Hannah Gives Thanks

There is no Holy One like the LORD,

no one besides you;

there is no Rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly,

let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the LORD is a God of knowledge,

and by him actions are weighed. 

1 Samuel 2:2-3

This is a part of Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving for answering her prayer. She was barren and she prayed to God for a son. Samuel was born. And to give thanks she dedicated Samuel to the temple. She gave up the very thing that she prayed so fervently. She gave this precious child she so longed for back to God.

What is it that we pray so desperately for? And in doing so are ready to give it up in the same breath? I have a sneaky suspicion that none of you would be so bold … or even to do so out of pure thanksgiving.

Hannah, while giving thanks, also reminds us and herself what the problem is –  our arrogance and our inability to recognize that there is no one holier than our God.

Some of you are like me. I am egotistical enough to think that somehow everything I do is of my own making – both my triumphs and my failures. I am conceited enough to think that everyone who likes me or dislikes me feels this way because of my very excellent or not very excellent way of carrying myself. I am so supercilious, bigheaded, haughty, superior, overconfident and proud that I have the gall to think that everything that happens to me is of my own doing.

There is no one like our God. From God comes our life and our being. Do we give thanks in a way that recognizes this? In what way do we give back to God to show our thankfulness? This God of ours, the God of knowledge and by whom our actions are weighed, deserves our thanks!

I am not suggesting that your salvation depends on this; this has been promised through your baptism into the body of Christ, your righteousness before God has been taken care of. No what I am suggesting is that maybe some of our struggles in life happens because we do not take the time to offer thanks, to tangibly hand back to God that for which we are thankful. Are you thankful for your good health? How can you offer that health back to God? Are you thankful for your income? How might you offer that back to God? Are you thankful for clean drinking water? How might you offer that back to God?

One of the life lessons I have learned over and over again is that when I do live a life of thanks for what I have, I am not able then to live that arrogant life. And when I do not live that supercilious way I really discover joy.