Hallelujah! Glory to God! Let the name of the Lord God Almighty be glorified in the heavens above, on the earth below, in the waters underneath, and in every part of the universe He created (refer to: Genesis 1:1-2:3; Exodus 20:3-4; Psalm 69:34; 108:5; Isaiah 44:6; Revelation 5:13; 14:7). The Lord our God has been faithful to all of us and He will continue to remain faithful to all His creation, as one of the Psalmists states: The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:9; also refer to: Exodus 34:6). God’s steadfast love for all He created will never fail, rather, it endures forever (Psalm 107:1). The godly and the ungodly alike ought to know the fact that the Lord our God is good and His compassion and loving kindness never fail as He will neither always accuse anyone nor harbor His anger against anyone, as the Scripture states: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever (Psalm 103:8-9).

• • such is the Lord who created us in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7; Psalm 95:6)
  • such is the Lord whom we praise and worship and adore and serve everyday of our lives (Psalm 96:9; 150:6)
  • such is the Lord upon whom we place our trust day and night (Psalm 56:3-4; Proverbs 3:5-6; Jeremiah 17:7)
  • such is the Lord whom we worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24)
  • such is the Lord who cares for us, and so on.

Acknowledging the goodness of God in our life and the enlightenment it brings into our inner self needs to be the inner strength of our spiritual journey with Him, a journey which ought to be rooted and well-established in Christ Jesus. We His children need to be thankful and grateful for everything He does for us and try our best to live a life worthy of His calling, so that we will be able to fulfill His purpose and plans in and through our lives!

The Lord has blessed us with a spiritually guiding Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week taken from 1 Samuel 2:2 (mentioned above). As we have noted in our meditation from the Second book of Samuel (03/01/2026), though the book is named after prophet Samuel son of Elkanah and Hannah (1 Samuel 1:1-20), one of the most acclaimed priests (1 Samuel 1:24-25; 2:18; 3:1), judges (1 Samuel 7:13-17; Acts 13:20), prophets (1 Samuel 3:20; Acts 13:20); and leaders in ancient Israel, it is unclear who wrote the book. Since author’s name is not clearly mentioned anywhere in the book itself nor there is any clear evidence to prove the authorship of the books of Samuel, the authorship of the book remains anonymous. Yet, some Jewish traditions [based on the claims of some Jewish Bible historians and scholars] credit its authorship to Samuel, Nathan, and Gad arguing that either one of them wrote the book or each of them contributed a part of it and someone else [in a later period] put them together as a book – the Book of Samuel, which consists of First and Second Samuel (1 Samuel 10:25; 1 Chronicles 29:29). The most important focus of the book is the acknowledgement of the fact that the Lord our God is Sovereign and there is no one like Him as He is sovereign in His existence and He is sovereign in everything He says and does (Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 32:4; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 18:31; Isaiah 40:25; 45:5). In addition, the book emphasizes the importance of obeying God’s righteous laws, decrees, and commands in its entirety and stresses on the significance of leading a godly life. The book also gives details regarding the Israelite leadership transition from the rule of judges to a monarchial rule, which marked the end of the judges’ leadership in Israel that was established directly under God’s command and the beginning of kings’ reign in Israel (1 Samuel 8:5-8). Other than these, the book deals with three individuals [and their households], these are Samuel, a priest, judge, and prophet in Israel (1 Samuel 3:20; 7:15; Jeremiah 15:1; Acts 13:20); Saul, the first ever person to be anointed as king in Israel who ruled for forty years (1 Samuel 9:25-10:1, 17-26); and David, a man after God’s own heart who was chosen to succeed king Saul as king in Israel and who ruled for forty years over all Israel (1 Samuel 13:14; 16:1-13; 2 Samuel 5:3;1 Chronicles 18:14; Acts 13:22).

