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Reflections

Thanksgiving Day

This week we will observe Thanksgiving Day, commemorating a celebration by our country’s first settlers. According to a letter written by Edward Winslow dated December 12, 1621, the time was set aside “so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors” in recognition of the goodness of God.

In our observance of Thanksgiving month, we continue looking at songs of praise sung by different women of the Bible.

Hannah’s Song of Praise for Answered Prayer

Hannah’s song differs from those of Miriam and Deborah. The first two women sang praise for national victories. Hannah’s song comes from her own spiritual relationship with the Lord following God’s answer to her desperate prayer.

“Why do good people suffer?” we often ask. The answer to that simple question could be very complex. We observe that many people grow in their relationship with the Lord through suffering. This principle is demonstrated in Hannah’s life.

Hannah’s two prayers are recorded in 1 Samuel 1 and 2. At first we see a woman “in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:10, NLT). She models for us what it is to pray honestly until the Lord gives peace.

In the next chapter we see a different woman a few years later. The Lord answered her passionate prayer, enabling her to give birth to a child. A few years later, she is returning the child to be dedicated to full-time service of the Lord, as she had promised.

We know nothing about what transpired in the meantime, but Hannah is a different woman. Her song reveals that through her trial she learned much about the Lord. Her song is one of rejoicing, revealing what she had learned. It is interesting to note she is more absorbed with God than with the fact that He answered her prayer.

Hannah learned of God’s holiness. “There is no one holy like the Lord,” she sang. The word for holy refers both to moral perfection and to the ceremonial act of setting something apart for sacred purposes. When we talk of God’s holiness, we may be referring to both aspects of this word.

God’s sinless nature sets Him apart from all other gods. As we understand God’s holiness, He becomes exalted in our thinking. He truly is a God in whom we can trust.

Hannah learned of God’s omniscience. The second verse of her song says: “for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed” (2:3, NIV). Hannah may have remembered the unjust treatment she received before the birth of her child. She consoled herself with the knowledge that God knows us, and He will judge injustice.

Knowing God knows what happens to us brings tremendous relief when we are treated unfairly. When we trust God to rectify injustice, we are relieved of the need for vindictive action and from the terrible load of bitterness of spirit against those who wronged us.

Hannah learned of God’s omnipotence. "The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up” she sang (2:6, NIV). In answer to prayer Hannah felt the surge of new life within her body. She understood that God is the giver of life, which must mean He also has the power of removing that life.
When life is viewed as a gift of God it has value, purpose and meaning. If life is just a biological accident, it is purposeless as Shakespeare’s Macbeth said: “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Hannah learned of God’s omnipresence. Her song concluded:  “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s” (2:8, NIV). The knowledge of God’s omnipresence brings comfort. The logic goes like this:

If God is everywhere, then He is here.
If He is here, He is with me.
If He is with me, He will protect me.

No wonder Hannah was rejoicing. She had learned to trust in the holy, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God. She was leaving her beloved son, Samuel, with Eli the priest with confidence. The God who was going home with her would be with her son.

Points to Ponder:

How does our knowledge of God affect our actions and our assurance that He will answer prayer? How do we move from being absorbed with our petitions to being absorbed with the God who answers them? This Thanksgiving, spend some time as Hannah did, rejoicing in the God who answers prayer.

PEGGY MUSGROVE is a licensed Assemblies of God minister. She is also a speaker, freelance writer, author and prayer group leader. Her latest book, Musings of a Maraschino Cherry was released in 2004.. You can visit her at www.musgroveville.com.

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