 All right. Last year when I was here, you all sang a song that I had never heard before. In fact, I looked over at Martha Peace and I said, Have you ever heard that song? And she said, No, I haven't. So I quickly wrote it down and when we got back to the hotel, I looked it up and I actually found out that it was a remake of an old hymn. And you might say, Well, why are you bringing that up now? Well, the words of the song that we sang last year remind me of where we find Hannah as we begin our second lesson as well as her second prayer she prays. And before I share the words of the song, which by the way we're going to end with in just a minute, I want to just remind yourself of just a few things. Hannah is one of Elkina's two wives. I see some ladies coming in, so I'll give them a little review here. Panina was the other. Hannah was barren. Panina had children. And remember, Panina provoked her relentlessly year after year. And Hannah, because she couldn't have a child, which was a disgrace for a Jewish woman, pours out her soul to the Lord regarding her barrenness and she makes a vow, Lord, if you will give me a child, I will give him back to you forever. Eli sees her praying. She thinks she's drunk. She's a falsely accuser because he doesn't hear anything coming out of her mouth. She does conceive and now the time has come after weaning Samuel at the age of around three to take him to the temple to Eli to leave forever so he can serve the Lord. Now, what is going on through her mind right now? How in the world can Hannah do this? Can Hannah leave her three-year-old child in the care of Eli, the priest, whose sons were evil and worthless? You know how she's going to do this? She's going to be able to do this because God will hold her fast. That's a song you guys sang last year. He will hold me fast. When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I can never keep my hold. He will hold me fast for my love is often cold. He must hold me fast and I won't go on through the rest of the song. Ladies, God is the only one that can hold Hannah fast through a time like this and you know what? He's the same God that can hold you fast no matter what you are going through this evening, no matter what overwhelming trial you're facing and so she's able to pray and we see her second prayer in 1 Samuel 2 so if you would read it with me. Hannah prays 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. No one is holy like the Lord. There is none beside you. There is not any rock like our God. Talk no more proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth for the Lord is the God of knowledge and by him our actions wade. The bows of the mighty men are broken and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread and the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the Baron has born seven and she who has many children has become feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave. He brings up. The Lord makes poor. He makes rich. He brings low. He lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts the beggar from the ash sheep to set them among princes and makes them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's. He set the world upon them. He'll guard the feet of his saints but the wicked will be silent in darkness for by strength no man will prevail. The adversaries of the Lord will be broken in pieces from heaven he'll thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He'll give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Then Elkina went to the house of Ramah but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. Now we're going to continue on. Look again Hannah's heart through her prayers and in this session we're going to look at her heart as revealed through her prayers. We're going to see her happy heart, her hungry heart, and her honest heart. So let's look at her happy heart. Hannah prays and says, my heart is rejoicing in the Lord. My horn is exalted. I smile at my enemies. I rejoice in your salvation. Now before we get into this prayer I just want to make a disclaimer here. A lot of the prayers that are in the Old Testament have two meanings. They have a current meaning and we're going to look at it in its current meaning through Hannah and what's going on in her life but also messianic. In other words, for the future. And so this also is a future messianic prayer but for our purposes like I said we are going to look at it as from the heart of Hannah. So we must ask the question before we get started. When did Hannah pray this? When did Hannah pray this prayer? According to verse 28 that we just looked at at chapter one, she had just told Eli I'm the one that prayed for this child. I'm the one that's giving him back to the Lord. And then in verse 11 of chapter two after she prays this prayer they leave Shiloh and they head back to their home in Ramah. So somewhere between telling Eli I'm the woman that prayed this prayer I'm the woman you falsely accused she prays this prayer before they leave little Samuel and go back. I don't know what the Bible doesn't tell us. I think Hannah probably went off to some secluded place to pray. My thought is she probably gathered up little Samuel. I mean you know she's not she's going to leave him there. She probably gathered him tightly in her arms. She may even prayed this prayer in his ears. Who knows? This is the last time she's going to see him just she goes up and takes that little coat to him. We do not know