Rejoicing in God

1 Samuel 2:1,2

Hannah was extremely happy because God had heard her prayer to give her a son in Chapter 1. She had been mocked and ridiculed for being childless, and her heart broke in two. She took her broken heart to God and he mended it with a promise.

Psalm 34:17-19 says " The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

18. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."

Have you ever had a heart that hurt so deeply that only hearing from God could fix it??

ILL. Our first child "Hannah" and God’s will.

Many times since that day God has had to heal our broken hearts and remind us of His promises to us.

Hannah gives us here reasons to rejoice each day!! God reminds us that each of us has reasons to rejoice and be glad!

 

  1. REJOICE IN GOD’S SALVATION (V. 1)
    1. Remember what God has done!
      1. Psalm 13:5. But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

        2. 6. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.

      2. Remind yourself that if you are saved, you are planted in Jesus Christ and you have a great future to look forward to regardless of earth’s problems and sorrows!
      3. Remember that if you die right now you enter into the very presence of Almighty God - as long as you have Jesus in your heart nothing can defy that truth!
        1. Rom. 8:35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

        36. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

        37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

        38. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

        39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

      4. Saved people ought to be the happiest, most rejoiceful people on earth!!
        1. Salvation Army Officer John Allen "I deserved to be damned in hell, but God interfered"
      5. Luke 2 Simeon was awaiting the consolation of Israel. They brought baby Jesus into the Temple. God spoke to this old man’s heart and he said "Now let thy servant die in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation" He knew that it was going to be alright!!
      6. God’s people know that it will be alright!!
        1. Though hell may rage, it will be alright!
        2. Though cancer may strike, it will be alright!
        3. Though sin may prosper in the world, it will be alright!
        4. Though the storms of life rage round me, IT WILL BE ALRIGHT!

2. REJOICE IN GOD’S SANCTITY (HOLINESS) (v. 2a)
    1. God is holy and requires holiness!
      1. That’s why Jesus died for me-and you!
      2. When He is our redemption God sees us as holy -covered in Christ’s blood!
      3. God paid that price in full-you and I could not do it!!
    2. God’s demand for holiness is met through the Holy Spirit!
      1. He has come to make it possible for us to live a holy life-through His holy power!
      2. Living a pure, clean, and holy life is like living in the warm sunshine of Spring after a long, hard, cold winter.
      3. You were originally designed to live in holiness by God’s plan.
        1. Sin marred that plan. But when one comes to Christ you are then made whole again! That’s why holiness feels so.
        2. Rom. 6:17 " But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

        18. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

        19. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

        20. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

        21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

        22. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

        23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

      4. Now you are free to live in holiness and righteousness. That’s the great difference in you and the world outside!
      5. A war had been fought the bloodiest in our history. A president had been assassinated. An amendment to the Constitution had been signed into law. Once-enslaved men, women, and children were now legally emancipated. Yet amazingly, many continued living in fear and squalor as though it had never happened. In a context of hard-earned freedom, slaves chose to remain as slaves.

      Charles R. Swindoll, The Grace Awakening

    3. God’s holiness is like a beacon from a lighthouse to His people. When we get to heaven we will bask in His holy aura for eternity!

      4.  

      3. REJOICE IN GOD’S SIGNIFICANCE (V. 2b)

    4. "There is none beside thee"
      1. He alone is the only God-and He has allowed us to know Him!
      2. The God Almighty wants to know you and have you spend eternity with Him!!
        1. He loves you! Cares for you! Watches over you! Desires to walk with you! Has made a plan for your life! Has sent His Son in your place to die!
      3. Think about the significance of His personal desire to be with you! And have you be with Him forever!
      4. For you to know Him He has;
        1. Put His fingerprint over all creation for you to see!
        2. Psalm 19:1. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

          3. 2. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

          3. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

          4. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,"

        3. He has sent His Son as the full revelation of the Godhead!
        4. He has given His Word to man so that we may know Him!
        5. He has sent the Holy Spirit to live inside us!
    5. All of this because He is GOD and there is no other.
      1. Rejoice because He has allowed you to know HIM!!

      4. REJOICE IN GOD’S STRENGTH & SECURITY(V.2c)

    6. Rock !
      1. Deut. 32:4 " He is the Rock, his work is perfect"
      2. 2 Sam. 22:1 "And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

        3. 2. And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

        3. The God of my rock; in him will I trust: He is my shield, and the Horn Of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

        4. I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies."

      3. "When you have nothing left but God, then you become aware that God is enough."

        4. Maude Royden.

      4. ILL. One day, while my son Zac and I were out in the country, climbing around in some cliffs, I heard a voice from above me yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" I turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock straight at me. He had jumped and then yelled "Hey Dad!" I became an instant circus act, catching him. We both fell to the ground. For a moment after I caught him I could hardly talk. When I found my voice again I gasped in exasperation: "Zac! Can you give me one good reason why you did that???"

      He responded with remarkable calmness: "Sure...because you're my Dad." His whole assurance was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy. He could live life to the hilt because I could be trusted. Isn't this even more true for a Christian?

      Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat, Word Books Publisher, 1987, pp. 46-47.

    7. Hannah’s prayer was to the Father-she had realized that he too, would catch her when she fell. Ans she also knew that He was SOLID ROCK!
      1. Ill. Middle C will always be Middle C!
    8. Have you been able to rejoice in God our Rock? Is there something in your live that seems unbearable? Unmoveable?
      1. Take your burdens to God and let Him remind you that you do have reason to rejoice!!