Year 2 Day 168

Year 2 Day 168

Pray (ACts)

Read - 1 Samuel 1:19-20

Message - Alan Burke 

How good are you at remembering, those special dates like anniversaries, birthdays, important milestones in the life of those whom you know and love? If it wasn’t for my calendar I would be useless at remembering. When we say that ‘we’ve just remembered’, it usually means that either we have forgotten, it’s slipped our minds, or that we have recalled to mind something. Here as we are told that the ‘Lord remembered her’, it’s not that the Lord had forgotten, it had slipped his mind or that he had recalled to mind Hannah. Rather when we are told in scripture that the Lord remembered, it means that the Lord is acting according to his covenant promises. Here Elkanah knew Hannah and the Lord remembered his covenant promises and acted accordingly. 

For the Lord had covenanted himself to his people, as we are told he ‘remembered’ Hannah it was ultimately that he was acting according to his covenant that he had made and was going to use Hannah as part of his plans and purposes in redemptive history. At a time when ‘every man did what was right in his own eyes’ (Jdg 21:25) the Lord God was at work and he was about to use this faithful couple who came to Shiloh to worship year after year (1:3) for his purposes. The part that Hannah and Elkanah would play in redemptive history was small but it was another step closer to the coming of the Messiah as the Lord remembered. 

The Lord gave Hannah the son that she had so longed for, Samuel. In Samuel God was giving to Israel a man would lead them in the midst of a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes to bring about his chosen king. The Lord in this was keeping his covenant promises to his people, for the Lord had promised never to forget or forsake his people, that all the earth would be blessed though them, (Lev. 26:45; Ps. 105:8, Gen. 12:1–3). The Lord Remembering Hannah, giving Samuel to her, he was also preserving his people, for in Samuel God would have a leader, who would help institute the monarchy that would ultimately give us Jesus, the true Saviour and Preserver of Israel (Acts 13:23).

God at work, for God had not forgotten his people nor his promises, it may have seemed to Elkanah, Hannah and all the godly remnant that God had abandoned them but God was there at work, even when he seemed to be absent it was at work for our good and his glory. And today if we know the Lord Jesus, if we have trusted in him for salvation the Lord will never fail to remember us. When we stand before him when the day of judgement comes, although we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God we know that we are justified by his grace as a gift though the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:23-24)

Pray (acTS)

Sing

WSC 
Q 53 Which is the third commandment?
The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Exod. 20:7)
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