Sing Hannah’s Song Through Worship

“…And he worshiped the Lord there. Then Hannah prayed and said, ‘My heart exults in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation. There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides You; there is no rock like our God.”
1 Samuel 1:28-2:2

What are we really asking in our pain and tears, when life doesn’t go the way we think it should or thought is would?

“God, are You good?”

“God, are You trustworthy?”

“God, will I continue to surrender my life to You?”

In Hannah’s song we see her response as a resounding, Yes! Her eyes lifted to the very character and worthiness of God etched on her heart. It is interesting to note that after she gave her son, Samuel, to serve the Lord, the text says “And he worshiped the Lord there.” Then, Hannah prays this beautiful song of thanksgiving. It came after her surrender—this song of worship, praise, and freedom. Freedom from the constraints of the cultural expectations and norms for her life. Freedom from finding her value in having a child she could raise and nurture. Freedom to worship and know God for who He really is.

Her son no doubt brought great joy to her life, and his absence no doubt created a deep ache. But her source of life and hope had not come in what or who was given or taken away but in her God. She had come to know and believe the astounding goodness of God towards her and  her people. It is only later in 1 Samuel 2 that we see that God gives Hannah three more sons and two daughters as she continues to go up to visit Samuel year after year in the house of the Lord. It is a small window into how her life unfolded against the backdrop of a life that had learned to praise and worship her God through her tears, through the distress of her soul, when she gained what she wanted, and when she gave back to the Lord the desires of her heart.

And this is where we must learn to worship, when it feels good and right and we believe every word of His promises—and when His words seem to fall flat on our hearts. His words are living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and will not return void or empty (Isaiah 55:11), even when we feel void or empty of knowing His power.

As I walked through the life and death of my first two daughters, this is where I began to learn to worship God in the midst, and not apart from, the deep agony of my soul. These are the places of the soul where I began to discover in much greater depth His worthiness of my life. And my heart was led to sing Hannah’s song through my suffering, my tears, pouring out my soul, holding onto His promises, and surrender. It is not a joy that has come because the ache is gone, but a joy that has come precisely because the ache is still there. The ache makes the joy richer.

I pray God will write the joy of His name on your heart in the midst of your ache. We must press into the Lord in our pain to let God meet us in the darkness and allow that to be the very place His light is woven into our hearts. It will take time, a lifetime of pressing into the Lord in the countless circumstances that will press into our lives, of giving the Lord our tears, of pouring out our souls to Him in the midst of our own losses, and when we mourn the losses of others and see the brokenness of this world. We will never stop growing to know the richness of His promises and to learn to cling to them more fully.

I pray that as time goes on, the greatness of God and His great love for us will be more firmly written on our hearts—and that our lives will be ones of worship. A worship that would come out of and be made more rich and full in every circumstance God may ask us to walk through.

Lord, like Hannah I want my heart to exult in You alone today. For You alone are worthy of all my praise. In both the deep agonies of my soul and in times when all has been well, Your steadfast love and goodness have not changed. There is truly “none besides You, there is no rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2).

Hi! I’m Lindsey. I live in Orlando, Florida with my stud of a husband Kevin. We have 3 incredible children, Sophie and Dasah who now live with Jesus and Jaden who came into our lives through adoption. We have a very energetic golden retriever and love living in the sunshine state. I get to spend my days loving on my son, investing my life in college students here through a non-profit organization we’re a part of and when I have time, writing on my blog about the hope that doesn’t disappoint!

Are you a writer who would like to join the blog team? Learn more and apply here.