An Imbalance of Power

What transpires in a believer’s life is never disconnected from the purposes of God. Consequently, if a person takes time to reflect on how God has worked in his life he might discover how God is works in the world around him. Furthermore, as he meditates upon how God has delivered him, he might just gain confidence that God’s good purposes will, in the end, triumph – not just over the evil in the believer’s own life but also over all evil. One writer calls this line of reasoning on the part of the believer causes him to move from a "micro" to a "macro" view of salvation. That this was the experience of Hannah is evident in her song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). Between the day that she gave birth to Samuel till the day she brought him to serve at the tabernacle, she appears to have meditated upon her experience and made the logical connections suggested above. She had experienced God’s salvation through his lifting her up from a position of weakness to one of strength, from one of shame to one of honor. She appears to have concluded that what Yahweh had done for her must be consistent with how he always work. He did not allow injustice and human arrogance to go unanswered in her life and, therefore, he would not allow it to go unanswered in the world. And, ultimately, his just rule would bring down even the mightiest from their self-important positions for as she sang, “The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.”

It is remarkable that, centuries later, Mary, as she anticipates the birth of the King who was the fulfillment of the promises made to the one whom Samuel would anoint king, would sing a song that reflects sentiments identical to Hannah’s.  Could it be that the reversing of roles that Hannah and Mary sing about is the way God rules the world? Under God’s dominion, “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength . . . the barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.” The birth of Samuel, the birth of Jesus, proves this to be so. May the Lord give us eyes to see that our small "salvations" are like down payments on our ultimate salvation. And may we then add our voices to Hannah’s and Mary’s as they sing God’s praises.