Friday 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:
2:10 For the kingship of the Lord and his role as judge, see Ps. 96:10. The ends of the earth almost always appears in the context of describing the Lord’s uniqueness, majesty, and dominion (e.g., Ps. 67:7; 98:3; Prov. 30:4; Isa. 52:10; Mic. 5:4; Zech. 9:10). Since there was as yet no king in Israel, it is possible that the last two lines are a comment by the narrator rather than part of Hannah’s prayer. The law made provision for a king, however, and the institution was well known in Israel even before it was practiced (Judg. 8:22; 9:6; 1 Samuel 8), so there is no reason to think that these are not Hannah’s words. His anointed, or “his messiah,” appears here for the first time in the Bible (though Hb. mashiakh, “anointed,” is used of priests, e.g., Lev. 4:3). In the OT, priests and prophets are also referred to as “anointed,” but in Samuel most references are royal. Though the anointing of kings is known from various places in the ancient Near East, “messiah” as a royal title is attested only in the Bible. The song concludes with a twofold plea for the Lord to raise the king of Israel to a position of power and prominence worthy of the great God who appointed him.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 494.
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 494.
Questions:
Hannah began by saying, “My heart rejoices in the LORD.” His holiness. His power. His justice. Hannah's prayer ends with: “The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and will lift up the horn of his anointed one.” There was no king of Israel yet when Hannah prayed these words. David wouldn't come for generations. Yet Hannah ends her song looking ahead to a King.
The Hebrew word is mashiach, Messiah. Hannah is looking beyond Samuel, beyond herself, and beyond her own answered prayer toward the King God would one day raise up. Jesus entered the world as the Messiah, the King Hannah could only see from a distance.
Mary's song in Luke 1 even echoes Hannah's song as she rejoices over the Son she is carrying. What Hannah celebrated in promise, Mary experienced in fulfillment. Hannah received a son from God, Mary received the Son of God.
Jesus is the King who came to save His people. He humbled Himself, went to the cross, defeated sin and death, and was raised in victory. One day, He will make His reign fully known and judge the earth with perfect justice. That means following Jesus isn't simply about adding some Christian habits to our lives. If Jesus really is King, then He gets more than a Sunday morning. He gets our whole life.
Hannah's song began with what God had done for her, but it ended with God's King.
That's where worship should leads us, not only to gratitude for God's blessings, but to Jesus Himself.
The Hebrew word is mashiach, Messiah. Hannah is looking beyond Samuel, beyond herself, and beyond her own answered prayer toward the King God would one day raise up. Jesus entered the world as the Messiah, the King Hannah could only see from a distance.
Mary's song in Luke 1 even echoes Hannah's song as she rejoices over the Son she is carrying. What Hannah celebrated in promise, Mary experienced in fulfillment. Hannah received a son from God, Mary received the Son of God.
Jesus is the King who came to save His people. He humbled Himself, went to the cross, defeated sin and death, and was raised in victory. One day, He will make His reign fully known and judge the earth with perfect justice. That means following Jesus isn't simply about adding some Christian habits to our lives. If Jesus really is King, then He gets more than a Sunday morning. He gets our whole life.
Hannah's song began with what God had done for her, but it ended with God's King.
That's where worship should leads us, not only to gratitude for God's blessings, but to Jesus Himself.
- Hannah's song starts with her own story but ends with God's King. Why do you think our worship often stops at what God has done for us instead of leading us to worship Him for who He is? When you think about God's goodness in your own life, does your gratitude usually end with the blessing, or does it lead you to greater love and worship of the One who gave it?
- Hannah was looking forward to God's “Anointed One,” long before Jesus came. What does the arrival of Jesus tell us about God's faithfulness to promises that may take far longer to unfold than we expect? How does Jesus' life, death, and resurrection give you confidence that God is still working even when you cannot yet see how His promises will be fulfilled?
- If Jesus is truly your King, what difference should that make in the way you make decisions when following Him conflicts with what you want? Where are you most tempted to treat Jesus as someone whose advice you appreciate rather than as the King whose word has the final say?
Prayer Topics:
- Confess the ways you have treated Jesus more like an adviser than your King, choosing your own preferences when His Word challenges what you want.
- Thank God that the King Hannah looked forward to has come in Jesus, and that He gave Himself to save His people.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your love for Jesus so that obedience flows from genuine affection for your King, not merely from religious duty.
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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