1 And Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. 2 "No one is holy like the LORD, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God. 3 "Talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the LORD is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed. 4 "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. 5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven, and she who has many children has become feeble. 6 "The LORD kills and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and brings up. 7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. "For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and He has set the world upon them. 9 He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail. 10 The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed."
Exalted the Lord! (vv. 1-3)
Worthy: All Our Praise, Heart, Rejoicing
The best remedy for a heavy heart is to praise the Lord. The surest path to peace when facing a difficult duty is to exalt the Lord. “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” is not an escapist mantra but faith’s immovable rock. Hannah shows us the way. She loved the Lord, but now it was time for her to release Samuel to the Lord. Yes, she must pay her vow, but Hannah was no mercenary but a cheerful giver. She wanted her gift to be salted with praise. The longings of her mother’s heart must give way to praise and celebration at the privilege of giving her young son to the Lord. She would hardly have been human if she felt no sadness at this moment. But the beauty and glory of the Lord are greater and personally satisfying in ways that nothing else is.
Her whole heart rejoiced. Her “horn” or her strength exalted in the Lord. She proclaimed victory over her enemies – not Peninnah, for the noun is plural. Hannah rightly sees her trials as part of the Lord’s kingdom work. Her son is part of a broader work of God that she sees dimly but trusts the Lord to bring to completion in his own time and way. The Lord’s answer to her prayers and relief of her sorrow were part of his great salvation, his delivering us from all evil. Our faith, our trials, and our tears are far more than our personal journeys. They are part of the unfolding story of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, keeping, teaching, protecting, securing, sanctifying, and glorifying his name in our lives. We are all part of his kingdom, living stones in his living temple, the church of Jesus Christ, God’s only holy nation and his peculiar people. We would have more joy in difficulty and be less paralyzed by fear and sadness if we remembered this. Lord, do great things in my case, for it is part of your great and mighty work, magnify your Son, build his kingdom, and save your people.
Holiness: Rules All by Absolute Purity
We think too little of the Lord’s majesty, of his glorious person, which is one reason the cares of this life are magnified and even holy duties become burdensome. To sing in the dungeon, “none holy as the Lord” must fill our thoughts. God rules all by absolute purity. World leaders may be filthy, self-serving thieves, but not the Lord. All his counsels and works, even his delays, are done in absolute purity. Praise begins with the Lord’s holiness – as the angels, as Isaiah said, as our Lord confessed on the cross. Unless we believe this, there is no sincere praise, and thus no peace. However much we struggle, he is holy. There is none beside him. There is no other God. The very first commandment moves to worship. There is none holy as the Lord. The governor of the nations is holy, and holiness will prevail. It is not our might that beats the devil, but holiness. It is not better strategies that overcome evil, but holiness (Rom. 12:21).
Rock: Invincible Strength in Every Difficulty
The Lord’s holiness is too high for us, but he is near in his strength. “Rock” is one of the common descriptions of what the Lord is to us. He is our rock (Ps. 18:2,46; 28:1; 92:15). He, the high and holy, has entered in bonded friendship with us, a covenant. Our Lord as the image of God clarified this by speaking of his word as the rock upon which we build and endure the storms of life (Matt. 7:24-25). We are built upon him as the chief cornerstone. And where he is? At the right hand of the Father, and he indwells us by his Spirit. If we are “built and rooted” in him (Phil. 1:23; 2:7), we shall have his strength to endure every difficulty with patience and joy (Col. 1:11). But this is not in your strength, child of God. We have none! There is no rock but the Lord. Sing, O, sing, Hannah’s song, and believe it. The wicked have no rock. Their foundation is the devil’s lies, their own pride, and the world’s fleeting pleasures. Hold fast to Jesus Christ. The Lord sits as King above the floods, above the storms of life. Praise him now for the strength he will give to you. At Calvary Satan unleashed his hottest fires and his sharpest missiles – and our Lord Jesus endured and overcame in our flesh because he himself was built upon his Father’s word as his rock. While Satan was winning, he was losing. The Lord is our Rock! Trust him. Know his Word. Commit your cares to him and live by faith in his promises. Trust him to give you strength, all the strength you need to serve him and finally reach heaven. You will overcome. God has sworn.
Knowledge: Sees the Plots Hatched in the Darkness
Our praise challenges the world’s mute ingratitude. Our age bases praise and public worship on personal feeling. Real worship is fueled by knowledge and wonder at God’s character. As we praise him, he dwells in our praises, comes and sings with us, and cheers us with his presence (Ps. 9:11; 22:3; Heb. 2:12). In God’s holy presence, we loathe our pride. No more arrogance! No more proud talk! Not among us, not in the world, not the worldlings. There is no better cure for our pride than conviction before God’s holiness and awareness that he knows all. He is our judge – not men. To live to please men, to be affirmed by men, is to live in personal darkness, a slave to public opinion. We live before God’s face, and he is a God of knowledge. He weighs our actions. It is to him, not to men, that we will give account (Rom. 14:10). We are bound and accountable to each other and must “submit ourselves to each other” (Eph. 5:19). We are not, however, one another’s judges. We do not know the hearts of others, not even our own hearts, not infallibly, and usually not very clearly. In all the dark and deep crevices of our hearts, the candle of the Lord makes diligent search. We must welcome this, for he is in the light, and where he exposes, he heals. The wicked, on the other hand, hate the light and flee it (John 3:19-20). Nevertheless, the Lord knows all the plots of the wicked. What great comfort lies in God’s omniscience, his active searching, weighing of the hearts of every man! Believing this, our pride dies a little more and praise grows, as does our confident joy.