but we do know she prayed. And the first thing out of her mouth is my heart is rejoicing. My heart is happy. And notice ladies who she's rejoicing in. Did you notice what the verse says? My heart is rejoicing in what? The Lord, the Lord. You know it's the same thing that Paul writes when he's sitting in prison chained to two Roman soldiers when he says rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. How could Paul rejoice there in prison knowing that he's probably going to be planted by Nero. How could he do that? Because his rejoicing was what? In the Lord. And my dear sister you and I can pray this and we can live this no matter what. We can be joyful no matter what. In fact the word rejoicing here means to be joyful. Hannah's joyful. You know we would think in the 21st century if this was us we would be mourning and weeping that I have to leave my three year old son that I just weaned and leave him with this pastor that's wicked and evil are you kidding me? But it's a time of rejoicing. How could she do that? Was Hannah in denial about Samuel? No. No. Again something very similar the apostle Paul tells us sorrowful but always rejoicing. Sorrowful but always rejoicing. Ladies we can be going through the worst times of our life sorrowful sorrowing over something and at the same time rejoicing. Well Hannah gives several reasons why her heart is happy. First of all she says my horn is exalted what is that? Well a horn is a symbol of power. You know what she's saying? God's power has been shown to me by answering my prayer. God's power is shown to me by giving me the strength to give this child back to him. Ladies God's power his strength is enough for any of his children. The same power that God gave to Hannah he can give to you and he will give to you. In our weakness his strength is made perfect. Secondly her heart is happy because she can smile at her enemies. And notice she's not resentful she's smiling at them. Now who are her enemies? Well Panina is one of them right? Another woman, the one who provoked her constantly, Eli probably an enemy as he falsely accused her of being drunk but you know what? She wasn't ruffled by either one of them. I can smile at this. That's okay. You know as God's daughters ladies we need to learn a lot from Hannah. We can smile at these things. Who cares if somebody provokes us? Who cares if somebody punches us out? Who cares if somebody falsely accuses us? Because God is still on the throne and we're going to make many enemies in this life. You know all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. We're going to make a lot of enemies in this life. There is no reason to lose our sanctification over it okay? God is still on the throne. We have the Lord. He's enough right? Is the Lord enough to you? He's enough. Well the Lord is enough and that's the third reason for her happy heart. I don't care what's going on. I'm going to rejoice in my salvation. He will hold me fast. That's all I need. Ladies, she was God's and God was hers. She was secure under the shadow of the I am almighty. Well Hannah's heart was happy indeed and her heart was also hungry as seen in verses 2-10. Now you might say well Susan what do you mean about that? What do you mean when you're saying her heart was hungry? Well consider Job. Remember Job? Now here's a man. He didn't just give up one child like Hannah's getting ready to do. Job lost 10 children in one day. One day. His whole, all children of his children gone. All of his substance gone. Wife that was not a great wife and you know all these boys all over him. You know what he says? He knows the way I take and when he has tried me I will come forth as gold. My foot has held his steps. His way I've kept. I've not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. Listen to this. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. How in the world did Job go through the trial he went through? He was hungry for God. He was more hungry for God than he was for food. Or consider Paul praying again in prison. Chained to two soldiers 24 hours a day. Haven't been beaten. Waiting to be beheaded by Nero. And you know what he says to the church at Philippi? Doubtless I count all things but lost for the ecstasy of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and be found in him not having my own righteousness but his righteousness the righteousness which is of God by faith that I might know him. The power of his resurrection. The fellowship of his sufferings what being made conformable to his death. Paul says I don't care about any of this. I just want to know him. Paul wanted to know God more than he cared about food. In fact Paul probably didn't have any food in prison. Ladies Paul, Hannah Job. They were more interested in knowing God than they were their own comfort. They were hungry for God and God alone. You know even the Psalmist when he's out in the middle of the wilderness he says your words are like morrow and fat. I can't get the church to worship but he says your words to me are like the the choicest of the best foods that morrow and fatness. Ladies Hannah's heart was obviously hungry. She knew who this God was. She knew his astributes and that's what sustained her and held her fast during her trial. And ladies if you do not know God and I don't mean in the sense of salvation if you don't know God you're going to mess up anyway. But if you don't know God in the sense of who he is and his attributes your strength will fail in the time