Many express their lamentation to the Lord, For those who don’t know the meaning of lament, It’s an expression of passionate grief or sorrow to the God. God’s power manifests to us in our lamentation and also when we praise him with rejoice. In this Blog we will look at two people (Hannah and Mary) in the Bible, what lament and rejoice can do and how we can apply to our lives.
Hannah’s Prayer
Hannah was the mother of Samuel. There lived a man Elkanah in Israel, he had two wives.One was Hannah and another was Penninnah, Peninnah had Children, but Hannah was barren because of which she was not able bear child. She was barren for many years, during this time she was mistreated and ashamed by Penninnah. The Bible says she would weep and cry and pray to the Lord year after year, her prayers were lamentation of her inner feelings to the Lord, she laid to God the shame / sorry / disappointments of her life.
'Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord ’s house. In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord , weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “ 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.” As she kept on praying to the Lord , Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord . Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” '
There are few things for us to learn from Hannah’s prayer of Lamentation
She prayed to the Lord when she was in deep anguish / lowest point of life “In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord”, Do we pray to Lord in our lowest point or complaint to others about our state ?
She prayed to the Lord “Hannah prayed to the Lord , weeping bitterly”, This means praying in a form you express your sorrow to the Lord with full of lament, the bitterness is to the sense of her current state and asking for Lord to take pity on her. Keep in mind these prayers are not one time prayers that she did, she had prayed like this many years.
She made a vow to the Lord in the prayer in her deep anguish / bitterness to honour God. “ 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,”
She did not mind the place where she was in, in the prayer time - she was with God and her moment, she did not mind anyone. The priest “Eli” was watching her mouth he noted, it was moving but not a sound came from her mouth he misunderstood that she was dunk, she corrects his misunderstanding “do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
After the prayer was answered by the Lord, Lord blessed her womb and removed the barrenness to give her a son Samuel, who became Israel’s first prophet and blessed and anointed David
After God delivered her, Hannah Composes and prays in a poem
'Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord ; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord ; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away. “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 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. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” '
Hannah begins by observing that “in the LORD my horn is lifted high.” In as much as an animal’s raised horn was a symbol of strength, Hannah is saying that the Lord has made her strong. She concludes by asking the Lord to give strength to his king, lifting up “the horn of his anointed.” (The last two lines would be better translated “May he give strength to his king / and [may he] exalt the horn of his anointed.”)
Her son Samuel became Israel’s first prophet. As a prophet, he anointed David, the king. What did he anoint him with? Oil from a horn. Indeed, the Lord answered Hannah’s prayer: he lifted up the horn of David, his king. How did David learn about the power of the Lord? The same way that Hannah did. Like Hannah, David lamented his barrenness (he had to wait twenty years after being anointed king to be enthroned as king). Hannah learned about the power of the Lord in the barrenness of her womb; David, hounded by his enemies, learned about the power of the Lord in the barrenness of the wilderness.
Lessons for us
How do we learn about the power of God? The same way Hannah learned it: by lamenting our barrenness and pouring out our souls to God.
Where do we learn about the power of God? The same place Hannah learned it: in our barrenness. However God answers our prayers, he will strengthen you—he will lift up your horn—through your prayers.
Express your lament to make your situation known to him by telling your inner feeling to him to help you get out of the situation you are in, Our God is a God who values every small prayer and small gestures to him. He values the intimate prayers to him to deliver you from your shame and sorrow.
How do you Lament and raise to Praise ? when God delivers you from your lament, praise God for his deliverance, Praise him with Rejoice to make his name known high.
Let’s shift gear to know about Mary and understand how Hannah’s prayer influenced Mary.
Mary’s Prayer
There was a woman named Mary who lived in the first century in Israel, more than a thousand years after Hannah. She hailed from the region of Galilee, which was considered second-class next to Judah, its neighbour to the south. Moreover, she lived in the town Nazareth, so insignificant a place that even a fellow Galileans ridiculed those who lived that place (John 1:46). Mary, a virgin, was betrothed to a man named Joseph, but because of her youth, gender, and still-single status, she occupied the bottom of the social stratum in her world. No one would have considered her a candidate for anything special, like how God choose Mary.
Nevertheless, an angel named Gabriel, familiar to Jews because he helped the prophet Daniel understand visions regarding the future, appeared to Mary and told her that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the long-expected Messiah, the Son of God, to enter into the world
With that, Mary faced at least two difficult choices: first, whether to believe the strange visitor, and second, whether to be obedient to his message, which would mean embracing the shame of pregnancy prior to marriage and possibly losing the little status she had, connected as it was to Joseph’s household. Nevertheless, she told the angel, '“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. ' Luke 1:38, After visiting her previously barren cousin, Elizabeth, who was also found to be miraculously pregnant with a son, John the Baptist, Mary composes and prays this poem:
'And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
Turns out that Hannah’s prayer for the Lord to judge the ends of the earth was heard not only by the Lord, it was also heard by Mary. Mary’s poem is hardly original. Its originality consists in the manner in which she draws on other sources, chiefly Hannah’s poem.
Like Hannah, Mary begins with her own story but then loses herself in the larger story of the kingdom of God.
Hannah knew what to pray for; Mary couldn’t have known what to pray for. But the angel told her, “For nothing is impossible with God.” God has done something for her she never could have dreamed of doing for herself. Because she knows Hannah’s prayer, not to mention the prayers of the psalmists, she knows that God favors the humble; therefore, she observes that the Lord has been mindful of her “for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant”
Her praise, however, is by no means reserved for what the Lord has done for her alone. Because the Lord does great things for Mary, he does great things for everyone, “from generation to generation”
Like Hannah, Mary is consumed with the power of the Lord and what he does with his power—how he brings down the powerful and lifts up the weak. Where did she learn such things? Like Hannah, she learned them in her own womb! In her womb, she found the Lord to be mindful of her “humble” state
Hannah’s son anointed the king of Israel for its season of need; Mary’s son “Jesus“ would not only be the king of Israel but also the king of the world, and not just for a season but for all seasons.
What can we learn from Mary
May be we would consider and feel second-class, insignificant, lacking in status, may be unlikely candidate for anything special. But God’s favour is there on those select people
Where do we learn about the power of God? The same place Mary learned it: Mary heard Hannah’s prayer, used it to compose her own prayer, which she also sent up to God and out into the ages almost two thousand years ago. Hundreds of years later, we hear the prayers of the barren woman and the virgin, and they meet us in our spiritual barrenness and in our non-expectancy.
When do you lament and when you rejoice ?
When you worship—you connect most deeply with your soul to worship God, by lamenting you express the emptiness / despair / hopeless sense of yours to the Lord Almighty and you rejoice in the worship of Lord.
Feel the power of God in your heart as you lament and rejoice, as you connect with your deepest self.
Lament and Rejoice—they seem like opposites, but biblically speaking, they’re more like distant cousins that belong to the same family: Worship.
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