The passage we chose for our meditation this week (1 Samuel 2:2) is part of Hannah’s prayer which she offered before the Lord, the God of Israel, at the house of the Lord in Shiloh. Hannah was the wife of Elkanah the priest from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, who was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite (1 Samuel 1:1-2). Because Hannah did not have children of her own, she was ridiculed and mocked by some of her own family members and friends, and perhaps some others also, as it is stated: The Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat (1 Samuel 1:6-7). Yet, year after year, as she comes to the Lord’s house in Shiloh with her husband Elkanah and rest of her family members to offer sacrifices and offerings, she used to pray and present her case before the Lord her God – the God of Israel (1 Samuel 1:3-5). As years passed by and as her rival’s taunts became too much for her to bear, she silently but bitterly cried out to the Lord her God asking for a son of her own and she made a vow before the Lord her God as she prayed: Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head (1 Samuel 1:11). Eli the priest was noticing her praying to God and blessed her, saying: Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him (1 Samuel 1:17). God answered her specific prayer request [which is asking for a son] and God blessed her with a son whom she named Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20). Years later, she returned to the Lord’s house in Shiloh with her little boy Samuel [whom the Lord her God had given her] to dedicate him for the service of God, as she vowed to the Lord her God years ago, and said to Eli the priest, saying … I am the woman who stood here beside you [Eli the priest] praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there (1 Samuel 1:26-28; also refer to: 1: 9-20, 24-28; 2:1-10). In every sense Hannah trusted the Lord her God all the days of her life – before and during and after the birth of Samuel whom she asked of God and received from God:

• • Hannah trusted God with all her heart, mind, soul and strength and did not lean on her own resources or abilities
  • Hannah trusted God and kept His righteous laws and decrees and commands and obeyed them fully
  • Hannah trusted God and established a strong relationship with the Lord God – the God of her ancestors
  • Hannah trusted God for all that He has done in her life
  • Hannah trusted God even when everything [including people and the situations in her life] was going on against her
  • Hannah trusted God and shared her pain with none but only before the Lord her God
  • Hannah trusted God and let others know about it, especially her husband Elkanah, the high priest Eli, and so on
  • Hannah trusted God and feared no-one and nothing [not a thing nor any situations she faced in life]
  • Hannah trusted God at all times in her life …
    • when she was in trouble
    • when there was none to understand her or help her [except Elkanah her husband]
    • when she approached the throne of grace
    • when she prayed to the Lord in deep anguish and weeping bitterly
    • when she poured out her painful need before the Lord her God
    • when Eli accused her of drinking too much wine when she did not drink it
    • when Eli the priest blessed her knowing her situation
    • when her reproach was taken away from her as she was given a son as she asked for him
    • when she returned her son to serve God on all his days
    • when her son Samuel was dedicated for the service of God
    • when her son Samuel served in the Lord’s house at Shiloh faithfully before the Lord, the God of Israel,
    • in a nutshell, she trusted the Lord her God at all times.

Hannah understood what it means to go through a time of pain and struggles in life, as she herself went through such situations in her very life. She was ridiculed and faced reproaches from those around her for a situation she herself had no control over. Instead of empathizing with her at the situation, they ridiculed and denounced her. However, she knew that God knows all about her and the situations she was going through and believed that He is faithful to deliver her from all such unfavorable situations. Instead of dealing with the situations she faced in life by herself or allowing anyone else to find a solution for her, she surrendered her life before the Lord her God and poured out her pains and miseries and struggles and desires and everything she wanted to share with Him. She believed that God is faithful and He is able to deliver her from all her troubles and grant the desires of her heart, as a Psalmists stated: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:3-4). If we do not have personal experience, then it is hard to understand the pains and struggles of others who are going through such situations. We can understand from the Scriptures that God did great and mighty things in the lives of the people who went through a lot of pains and struggles and problems in their lives while remaining faithful to Him. A few examples are mentioned below for our understanding who went through unfavorable situations in their lives and how God honored them thereafter:

• • Joseph son of Jacob was a virtuous person, yet he went through a lot of problems in his life but he remained faithful to God and God delivered him from all such situations and blessed him, his family, his nation, and many other nations around the world more than they all could imagine or ask (refer to: Genesis 37:1-36; 39:1-47:31).
  • Job, a citizen of Uz, was one of the greatest man among all the people of the East, who was blameless and upright, feared God and shunned evil and at heart he was a righteous person (Job 1:1-3). Yet, without being at fault, he went through a lots of trials and troubles and struggles in life. However, he did not sin against God or blame anyone else, rather, he remained faithful to the Lord his God and God honored him and blessed him immensely in the latter of his life (Job 42:12-17).
  • Moses son of Amram and Jochebed (Numbers 26:59) was raised in the palace of Pharaoh as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter for forty years but for the next eighty years [forty years in Midian as a shepherd and the following forty years in the wilderness as the deliverer and leader of the Israelites] suffered for the cause of his people as God appointed him to be the deliverer and leader of the Israelites – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as it is stated: … the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob … I [God] will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them (Jeremiah 33:26). God honored Moses and said: Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land (Deuteronomy 34:10-11; also refer to: 18:15; Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:3).
  • David son of Jesse of Bethlehem, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22), who was anointed by prophet Samuel upon God’s command as king in Israel to succeed king Saul also went through a lot trials and troubles and struggles in life. However, he remained faithful to the Lord his God [the God of Israel] and his people [the Israelites] and God honored him and established a covenant with him, which will last forever, as God promised to him: Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16; also refer to 1 Kings 11:3; Psalm 89:33-34; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:1; John 7:42).
  • The person who was born blind might have gone through a lots of trials and troubles and struggles in his life not because of his or his parents’ or anyone else’s faults. Jesus who healed the blind man clarified with His disciples in response to their question to Him that neither the blind person nor his parents sinned but this [the blindness] happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him as Jesus stated: His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2-3).
  • Apostle Paul went through a lots of trials and troubles and struggles and sufferings in his life for the sake of his faith/trust in Jesus Christ and preaching the gospel of Christ, yet he remained faithful to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God honored him for that as he testified prior to his death, saying: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

