking about? This
was written back, this was written a long time ago. She's not talking
about Saul. She's not talking about King
David. She's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to give strength to
His King and exalt the heart of His anointed. He has the power
and the right to do so. And the Lord shall reign forever
and ever. The Lord Jesus Christ. Do I know this God? Do I know
the one that Hannah just spoke about? I'll tell you what,
when I read that, I thought, that's him. That's
him. That's the one this Bible presents,
the God of heaven and earth. All right, Mike.