"Hannah's Thanksgiving" Sermon: I Samuel 2:1-10

“Hannah’s Thanksgiving”

[I Samuel 2:1-10]

November 18, 2012 Second Reformed Church

            This is Thanksgiving Sunday, and we are looking back about three thousand years in history to an event – a thanksgiving – that occurred by a certain women named Hannah. 

Now, there was a man from Ephraim named Elkanah, and he had two wives:  Hannah and Peninnah.  Elkanah had several children by Peninnah, but Hannah was barren, and Peninnah took every opportunity to rub that fact in Hannah’s face.

Elkanah loved Hannah, and though he provided for Peninnah and her children by him, he gave a double portion to Hannah, which made Peninnah all the more bitter and vicious towards Hannah.

Elkanah was a righteous man and went to offer up sacrifices at Shiloh once a year.  And one year, Hannah broke down in the Temple and cried with great abandon and mouthed the words of her prayer to the Lord asking that He grant her a son.  And she promised that if a son were born to her, she would give the son to the Lord and to the work of the Temple under the high priest, Eli.

The Lord honored her prayer and she became pregnant and bore the prophet, Samuel.  When the baby was weaned, she brought him to the Temple at Shiloh and presented him to Eli, and prayed the prayer of thanksgiving that we read this morning.

            And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”

            Notice first that Hannah gives thanks to God because He has lifted up her heart, He lifted up her strength, and He gave her salvation.

            Hannah recognized that the work which was done in her – in bearing Samuel the prophet – was the work of God – God opened her womb and caused her to bear, through the love of Elkanah, a son.  She recognized that God was her strength – not beating out Peninnah in bearing children, but in being the servant of God in His Time and according to His Will.  And she recognized that salvation is the Gift of God, as He wills to give it.  And because all these things are true, she spoke of her enemies with contempt and joy.

            And we might scrunch up our faces at that and wonder – she joyfully looked on her enemies with contempt because of these things?  Was she sinning?  No.

            Hannah submitted to the Sovereignty of God, acknowledging that everything that happened to her – and especially the answering of her prayer for a son – was in the Providence and Wisdom of God.  She humbly submitted herself to God’s Will and rejoiced in Him, looking on all those who oppose God and His Will with contempt.

            Hannah gives a living example of rejoicing in God’s Will and hating what God hates.  Likewise, as we rejoice in God and His Will – and all things about God – Who He is – His Attributes – we are to despise sin – all those things which are against God’s Will and all those things which neglect to follow God’s Will.

            We are called to rejoice in Who God is and what He has done and those who are obedient and faithful in following Him.  As we pray, “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10b, ESV).  We are to rejoice and give thanks to God as we see His Will done – like the creatures of Heaven – who in perfect obedience – follow God.  We are to rejoice as we see God – in His Grace and Mercy – call the elect and cause them to believe and follow Him in faithful obedience – and we are to rejoice as we see God meet out justice and strike down all those things which oppose Him.

            And again, we may be scrunching up our faces at giving thanks for God’s Justice and crushing sin and evil and death and all those who oppose Him.  Yet, Jesus quoted David, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

(Matthew 22:44, ESV).  And Paul encouraged the Romans as he wrote:  “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (Romans 16:20, ESV).

            We can understand hating sin, but not hating the sinner.  We say, “Hate the sin and love the sinner.”  And that is true to the extent that we cannot see the heart – we have no idea who the elect of God are and what God has chosen to do with any individual person.  It is possible – for example – if Hitler repented and believed in Jesus Alone for salvation before he died – he will be in the Kingdom.  Only God knows the heart of the individual and a person’s state of belief and faith at death.  We know that only those who believe the Gospel will be saved – justified – made right with God.  We know what God has called sin, but we cannot – with surety – say any specific person is in Hell (except those God names in the Scripture).