of adversity. And that's why you need to be here tomorrow. When we start we're going to look into who this God is. Hannah knew her God. That's how he that's how she could do this. Well let's peer into her hungry heart and learn what her hungry heart what her hunger for God taught her. Notice what she says. No one's holy like the Lord. There's none beside you. There's not any rock like our God. The first thing that Hannah knew about God was that he was holy. No one's holy like God. You know it's interesting that she starts out with this because even in the New Testament when Jesus is teaching the disciples how to pray and you know what he says. And when you pray what does that mean? Holy. Holy. You know we come so flippantly to the throne of grace and say okay Lord I'm getting ready to walk out the door and I need you to do this for me. I need you to do that for me. And do do do do do do. We don't stop and realize we are talking to a holy God. Hannah says there's no one holy like the Lord. All other gods are nothing compared to him. He's indescribable. No one compares to him. Ladies Hannah understood there's none like her. God no one understood her. Her husband didn't understand her. He thought he should be better to her than ten sons. The other woman Panina didn't understand her. She wanted to take her out. Eli the priest didn't even understand her. No one understood Hannah but God. Why? He knows her right? He knows her heart. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? God. He's the only one. Thirdly, Hannah knows there's no rock like her God. There's no foundation like him. When she's talking about a rock here, she's talking about something that's stable, unmovable, not little pebbles. A big rock. Ladies, he's our rock too. He is the same. Yesterday, today, forever. He will never leave her. Never. He'll never leave you either. Hannah knew God was holy. She knew he was like no other God and she knew the rock. But she also knew something else about her. Great God. Look at verse 3. Talk no more very proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is the God of knowledge. And by him actions are weighed. Now the reference here to being proud is probably a reference to Panina. Remember she had that arrogant speech as well as Eli's false accusation of her prideful. Ladies, those who choose to use their mouth for prideful and arrogant speech are in danger. Why? He says God knows this. He's the God of knowledge. He possesses all wisdom. He weighs our actions. And in the Hebrew weighing our action means in a bad way. They're weighed in a bad way. They're estimated by him. These are people that are not doing good things. Actions that are performances in a bad way. Ladies, he is the one who will judge all things. Do you know God is the one who's going to make all things right on that day? You know Jesus is clear in Matthew. I say to you every idol word that men will speak they will give an account in the day of judgment. By your words you'll be justified or by your words you'll be condemned. One day Panina is going to stand before the Lord and give an account for those words she spoke. One day Eli will stand before the Lord and give an account. One day you and I will stand before the Lord and give an account. Ladies this should cause us to pause before using our mouths to provoke anyone or speak evil or ungodly or use our mouths to falsely accuse like Eli did. You know the Proverbs 31 woman says she had the law of kindness on her lips. The law of kindness. And so should we. Hannah did. Hannah knew that God was a God of knowledge a God of justice but she also knew something else about her God from verse 4. The bows of the mighty men are broken and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Now the word broken means crushed and afraid and the bows of mighty men is probably a reference to Eli's sons who were destroyed because God killed them for their wickedness. You know what Eli's sons they were once the sons of a priest and now they are in hell. You know God's not going to be mocked. He will not be mocked. They were once mighty men now they're broken but in contrast notice what she prays here. Those who stumble are now girded with strength. In fact the girding here is being bound with strength. This is a reference to Hannah. She's talking about herself. I was once weak I was stumbling. I was without a child. But now I'm clothed with strength. I've been shown the power of God. He's answered my prayer. He's given me a child and he's going to give me the strength to give him back to him. Ladies Hannah knew her God was just and strong. She also goes on to pray in verse five to seven. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. The hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren is born seven and she who has had many children became feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and he lifts up. You know what this verse is a contrast of? The two women Panina and Hannah. Panina was full in the beginning, right? In the sense she had children. Hannah was hungry. She had no child. But now notice what she says she has ceased to hunger. Why? Because she had a child. In fact do you know from verse 21 of chapter 2 if you'll look over there she had five more. The Lord visited Hannah. She conceived. She bore three sons two daughters and the child same agree before the Lord. Now you might say well Susan she says the barren is born seven but in my map is Samuel's one and five more is