Thursday Devo
Scripture:
1 Samuel 2:1-11
Hannah’s Prayer of Praise
2 Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong.[a]
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
2 No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
3 “Stop acting so proud and haughty!
Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;
he will judge your actions.
4 The bow of the mighty is now broken,
and those who stumbled are now strong.
5 Those who were well fed are now starving,
and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
and the woman with many children wastes away.
6 The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave[b] but raises others up.
7 The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
8 He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
and he has set the world in order.
9 “He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
10 Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength[c] of his anointed one.”
11 Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.
Hannah’s Prayer of Praise
2 Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord!
The Lord has made me strong.[a]
Now I have an answer for my enemies;
I rejoice because you rescued me.
2 No one is holy like the Lord!
There is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
3 “Stop acting so proud and haughty!
Don’t speak with such arrogance!
For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done;
he will judge your actions.
4 The bow of the mighty is now broken,
and those who stumbled are now strong.
5 Those who were well fed are now starving,
and those who were starving are now full.
The childless woman now has seven children,
and the woman with many children wastes away.
6 The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave[b] but raises others up.
7 The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
8 He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
and he has set the world in order.
9 “He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
10 Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength[c] of his anointed one.”
11 Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.
Commentary:
2:8 The Lord is sovereign over life, for he created and owns the world. The exact meaning of the word pillars (Hb. metsuqe) is not known, but there are similar expressions using the ordinary word for “pillars” (Hb. ‘ammudim; Job 9:6; Ps. 75:3) or “foundations” (2 Sam. 22:16). The reference to the foundation or support (“pillars”) of the earth is meaningful here, for the Lord upholds both the place where his people live as well as the moral order of this world; he protects his faithful, while he destroys the wicked (1 Sam. 2:9).
2:9 Darkness functions here as a metaphor for the silence brought upon the wicked in death (Ps. 35:6–8).
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 494.
2:9 Darkness functions here as a metaphor for the silence brought upon the wicked in death (Ps. 35:6–8).
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 494.
Questions:
Hannah's song continues by lifting our eyes from what God does in individual lives to the authority He holds over all creation. She says that the foundations of the earth belong to the Lord and that He has established the world upon them. The God who holds the whole world in His hands is not distant from His people. Hannah immediately turns from the foundations of the earth to the feet of God's faithful ones: “He will protect His faithful ones.”
The God who governs what is unimaginably large also cares about the individual steps of those who belong to Him. Hannah is reminding us that our lives are ultimately in God's hands, not our own. We are not the ones holding the world together, and we were never meant to be.
Hannah says, “No one will succeed by strength alone.” We like to believe that if we are strong enough, wise enough, prepared enough, or disciplined enough, we can keep our lives under control. But time and time again, life reminds us that we can't. There are things we cannot prevent, problems we cannot solve, and outcomes we cannot control.
Our weakness gives us another reason to depend on God's strength.
In Christ, God doesn't just offer us help when our strength runs out. He brings us into His family and makes us His own. Our standing before Him rests on what Christ has accomplished for us. That gives us a very different kind of security. We don't have to spend our lives proving that we're strong enough to deserve God's care. The God who created and sustains all things is the God who has chosen to keep His people.
Hannah's confidence isn't in her ability to navigate whatever comes next, it is dependent on the character and power of the God who holds all things together.
The God who governs what is unimaginably large also cares about the individual steps of those who belong to Him. Hannah is reminding us that our lives are ultimately in God's hands, not our own. We are not the ones holding the world together, and we were never meant to be.
Hannah says, “No one will succeed by strength alone.” We like to believe that if we are strong enough, wise enough, prepared enough, or disciplined enough, we can keep our lives under control. But time and time again, life reminds us that we can't. There are things we cannot prevent, problems we cannot solve, and outcomes we cannot control.
Our weakness gives us another reason to depend on God's strength.
In Christ, God doesn't just offer us help when our strength runs out. He brings us into His family and makes us His own. Our standing before Him rests on what Christ has accomplished for us. That gives us a very different kind of security. We don't have to spend our lives proving that we're strong enough to deserve God's care. The God who created and sustains all things is the God who has chosen to keep His people.
Hannah's confidence isn't in her ability to navigate whatever comes next, it is dependent on the character and power of the God who holds all things together.
- Hannah says that the God who established the foundations of the earth also watches over the feet of His people. Why do you think we so often struggle to believe that a God this great is also paying attention to the details of our lives? What situation in your life are you tempted to believe is too ordinary, too complicated, or too insignificant for God to care about?
- Hannah puts two truths side by side: God holds the foundations of the earth, and He guards the feet of His people. What does that tell you about the kind of God He is? How do we see this same combination of God's greatness and His personal care in the life and ministry of Jesus?
- Hannah says, “No one will succeed by strength alone.” Where are you relying on your own strength right now because you are afraid of what might happen if you stop trying to hold everything together? What would trusting God require you to stop carrying as though everything depends on you?
Prayer Topics:
- Confess the ways you have acted as though everything depends on your strength, wisdom, or ability to keep yourself and others safe.
- Thank God that your security does not depend on how strong you are, but on His faithfulness to keep His people.
- Ask God to help you recognize the places where you are trying to control what only He can control, and give you grace to trust Him with them.
- Praise the Lord that He is infinitely greater than us, yet never distant from His people.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
3. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Since “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the fine for my sin so I could be right with God.
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
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