            The point here is not that Hannah was rejoicing in the condemnation of any specific person – though we likely jump to Peninnah who had been so cruel to Hannah – but that – in the Kingdom, we will be able to rejoice in God’s Justice as He punishes those who die in a reprobate state.  Somehow, we will be able to know that myriads of people are suffering eternal Hell and rejoice because that suffering proves the Holy Justice of God.

            Second, Hannah gives thanks to God because God Alone is Holy:   “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.  Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

            The Name of the Lord Alone is to be hallowed.  We pray:  “hallowed be your name”

(Matthew 6:9b, ESV).

            The Heidelberg Catechism (cf. Q&A 122) explains that this means that we are to rightly recognize – understand – Who God is.  We are to look to the Scripture and understand the God Who is.  And as we rightly understand Who He is, we are to respond by glorifying God – by showing Who He is to the world – pointing out the Sovereign Beauty of the One Holy God.  We are to present Who He is – and especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ – that the world would hear and believe – according to the Providence of God – that His Power and Mercy and Goodness and Justice and Truth would be clearly displayed throughout the world – through history – and in individual lives.

            Secondly, it means that we are to change ourselves – that – in everything we do – we do not blaspheme the Name of God – we do not bring shame or dishonor or disrepute to the God Who has granted us salvation, but, instead, that we would do everything with the end that people would look at us and give praise to God for Who He is – because – ultimately – life and death and salvation are primarily about God and Who He is – not about us.  God has chosen us to present the Gospel to the world, because it can be seen clearly through us and in us, because its holiness and purity shines out distinctly from our partly sanctified selves.

            Hannah continues confessing in thanksgiving that her security is in this Holy God because He is strength personified and unchanging.  James reminds us:  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”  (James 1:17, ESV).  We can trust and hope in Him because He cannot change – there is no other God like Him – He is the strength and security of our salvation forever.

            Therefore, she tells those who do not believe to watch what they say – literally, the text says “don’t let words fly out of your mouth like a swarm of locusts.”  Watch what you say – especially if you don’t believe, because God is coming as judge – the God of Knowledge – Who will judge our works – including everything we have said.  (For the believer – for the Christian – this judgment is not about salvation – our salvation is through Jesus Alone – through what He did – but there is a judgment of all yet to come – and those who do not believe will have not an excuse – no salvation – from what they have said – especially as they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit by not believing in Jesus Alone for salvation.)

            Third, Hannah gives thanks to God because He is the God Who does as He wills with all of Creation:  with kings and kingdoms – the God Who gives strength to those who are – literally – “stumbling to ruin.”

“The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.  Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.  The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.  The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.  The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.  He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.  For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world.”

We know this text is not merely about Hannah and her situation.  She did not bear seven children, but six.  She did not become wealthy.  And so forth.  This is a picture of how God moves the world and its people to accomplish His Will.

As Nebuchadnezzar – king of  the Babylonian Empire – confessed, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:34-35, ESV).

And Paul reminded the Romans:  “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Romans 13:1-2, ESV).

Our God is not a god who created and walked away to allow whatever happens to happen.  Our God is the God Who is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.  He set our leaders in place – no one has ever held a position of authority that God did not put there – for our good or our ill – according to His Providence.  The outcome of every election, every war, and every interpersonal relationship was planned out by God from the beginning.

God choses the life we will have – the life by which He has chosen to bring glory to Himself – and that we might see Him and give thanks to Him and rely on Him through our lives.  You and I are not where we are and what we are by accident – God – the Loving Father of all those who believe has put you were you are for a purpose. 

Last week we looked at the idea of stewardship – how are we using all that God has given to us to glorify Him?  Do you have joy in your life?  Notice I didn’t ask if you are happy – there are many reasons not to be happy every day – but are you joyful?  Does God and the knowledge of Him and the fact that He is intimately involved with every moment and every action in your life give you joy that leads to thanksgiving to God?

