Title: Hannah's Prayer/(1 Samuel 2:6-11)
Contents I. I prayed to Jehovah, who is in control of life and death.
II. I prayed to Jehovah, the ruler of the rich and the poor.
III. I prayed to God who is in charge of judgment.
On the 31st of last month, Typhoon No. 12 Prapipun caused a stir on the Korean Peninsula, causing 25 deaths and missing people and damage to crops and orchards worth more than 140 billion won.
We realized once again that if God were to do it, there was no way to stop it, even using the latest science.
The Word of God that we read together this morning 1 Samuel 2 records Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving to God after she prayed to God in 1 Samuel 1 and gave birth to Samuel by God's grace.
In 1 Samuel 2, Hannah's prayer is full of Hannah's confession of faith and is woven with gratitude and emotion.
Originally, Hannah was a person of prayer.
Hannah She always prayed in the temple where Eli was the priest, and she prayed according to Hannah's wish, and she gave birth to a son.
In response to Hannah's prayer, God gave Samuel as a gift to Hannah.
Hannah, who received her son Samuel as a gift from God, offered a prayer of thanks for him, which is recorded in 1 Samuel 2.
In particular, the words of God's Word (1 Samuel 2:6-11) that we read together this morning are Hannah's confession of faith and prayer.
So, what is the content of Hannah's prayer?
I. I prayed to the Lord who governs life and death.
In our text (1 Samuel 2:6), it says, "The Lord kills and makes alive."
God is in control of life and death, which causes people to die and live.
Life is completely in God.
No matter where you look in the Bible, you do not have life (where it is said to belong to man). Life belongs to God.
Life is created by God, and life is redeemed by God.
The heavens, the earth, and the sea were all created by God, and the mountains, heavenly plants, and the birds, animals, and humans that fly in the air were also created by God.
It is said that monkeys did not evolve into humans, but monkeys were like monkeys, and that God created man and woman in Genesis 2. It is written in the verse that God created human life, killing and making life (1 Samuel 2:6).
In order to redeem the life God created in this way, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, and to resurrect and ascend to heaven.
So, while sitting at the right hand of God, he believed in Jesus and came back to resurrect the lives of the dead.
It is God who rescues the souls who have fallen into sin and die.
(Isaiah 43:1) “I have redeemed you, and I have called you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
The Bible everywhere says that we (the life that believes in Jesus is mine is God's).
Today, God saves us and kills us.
Life is not mine, it is completely God's. So, looking at Hannah's prayer, she confessed her faith that the Lord both kills and makes alive.
In the New Testament (Romans 14:8), Paul said, "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."
This confession means that the sovereignty of life and death rests with God.
More importantly, God does not unconditionally kill and unconditionally make life. If you believe in Jesus, you will live (eternal life, go to heaven) and if you do not believe in Jesus, you will die. (You will die. You will go to hell.)
In the verse we know well (John 3:16) it says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
In 1 Samuel 2:6, the second half says, "He brings down into Hades and raises up."
The meaning of these words is that if you believe in God (Jesus), you will go to heaven, and if you do not believe in Jesus, you will go down to hell.
In other words, whether to ascend to heaven or descend to hell is entirely up to God.
We theologically call this the absolute sovereignty of God.
What is the content of Hannah's prayer?
II. It is said that Jehovah is the ruler of the rich and the poor.
In our text (1 Samuel 2:7), it says, "The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he humbles and exalts."
Hannah prays and confesses that God is in control of success and failure, happiness and unhappiness, wealth and glory, poverty and disgrace.
God makes it exist and God makes it not; God has an abundance and a lack.
In Job (Job 1:21), the LORD gave and the LORD took away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
Then, all believers should be wealthy, honorable, and prosperous, so why are they not rich and lack many things?
It is the suffering that God gives us to pray and refine the saints.
God's people do not just pour out blessings from God.
What I must do, I must do.
Believe in Jesus, keep the Lord's Day, keep the Ten Commandments, tithe, give thanks, praise, pray, be alert, sober, loyal, humble, and patient. You must bear the cross, suffer hardships, and overcome temptations.
Eagles train their young by dropping them off cliffs, tossing them into the air, and letting them fly over the sea in order to raise their chicks to be kings of the birds of the air.
When you do that, you grow into a mighty eagle.
“(Proverbs 17:3) says, “The crucible refines silver and the furnace refines gold, but the LORD tests the heart.”
(Romans 5:4) It is knowing that perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.”
In order for God to become God's people, through refinement, our faith grows, and through prayer, we overcome trials and sufferings.
I believe that those who overcome trials and pains through refining and praying in this way will receive blessings from God.
What is the content of Hannah's prayer?
III. Judgment belongs to Jehovah.
Our text (1 Samuel 2:10) says, "Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered, and he will strike them with thunder from heaven. The LORD will judge to the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king, and he will exalt the horn of his anointed. Say Siri."
We have something to pay attention to here.
"Whoever opposes the LORD will be broken to pieces.
In the Bible, there is no one who resists God, opposes the church, and opposes the clergy.
They resisted Moses, and Miriam was leprous, and Nadab and Abihu burned incense with other fires that the Lord had not commanded.
Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Korah and Reuben, challenged Moses and Aaron's army, but the earth split and the earth swallowed them up.
(Exodus 16:40-50) When the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, God sent a plague to despise them, and 14,700 people died.
Those who resisted God in this way were shattered into pieces.
We must become saints who do not fall to pieces when we try to oppose God, do not break, obey God and receive blessings.
(1 Samuel 2:10) continues, "He will give strength to his king, and he will exalt the horn of his anointed."
I want to pray, I want to be patient, I want to live by faith, but I can't without strength.
When God becomes our strength, we overcome sin, the world, Satan, heresy, and death.
(1 Samuel 2:10) says, "The Lord brings judgment to the ends of the earth."
In the last world, God judges to the ends of the earth.
Saints!
God's judgment
God saves those he will save (to go to heaven), and kills those he wants to kill (to go to hell)
He descended into Hades, and He raised Him up to Heaven.
Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered.
We believe that those who obey God will have eternal life in the kingdom of God.
I bless you all to understand, pray, and believe.
-Amen-