All the persons mentioned above remained faithful to God while going through unusual types of trials and troubles in the their lives and God honored them for their perseverance in holding onto their faith/trust in Him. They believed that there is no one holy like the Lord and there is no one besides the Lord and there is no Rock like the Lord God, as Hannah acclaimed (1 Samuel 2:2). Moses said: Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders (Exodus 15:11; also refer to Deuteronomy 4:35; Psalm 18:31). People those who trust in the Lord [especially those who are going through unfavorable situations in life] know that the Lord their God will come for their aid in the course of time, as it is stated: He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world (1 Samuel 2:8). If we abide in the Lord our God, the tests and trials would purify/refine us as gold, as Job stated: He [God] knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold (Job 23:10; also refer to Psalm 66:10; Proverbs 17:3; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3). Apostle Peter wrote to the followers of Christ who were struggling in life that In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7) James the brother of Jesus reminded the believers of all times, especially those who are facing trials and troubles and tribulations in their life because of their faith in Christ Jesus and the ministry they are carrying out, that Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him (James 1:12). Even if we have to go through trials and troubles and tribulations in our life despite being faultless and faithful in our calling, let us praise and worship and trust the Lord our God, as Hannah trusted praised and worshipped Him, saying (1 Samuel 2:2) …

• • there is no one holy like the Lord our God (2:2a)
  • there is no one besides the Lord our God (2:2b)
  • there is no Rock like the Lord our God (2:2c)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, as we come to the close of our this week’s SftW meditation, let us know the fact that the Lord our God whom we praise and worship and trust is the same Lord God whom Hannah praised and worshipped and trusted. Therefore, let us continue to praise and worship and trust the Lord our God who is able to refine us as pure as gold in our relationship with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and deliver us from all the trials and troubles we face in life (Job 23:10). There might be times when trials and troubles hit against our hopes and aspirations, there might be times when everyone else might turn their back on us, there might be times when no one would step up to lend a helping hand to us, there might be times when we feel that we lost everything we had in life, there might be times when we feel we are all alone in life, and so on; remember that we are not alone in it but the Lord our God who created us in His own image and likeness is with us, as He promised: Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10; also refer to: Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7; Psalm 8:4-8; Matthew 28:20). He is the One who sustained us so far in life (Deuteronomy 31:6; Psalm 48:14; Isaiah 46:4); He is the One who redeemed us and saved our life from eternal condemnation (Psalms 32:1-2; John 3:16-18; Romans 8:1; Colossians 1:13-14); He is the One who promised us a never-ending-life with Him in eternity (Psalm 23:6; John 3:16; 10:28; 1 John 2:25; 5:11); and so on. Believe that we have a place to come and find rest, which is the presence of the Lord our God. He is just waiting for us to come to His presence and unload our burdens upon Him and find rest from all our pains and sorrows and heartaches, as it is mentioned: Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken (Psalm 55:22; also refer to: Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7). We can come to His presence at any time and share our heart’s feelings with Him and He will make our paths straight, as it is stated: Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). Remember what Joseph said to his brothers later in time that You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50:20). Apostle Paul encouraged believers in Rome, saying: We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). As we have discussed above, Hannah was hurt when her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her but instead of getting irritated or discouraged or taking revenge on her rival, Hannah, in her deep anguish prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly, and the Lord blessed her with more than she asked or imagined (refer to: 1 Samuel 1:6b, 20; 2:21). All these examples point out that the Lord God Almighty whom we praise and worship and serve is a God who hears our prayers and responds with a solution to our requests. Therefore, let us trust the Lord our God and believe that He will definitely help us and bless us with everything we need in life as He granted the heart’s desire of Hannah and the untold number of others who placed their trust in Him unconditionally. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!