Overview

By Janice Hall

Scripture Lesson Text: 1 Samuel 1:20, 26-28; 2: 1-10

Hannah worshipped the Lord in faith, even though the promise was not yet fulfilled. The lesson text describes how Samuel the prophet came to be born. Hannah was barren and mocked by Penninah, her husband’s other wife, who had many children. Hannah had prayed intensely, and vowed to give her son back to God. Even though it was difficult for Elkanah and Hannah they were able to fulfill the vow to the LORD, they brought the boy to Eli the priest.

1 Samuel 2: 1-10, begins with Hannah’s prayer to the LORD, at the sanctuary in Shiloh. This poetic exclamation of praise in declaration in response to the gift from the LORD. Her focus is on the Lord and her confidence in the future is in the Lord. Hannah praised and glorified God for His kindness towards her. Hannah spoke in verse 10, prophetically, that in the future God would cause His children to advance.

Related Scriptures

By Doug Smith

Related Scriptures:  1 Samuel 1:1-19, 21-25; 2:18-21; Psalms 113:1-19; Luke 1: 46-55, 67-80

In these passages, in 1 Samuel, we see that ,Elkanah had two wives and one of them was Hannah who was barren. During a family trip to the temple of the Lord in Shiloh, she weeps bitterly before the Lord and pours out her grief. She vows to give a son back to the Lord if He will allow her to bear one. Hannah trusted God in midst of her suffering and God transformed her. We see in verses 2 Samuel 18-21, the purity and service of Samuel is a contrast to the evil characters of Eli’s sons.
 
This particular Psalm 113: 1-9, shows God’s great mercy is demonstrated by His concern for the poor and the oppressed. The scripture also declares God’s sovereignty and authority over all that He has created. This psalm calls God’s servants to continually praise Him for the greatness of His glory.

Luke1: 46-55, 67-80 relates, this song is often called the Magnificat and has often been used as the basis for choral music and hymns. Like Hannah, the mother of Samuel, Mary glorified God in song for which He was going to do for the world through her. In this passage( 67-80) , of scriptures, Zachariah praised God with his first words after months of silence. This is a song that is often called the Benedictus. He also recalls hundreds of years of God’s sovereign work in history, which was God’s promise to Abraham to bless all the nations through him.

Practical Application

By Charlene Brown

A) God’s answers to our prayers are intended to increase our delight in Him.

God’s answers to our prayers can increase our delight in Him, because it is the perfect demonstration of His power, love, care, attentiveness and faithfulness towards us. It enhances our intimacy and dependency on Him while deepening our relationship. Answered prayers should motivate us to a deeper level of appreciation of God’s attributes and His constant involvement in our lives. 1 John 5:14-15  says “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” The promise that God hears and answers prayers according to His will should strengthen our confidence and delight in Him.

B) The Lord strengthens the weak who wait in faith upon Him; those who are confident in their own strength will be overthrown.

We are not our own because we belong to God, and  it is important that we constantly rely on God’s strength and not our own. Trusting in God’s strength rather than our own brings us such a level of peace and blessed assurance. When we wait in faith upon Him, we can experience His sustaining power in everyday living, in our personal, emotional and spiritual struggles. We can experience the transformative power of His Holy Spirit when we wait in faith in God and witness the downfall of confidence and self-reliance in ourselves.  Waiting in faith helps us not operate and function outside of God’s will  and we begin to make choices in life that align with His will.