¹ Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

² “There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

³ “Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.

⁴ “The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
⁵ Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.

⁶ “The LORD brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
⁸ He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
on them he has set the world.
⁹ He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
¹⁰ those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

–1 Samuel 2.1-10 (NIV)

The above prayer, Hannah’s prayer, has been called the Magnificat of the OT because it mirrors Mary’s prayer so well. Hannah prayed it in response to God granting her request to have a son and you can read about that in 1 Samuel 1. Hannah’s prayer acknowledges the absolute sovereignty of God and it gives us an opportunity to reflect on the kind of God that is revealed in this prayer. As you read it, is this the kind of God you want to be sovereign? How you answer this question will give you keen insight into the state of your faith and relationship with the living God.

The first thing we note about this prayer is its humility. Hannah clearly understood that God is God and she is not. This is the way all prayers are to be offered to God. So what attributes of God can we discern from this prayer? We note that God is a God who is concerned about justice for his people. He raises up the oppressed and brings down those who would lord it over others. God often does that through human agency and that should make sense to us, given the place of humans in God’s creation (cf. Genesis 1).

We are also remember that God is the source of all life. He has the power of life and death and this confronts each of us with a decision. Are we going to align ourselves with the Source and Author of life or are we going to decide to be willfully rebellious against him by trying to usurp his rightful position in our lives as God? We cannot escape this decision because even if we choose not to decide we have decided for death rather than life.

In Hannah’s prayer we are reminded that God is our rock. We can come to him in any and every circumstance in our life, especially the bad ones, and find strength that is beyond our means and ability. This means that we have God’s power in the Presence of his Holy Spirit living in us to transcend even life’s darkest moments. That doesn’t mean we will be made immune from the natural ordering of this world. We will still grieve over loss and still have our struggles, but we will have power to comfort us in our grief and to overcome our struggles. It is a wonderful promise and we have the witness of countless Christians who have found God’s promises to be true.

Last, we are reminded not to put too much hope in our own strength because that is ultimately bound to fail. We humans are finite, frail, and mortal. Unfortunately we are also quite idolatrous. Instead of putting our ultimate hope and trust in God we put it in lesser things that are bound to fail, things like money, security, power, and prestige. We try to mask our worries by becoming thoroughly wrapped up in our jobs or our hobbies. We rely on our youth or our physical or intellectual strength to get us through the hard times of life but these are bound to fail because if we live long enough, we are bound to lose them.

I cannot imagine what it would be like trying to live life on the basis of my own strength. Not that I haven’t tried, mind you, but time and again I have been hit in the face with the reality of how futile that is. This, of course, has the power to bring about hopelessness and despair. Hannah’s prayer reminds us to make God the foundation of our life because God does not fail. Not even infirmity or death can thwart God because he is the God of life and when we get this, it is the only real antidote to hopelessness and despair.

Here, then, is a comprehensive and grace-filled picture of God. God is big enough to handle anything we can throw at him. But he cannot do that if we are not interested in having a real relationship with him, the kind of relationship in which we are content to let God be God and we be his creatures. This relationship will not make us immune to the difficulties of life but it will help us transcend them and live in ways that will bring God glory. When we live by God’s strength, people will notice and some will ask us what our secret is. That is when we can share the Good News of having a real relationship with God and invite others to enter into that kind of relationship too.

God is our sovereign God and nothing will ever change that. How will you choose to interact (or ignore) your sovereign? How you choose will determine what kind of future you can look forward to having and the extent to which you will find meaning and purpose in the living of your mortal days. Choose life, abundant life, life that will never end.