God My Savior Has Rescued Me

CONSIDER THIS

Hannah’s life is miserable all because she longs for a child she can’t have. It hardly helps that a rival wife does everything she can to rub her face in it. Crushed by grief, she feels like an outcast, disgraced and forsaken — and brings her agony to God in prayer. This act of faith transforms her. She finds peace by trusting in God, regardless of the outcome.

Before the year is over, she gives birth to a son named Samuel and worships God by singing a song of thanksgiving. “God has lifted me up. He’s taken away my disgrace. He redeems the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.…The Lord will give strength to His King and will exalt the horn of His Anointed.”

Every Bible story points to Jesus, and this one is no exception. Centuries later the Bible tells us the story of Mary who also faced an impossible birth, and sings about it in a song that echoes Hannah’s. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Hannah’s song, the true Anointed King. Jesus is the One who rescues Hannah.

When Jesus comes into the world, He’s born in a lowly manger, raised in a poor family, was an outcast, rejected by men and condemned as a criminal. He was led outside the gates of Jerusalem, and crucified near the garbage dump, the most disgraceful of all executions. He’s the Anointed King who gives up His throne to go to a cross so that we can be saved by grace.

So don’t just read Hannah’s story about God answering a prayer and giving her a son. Read it as a story about how God gives us His Son, Jesus — to rescue us!