six. So why doesn't she say the barren has born six? Well seven in Scripture is a number of completion. And even though Hannah only had six children she was complete. She who was once barren once hungry has now born seven. Her quiver was full. She was blessed. She was once hungry and empty and now she's full. Panina on the other hand she was full she used to have she had a lot of children but now she's feeble. Now there's no other mention of Panina so we can only assume what happened to her I don't know what happened to her I do know the Bible says that envy and jealousy is like rottenness to your bones so I'm thinking if she's feeble that's exactly what's happened to her. She's got osteoporosis because ladies you better cut that envy out. Listen to Proverbs 14 30 a sound heart is life to the body but envy is rottenness to your bones so I'm not saying if you're hunched over tonight that you have envy but you know what envy and jealousy can affect your bodies. Panina was obviously very envious because you know Al kinda loved her. He loved her more than Panina and he gave her a double portion and she was the favored one so I don't know what happened to her but the Bible says she once was full and now she's feeble I have no idea but I think she got osteoporosis well Panina recognizes God is sovereign in all of this as he kills he makes a life she says he brings down to the grave he brings up ladies he's not only sovereign in how many children you have he's sovereign in life he's sovereign in death he's sovereign in how much money you have or how much you don't have he brings low he lifts up ladies Hannah knew that God was sovereign over everything in fact Job says this in Job 14 5 my days are determined the number of my months are with you you have appointed my bounds I can't even pass you know Paul says that in the sermon on Mars Hills says God is Lord he's Lord of heaven and earth he's determined our pre-appointed times and the boundaries of our dwellings did you know that do you know you're not going to die one day before God says you're going to die he's sovereign Hannah knew this she knew this about her God I think it's funny sometimes we have some delusion that we have control over our lives you know how many children we're going to have who we're going to marry where we're going to be buried ladies nothing further in fact last year I thought it was so funny during the election I figured out who was going to win and you know they had it dead wrong we think we're in control of what's going to happen nothing's further from the truth God is the one who what he's in control of everything he sets up kings takes him down he's determined how many kids you're going to have you're going to marry he's sovereign well he's not only sovereign but everything is upheld by him look at verse 8 he raises the poor from the dust and like the beggar from the ash sheep he sets them among the princes and makes them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the lords he set the world upon them again the raising of the poor here is a reference to Hannah herself I was a beggar from the ash sheep in fact the word ash sheep is a pile of filth or poop that's what it is that's how Hannah's describing herself I was the lowliest of the low I was the scum of the earth you know what she says now God but God has set me among the princes what she's talking about well put it together put two and two together she's getting ready to what give over her son to Eli and Samuel is going to what get to serve the priest he's going to get to serve the lord the prince of princes in the temple my son is going to get to serve the lord I was the lowliest among the low but now my child is going to serve God how is this possible notice for the pillars of the earth of the lords he set the world upon them you know why it's possible nothing's too hard for the lord he can do it he upholds everything he's the creator he's the sustainer and he's also a god of mercy and wrath as mentioned in verse 9 he will guard the feet of his saints but the wicked will be silent in darkness for by strength no man will prevail he will guard the feet of his saints Hannah could pray that with gusto he's guarded my feet he's protected me he's guided me he's been my good shepherd through this dark valley he's held me fast but in contrast notice what she says the wicked will be silent in darkness those who do not know this god will be destroyed they will be in misery ladies this is obviously a reference to the wicked being an internal darkness an eternity in hell you know I was thinking about this week four months ago my brother went to a christless eternity March 17th and I've been thinking about that for four months now he's been in hell eternal darkness for four months but what is that like the wicked he will destroy no man is going to get out of it god is sovereign in that as well the wicked will be silent in darkness you know some of us think we can determine our destination but nothing is further from the truth in fact the lesbian unitarian pastor I call that very loosely my brother the lord was gracious that I didn't have to go to that memorial service confirm to my sister that she knew my brother went to be with the lord and I told my sister no our brother is not in heaven some people think they can determine their destination ladies nothing is further from the truth Hannah says four by strength no man will prevail no man no woman no matter how strong we think we are we cannot