20240228

real victory

1 Samuel 2:1-11 (JDV)

1 Samuel 2:1 Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in Yahveh; my horn is lifted by Yahveh. My mouth boasts over my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.
1 Samuel 2:2 There is no one holy like Yahveh. There is no one besides you! And there is no boulder like our God.
1 Samuel 2:3 Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogant words come out of your mouth, because Yahveh is a God who knows, and actions are examined by him.
1 Samuel 2:4 The bows of the warriors are broken, but the stumblers are clothed with efficiency.
1 Samuel 2:5 Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are starving hunger no more. The woman who is childless gives birth to seven, but the woman with many sons dries up.
1 Samuel 2:6 Yahveh brings death and gives life; he sends down to Sheol, and he raises up from it.
1 Samuel 2:7 Yahveh brings poverty and gives wealth; he humbles, and he exalts.
1 Samuel 2:8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage mound. He seats them with noblemen and gives them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the land are Yahveh’s; he has set the world on them.
1 Samuel 2:9 He guards the steps of his faithful ones, but the wicked are silenced in darkness because a person does not prevail by his own strength.
1 Samuel 2:10 Those who oppose Yahveh will be shattered; he will thunder in the sky against them. Yahveh will judge the ends of the land. He will give power to his king; he will lift the horn of his anointed.
1 Samuel 2:11 Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served Yahveh in the presence of the priest Eli.

real victory

Hannah learned went through the ordeal of barrenness, her desperate prayer for a child, the answer to the prayer, and then her giving Samuel to God to serve at the temple. She had become victorious, not because of what she did, but because of what God did for her. That is the gospel. We experience the real victory when we confess our desperate need to God and trust him to provide the solution.

Real Christianity always trusts God for victory. It doesn’t parade its own works or seek its own power. It says “God be merciful to me — a sinner” and puts its trust in the God of mercy. The song of praise we sing is “My mouth boasts over my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.”