This same God is the God of life and death – no one can be born and no one can die and no one can raise from the dead except the Word come from the Mouth of God.  Two weeks ago we looked at the raising of Lazarus, and we saw that Martha believed in the resurrection that will come at the end of days before the restoration of the world.  But she missed the point of Who Jesus is:  and He told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,” (John 11:25, ESV).  Life and death and resurrection are not merely events – they are a Person.  God Incarnate, Jesus, is the Resurrection and the Life – by Him Alone does a person enter life, die, and will be raised.  Again, Paul writes, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52, ESV).

This same God lifts up the broken, the repentant, the helpless, and gives them a seat of honor, because everything is God’s.  Abraham Kuyper once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'"  If you are His son or daughter – that is a reason to give thanks, is it not?  That our Father and our Savior is Lord and Owner of all?

Fourth, Hannah gave thanks because God Alone is Savior:  “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.  The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven.  The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

We have a saying, “God is the Father of all humankind” – that’s not true.  God is the God and Creator of all humankind, but He is only Father and Savior to those Who believe in Him Alone for salvation – in the Savior that He sent to save us from the Wrath of God.

God guards the feet of His faithful ones – God will not allow one of those He has elected to be His be lost.  Jesus – praying to His Father and the Father of all those who believe in Him Alone for salvation prayed, “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12, ESV).  If God has saved you through faith in Jesus Alone, nothing you ever do can make Him lose you – He has paid the debt for all of your sins and credited you with His Righteousness, so you can come before the Father boldly – as a child.

Those who never believe – those who have fooled themselves about what they believe – God will cast them into outer darkness.  Jesus – referring to those who put their faith in their biological heritage as Jews – said, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12, ESV).  Jesus used the expression “outer darkness” again and again – those who do not believe in Him Alone for salvation will be cast into a place of eternal suffering – there are a number of images used for it – but, in the end, it means a place where they will suffer in body and mind and heart and soul for all of eternity – because they blasphemed the Holy Spirit by not believing in the Savior God sent.

We are to preach the Gospel in thanks for our salvation – and everyone that God intended throughout time and space to believe will believe.  But the others will not – and those, God will take vengeance upon.  Hannah reminds us that God will take their bodies and smash them to pieces and thunder through them in eternal torment.

God will judge and welcome His sons and daughters into His Kingdom forever – not based on anything we did or did not do, but solely on the merits of Jesus.  But those who choose to go their own way, God will not recognize them – and He will cast them out.

Hannah’s thanksgiving for Samuel ends with the promise that God “will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed.”  And certainly we can see God working through the people that God sets up in power to rule on the earth.  But Hannah is seeing even further than mere human leaders to God’s King – to God’s Anointed – to the Messiah – the Christ.

Hannah believed and looked forward in thanks to the day when the promised Savior – the Anointed King of God – would come to earth.  This King would come about a thousand years later and reveal His Glory and Power in a way that caused many to believe – and still causes many to believe.

But, as we acknowledge as we receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper – He is coming back with the veil fully pulled back and the rod of the King in His Hand to judge the world. “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30-31, ESV).

Hannah’s thanksgiving for the gift of her son reminds us of many reasons to be thankful:

Our salvation is from God Alone – we don’t – and can’t – earn salvation – it is the Gift of God.

God is the One Holy God – and we are called to point to His Holiness.

God is the Sovereign Ruler, Owner, and Creator of all – and if we are His, we can trust Him to provide for all of our needs, and we can trust Him enough to steward everything He gives us.

God’s Gift of salvation cannot be lost – because God earns it Himself and gives it to whomever He will.

God’s Justice will come to all of Creation – for the joy of some and the terror of others.

God is Jesus Christ, Who does not condemn us, but saves us by His Mighty Right Arm.

As Paul wrote, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39, ESV).

What are you thankful for?

Let us pray: 

To You, O Lord, we give thanks:  for life, for salvation, for being God, for all the ways in which You have revealed Yourself to us, and especially through You Son.  Make us truly thankful, and may our thanks be first and foremost to You and for You.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.