prevail against what god decides he's sovereign Hannah knew this god the god of mercy as well as the god of wrath well there are two more truths that Hannah prays about this awesome god of hers as her prayer closes in verse 10 the adversaries of the lord will 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 so she mentions the adversaries of the lord and that again is probably a reference to Panina or Eli's sons or any of the enemies of god they're going to be broken in pieces they're going to be shattered they will not be able to stand how will this happen she says thunder from heaven ladies anytime thunder is mentioned in scripture it's a sign of god's judgment he will thunder he is angry ladies god is the judge of the earth we are not she says he will give strength to his king he will exalt the horn of his anointed Hannah is now looking to the future the future when the judge of the earth will make his final judgment and as Nikki said even so come lord Jesus anytime would be good then our king christ will come and set up his kingdom and Hannah's heart was looking towards this this was her expectation this was her hope and I hope it's your expectation and your hope her god was king well Hannah's heart was hungry it was hungry for god and she studied to know who this god was that she served she knew her god and that's why she could pray this rich prayer she knew god was holy she knew there was no one like him he was a rock all knowing just sovereign creator sustainer judge of all the earth and king did you know that about your god he's all those things well Hannah's prayer is ended but we see one more thing about her heart as we close with verse 11 we see her honest heart Elkina went to his house at Ramah but the child minister to the lord before Eli the priest they leave and go home to Ramah Samuel came with them but Samuel does not return with them Samuel stays with the lord before Eli the priest but you know what Hannah's heart was far from hypocritical she kept her promise she was honest her yes was yes she made a vow to the lord she fulfilled her vow she kept her promise she gave up little Samuel to the lord at the age of three so Hannah's heart was happy she could rejoice she could smile her heart was happy her happiness was not dependent on her circumstances her happiness was dependent on her relationship with her god her rejoicing was in the lord what about you are you rejoicing in the lord tonight are you smiling at your enemies are you smiling at the future when you pray does god hear your voice rejoicing in him or whining to him about your awful lot in life now ladies this doesn't mean we don't pour out a complaint to the lord Hannah did but even in our pouring out to the lord we can rejoice remember sorrowful but always rejoicing Hannah's heart was also hungry she knew god what are you hungry for do you know your god so well that in the day of adversity your strength will stand as you rehearse the attributes of god like Hannah did is your god small or is he big ladies a lot of what you think about god is in direct relation to the study of his word do you have an appetite for the word of god is it your sustenance if not what are you hungry for pleasure sports material things your job your business you know there's a preface in the geneva bible which was loved by the puritans which reads like this the bible is the light to our path the key of kingdom of heaven our comfort and our affliction our shield and sword against satan the school of all wisdom the glad wherein we behold god's face the testimony of his favor and the only food and nourishment of our souls is that how you feel about god's word is it the only food and nourishment of your soul Hannah was hungry to know god are you hungry to know god Hannah also had an honest heart she kept her promise to the lord have you kept your promises to the lord what promises have you made to him i know of one promise that every one of you have made in here if you've committed your life to his lordship and that is to follow him right obey him in everything are you keeping that promise to his lordship are you obeying him in everything Hannah also made a promise to her husband that she'd give up the child are you keeping your promises to your husband you know you made a promise when you got married well at least i did till death do us part better for worse sick rich or poor right to be submissive i know they leave all that stuff out now in weddings but i made those vows are you keeping your promises to your husband to your children to your friends people here at church well as we close the song i mentioned in the beginning he will hold me fast was actually written in 1906 by a woman named atta hybershine i don't know if you know the history behind this song the song was actually born during a revival meeting during canada in canada there was about 4,000 people that were attending this revival and one of the young men that was attending the revival came up to atta and he said to her he said you know i just don't know if i'm going to be able to hold on to my faith and so she wrote this song and it was introduced to this audience of 4,000 people i've asked the worship team to come up and we're going to close with this but ladies as we go as we sing this song think about your fears think about your trials and as you do that think through this song and remember that god will hold you fast through whatever trial he brings into your life through his sovereign will