Celebrate His Government of the World! (vv. 4-8)
The God of Shocking Reversals (vv. 4-5)
And our Lord works in time and space! He made this world and governs it. This is the reason that the strong do not always prevail – sometimes the weakest prevail over seemingly insuperable obstacles – Joseph, David, Daniel, and especially our Lord. The weak are raised up when they look to the Lord, for he is our strength. The full and rich sometimes suffer surprising emptying, and the hungry are filled. Hannah’s song is the seed of Mary’s later song (Luke 1:46-55). The world is not controlled by ungodly men or impersonal inevitability. It is governed by the Lord. Rejoice!! That we do not see such reversals happening at one time, or on our timetables, does not negate their reality. They have happened too many times – Hannah is one example of the barren woman rejoicing over children – and Sarah and later Elizabeth. Some of you may have a verse to add to this part of Hannah’s song. And all of us who know the Lord must confess and praise him for his providential reversals in our lives – from spiritual death to life, from uncertainty to security, from hardship to relief, a wayward child returning home – again and again the Lord has encouraged us when we were despairing, forgiven us when we thought sin had excluded us from his fellowship forever. No, he governs our lives by his grace and mercy, reversing the horrors of sin so that in our lives we can already see the desert blossoming like the rose!
The God of Life and Death, Prosperity and Poverty (vv. 6-7)
The Lord so governs this world that he kills and makes alive. This applies to evil men, like Er and Onan, Haman and Judas, the whole generation of complainers in the wilderness, and the mighty Assyrian army in one night. His work of death and life includes the thousands who die daily by so-called natural causes. And he gives unexpected life – the pregnancy thought unviable, the diseased suddenly cured, or the dead soul suddenly made alive with Christ. What peace has the Christian in knowing that his life and death are in the Lord’s loving, wise hands! What relief from worry! We do not throw away our life, or health, or strength, but we are not slaves to the fear of death that plagues the world (Heb. 2:14), for we know the God who holds us alive and will draw our life to a close like a falling curtain. We can trust him. We can anticipate the future with joy, for whether rich or poor, the Lord has done it. If we have plenty, we cannot enjoy it without his blessing and unless we share and make him our portion. If we have little, it is a feast if we know he set the table for us and feeds us from his pantry. O, how miserable the world is because it knows not who feeds it, causes its heart to beat, and provides all good things for it. We know HIM. Let us praise the Lord and sing Hannah’s song!
The God Who Exalts the Lowly (v. 8)
It should not surprise us that humility is the rule of our Lord’s kingdom. He does not exalt the proud. He does not much use the proud, even among his children. It is the poor that he lifts up, economically and personally. All the crown-wearers in his kingdom have been cross-bearers. There is no future in the world. Its fabled athletes, adored celebrities, and rich politicians are doomed to be lowered – forever in hell. And the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ guarantees this. It is the world’s ultimate reversal. It was Satan’s shock. Do not think he understood the Scriptures accurately or believed that the Son of God, whom he hates with every ounce of his being, would really be pierced and bear the sins of wretched man. Satan offered him a cheap crown instead of a bloody submission – he took it. He could not imagine anyone not taking it. But why did the earth turn dark that day? The earth tremble and almost break apart under the strain of judgment and wonder? Because the Son of God humbled himself to become obedient unto the death of the cross. It was the one way to save sinners so that love could be holy and justice satisfied. “Cross before crown” is the holiest path, hallowed by the blood of the Lamb of God. Let us flee pride and arrogance, self-reliance and self-promotion as if the all the devils in hell were chasing us. Trust that as you are humbled before the Lord, he will exalt you.
Trace All Blessings to the Messiah (vv. 9-10)
He Guards His People
The pillars of the world rest upon the Lord. The practical atheism of our hearts creates so much unrest and distrust. Let us identify our unbelief for the evil that it is, and for the misery that it produces. Then, knowing that the Lord created and upholds his entire creation, we may have confidence that he “keeps the feet of his saints.” He is our guardian. Faith is strong when it rests in God’s guardianship. We shall not live a day longer, lose one hair, shed one more tear of gladness or sorrow, or endure one hour of pain longer than the Lord has ordained. Though our path be circuitous to our dim vision, it is crystal clear to him. Guarding us, he will “guide us with his counsel, then receive us to glory” (Ps. 73:24). With him as our guide and guard, we may face the future with calm joy and fortitude. Praise him for this blessing! The wicked do not have him for their guide. They are like the waves of the sea, never at rest, always in turmoil (Isa. 57:20). There is no worse curse than to have the devil as your guard – pulling you to hell, tripping you up every step, never leaving you a moment’s peace except in sin’s sedation, then drawing your downward to everlasting misery in hell. Bless the Lord our keeper! He never sleeps, never grows weak, never stops loving, and never fails in his wise purposes toward us.
