Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20011125.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part V: Testifying Of God's Help Thru Faith In His Word To All Of God's Oppressed
(1 Samuel 2:1-10)
  1. Introduction
    1. As a believer or even the Church as a whole may face overwhelming oppressively sinful foes, we may assume our efforts are futile simply because we are outnumbered and outgunned by the forces of sin!
    2. Hannah's prayer testifies God's sovereign help to her frames the precedent for His help for all all the oppressed who trust in Him, both on the individual and the corporate levels of experience:
  2. Testifying Of God's Help Thru Faith In His Word To All Of God's Oppressed, 1 Samuel 2:1-10.
    1. After the High Priest, Eli, had expressed worship to God upon witnessing Hannah's consecration of her son, Samuel, to the Lord, the Spirit of God came upon Hannah for prayer, 1 Sam. 1:27-2:1 & 2 Tim. 3:16.
    2. Hannah's prayer is a great testimony of God's sovereign help to her as an oppressed woman who trusted in God, and that testimony in her prayer is applied by the Holy Spirit to all the faithful in need as well:
      1. Hannah first praised the Lord for His help for her faith in God for her own needs, 1 Samuel 2:1-3:
        1. We recall Hannah's original suffering arose not only from her childlessness in a culture that treated such a state for a woman as a divine curse, but by her then being unfairly and unrighteously goaded about it by her husband's other wife, Peninnah, 1 Samuel 1:2, 6.
        2. However, she had called upon the Scriptural precedent in the case of the likewise, formerly childless wife of Manoah, to ask God for a son who would be a lifelong Nazarite, 1 Sam. 1:11 in light of Judges 13:1-4. She matched her case with the former woman's in faith to explain her lot, and in faith that God would give her a son!
        3. Thus, Hannah's praise for God's giving her Samuel tells of her triumph over her evil foe, Peninnah, 1 Sam. 2:1-8: (a) Hannah testified her heart, her strength (represented in her "horn") and ability to express joy in God's deliverance from Peninnah's scorn, 1 Sam. 2:1; Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 434. (b) Hannah concluded God alone was the Holy One, the Rock of Protection above false gods, 1 Sam. 2:2. (c) Thus, she called on Peninnah to cease her proud words, for the sovereign God had viewed the hearts of both and given Hannah a son to the rejection of Peninnah's taunts, 1 Sam. 2:3.
      2. Hannah then drew application from her personal experience for all who trust in Him, 1 Sam. 2:4-10a:
        1. Hannah's references to the breaking of the bows (verse 4), the satisfying of the hungry (verse 5), the raising of the dead (verse 6) and elevating of the poor (verse 7-8a) all mean to apply Hannah's individual situation to the broader principle that God sovereignly disposes the destiny of all as He and He alone wills, Ibid., Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 434.
        2. She noted God, the Creator of all things, guards the way of life of His faithful ones while silencing the taunts of the wicked like Peninnah in the darkness of a lack of blessing, 1 Sam. 2:8b-9a.
        3. Hence, Hannah cited the axiomatic truth that one does not prevail by natural strength, for God as Sovereign Judge prevails over the efforts of the wicked in judgment, 1 Samuel 2:9b-10a.
      3. Hannah then applied this truth to the NATION in its state of spiritual apostasy, 1 Samuel 2:10b:
        1. For background, we recall 1 Samuel begins in the era of spiritual defeat when "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes," cf. Judges 21:25 et al.
        2. However, God had implied there would be a king in Israel one day as far back in Genesis 17:6.
        3. Thus, Hannah, under the Spirit's leading, testified that as in her own personal case, God would provide strength to Israel to be delivered out of her current decline by giving her a king, 2:10b.
        4. Indeed, this king's "horn" of strength would be exalted by the coming of the Incarnate God, Christ, through David's line as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 1 Sam. 2:10; Lk. 1:31-33; Rev. 19:11-16!
Lesson: God delivered Hannah by her faith in His Word from the persecution of oppressor, Peninnah, and BEGAN to deliver ISRAEL as a NATION through starting the foundations of the MONARCHY. This deliverance is a pattern for individual and corporate deliverance for all God's people in all history.

Application: GOD wants US individually and corporately to rely upon His Word and pray for His help in accord with that Word as did Hannah when facing similar overwhelming oppressions from parties!