Those Glorious Little Mercies

The things that happen to Hannah could happen and do happen, to anyone. Okay, so she can’t have kids. But then she can. It happens every day. So, why does she sing such a grand and momentous song about such a relatively small matter in the big scheme of life?

My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. (1 Samuel 2:1)

Hannah saw in this little salvation something of the character and ways of God with all mankind.

Hannah lives in a world where God saves. And because God is the kind of God who saves, the events of this world, whether small or large, all point to the kind of saving God that God is.

Hannah begins her song with on a personal note, “My heart, My mouth…”. She sings about what God has done for her. Hannah then moves on to sing about God’s Holiness, stability and justice. And finally, she sings of His victory over all the earth through His King, His Anointed.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in 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 2:10)

All this from the otherwise ordinary birth of a son in downtown Ramathaim-Zophim.

Hannah sings of a God who not only saves but who stubbornly saves. He keeps saving His people. He keeps delivering His wayward children. He is stubborn in His mercy and determined that His purposes, in life and death, shall stand.

There are many things that we can draw from this song. Here is just one of them.

Hannah’s motherhood is one tiny salvation that points to a much larger and gloriously salvation (1 Timothy 2:15). But it is a salvation for Hannah, none the less. And it happens to her because the way that God works in all the earth is reflected in the way God works in every little detail of every human life.

Each one of Christ’s flock should ingest this point and chew over its implications.

Whether its a problem at work, a fight with your wife, a broken down car in the rain, a foolish word that gets you into deep trouble – every time God lifts you out of these things, every time God lifts you out of the mess you’re in and puts your feet upon a rock – He is reminding you of His salvation.

These little things, these little salvations, are a down payment of the full deliverance and glorious salvation that awaits you on the last day.