No Man Prevails by Strength
The Lord is also our strength. The wicked seem strong in their rebellion, like Goliaths walking the earth, but they cannot prevail. They will be “silent in darkness.” It will be a bitter irony that the path to hell’s darkness was lit with the bright lights of sin and pleasure. The child of God may have a dark path now, but his path has Christ the light with him on it and shines “more and more unto the perfect day.” This is because no Christian is ever left to his own devices. He has the Holy Spirit, the invincible God indwelling him, bearing him up, bringing the cross but upholding the burden. He will bring us to feel our dependence upon him, that we cannot move a step in the right direction unless he guides us or prevail during the weakest temptation unless he helps us. It is one of the greatest comforts that we shall pass through no fire without the Lord’s strength and suffer no sorrow without the Spirit’s sustaining comfort. We are in living union with Jesus Christ, and his life will bear much fruit so that we are strengthened with power (Eph. 1:19).
The Lord Will Exalt His Messiah
The glory of the Lord’s strength brings to mind the destiny of his enemies – broken to pieces. The sun may shine upon the counsels of the wicked today, but the Lord’s thunder will scatter them. He is the Judge and will exalt his Son’s kingdom. The mention of “Anointed” has led some to doubt Hannah could have written this song, but why not? The promise of the Messiah was certainly passed down to Noah, and then from Shem to the family of Abraham, to Moses, and now to Hannah’s family. Do we not love the Lord Jesus Christ and hunger for him? To be with him and see him, to be made like him and enjoy him forever? The little light they had kindled deep hope in the saints. Hannah could not help grounding all her praises upon the person and the work of the Messiah. She did not know when he would come, or exactly what his work would be, other than deliverance from sin and Satan. This was enough, as it was for Abraham, to “see Christ’s day, and be glad” (John 8:56). God’s true people have always been marked out by faith in the promised Messiah. God’s holy nation and people are those who believe in Jesus Christ, the true seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16,26-29). God has no other people than those who exalt his Son and wait upon him as their life, salvation, and joy.
Sing Hannah’s Song!
The final line of Hannah’s song teaches us how to sing it – exalt Jesus Christ. Sing of his worthiness each day, to yourself, aloud, with God’s people, at home. He is our life. He has purchased our redemption, and he has also obtained every other promise for us (2 Cor. 1:20). It is in Christ and on account of him that we possess all things. He possesses all things – all authority and power, all lands and peoples, all movements and times, all grace and truth, all glory, praise, and honor. And he shares with us so that we possess all things in him (1 Cor. 3:21-23). For this reason, we must learn to view our personal blessings, small and large, as his kingdom in miniature. What is his kingdom? His rule over everything. How can we be blessed in a cursed world? Jesus Christ. Why are our sins forgiven? The person and work of Jesus Christ. Why are believers comforted in hard times, forgiven when they fall, recovered when they stumble, strengthened to overcome sin and temptation? The Spirit indwells us by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ and his donation of this great gift to us. All of our personal blessings are but parts of his one colossal kingdom, his great work to bless, care for, and secure his people forever.
And this applies to our trials also. Hannah’s barrenness was her personal cross to carry, but it was also part of the whole battle of all of God’s people of all times to obtain the promise and overcome doubt. Thus, whenever there is sickness in a family or congregation, or a job loss, or warfare and death in one part of God’s people, we all suffer together. We all pray together, for we have one Lord. The trial of one is the trial of all. We are not to bear these things alone and try to play Hercules or Samson. As we trace all blessings back to Jesus Christ and praise him for them, so we trace all our trials back to his broader work to subdue the world to himself and to glorify his strength in the weakness of his disciples. When we remember that the Lord works in this way, we are mightily encouraged to be faithful when our turn comes to bear the cross. We need not draw dramatic attention to ourselves, for it is really the work of Jesus Christ to heal – here or in heaven – to encourage or leave languishing for a time – so that we are led by his hand to hope in him alone and reject self-reliance (2 Cor. 12:9-10).
It is exciting to be a Christian – not in the worldly sense of constant distraction and entertainment. No, our excitement and joy is more intentional, more lasting, for it is eternal. We possess it more as we reflect upon who the Lord is and the way he works in our lives. He is governing all things for our sake (Eph. 1:24-25). This gives the Christian an optimism that is not tied to personal circumstances but to the glorious person and enthroned reign of Jesus Christ. He is raising up some, bringing others down, making rich and poor, saving the lost, strengthening the weak, protecting his lambs. This world and everything and everyone in it serves his purposes. He is building his church (Matt. 16:18), and there is nothing Satan can do to stop him. But we must not judge by carnal sense, or we will miss, for example, the way the Lord raises up a war in one place to protect his church in another. Or he imprisons one of his saints so that all his people are praying, thus moving the wheels of his providence as he has ordained. Let us sing Hannah’s song. The Lord has done great things for us. Even our tears are trophies of our Savior’s grace. Let us begin singing. In every blessing the Lord gives a downpayment and foretaste of heaven.
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