I dare you to be the sort of person that Paul wanted to be here to the Corinthians. I dare you to be the person, of whom others say, “They told me about Jesus and Him Crucified. They said to me that I need to know Jesus and He crucified. They showed me a life of Jesus and His being crucified.”

That’s what we’re called to be. While we pray for believing hearts and saved souls, because we can’t do anything about what the hearers do. What can do something about what the hearers hear, and the Cross speaks for itself.

If 1 Samuel 8 is a history-altering chapter in the Bible, I argue that 1 Samuel 8:7 is a life-altering verse. God is very upset with Israel's demand for a King. But here’s what I love… even though the Sovereign God is bending to the will of the people, not only is He going to reluctantly absorb it, rather it’s going to be come the greatest symbol, the greatest prophetic design pointing to Jesus in the history of Israel.

If you’re suffering under sin, I want to encourage you that you can seek repentance, you, through God’s power can be repentant, and one day when a similar situation in where you usually sin tests you... you, through God’s power and by His grace, can raise your own Ebenezer and say, “On this same battlefield where I once lost, God has now brought me victory.”

I feel a little bit upstaged by pre-pentecost Sunday, Old Covenant believers. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, and not only the Law to obey, but now the power to! Here are the Israelites who are told, “Put away your foreign gods,” And then verse 4, “So the people of Israel,” did just that, “they served the Lord only.” Some things change, but that part doesn’t. God still expects our obedience.

God single-handedly conquers the Philistines. Think about that. There was no invading army. There was no Moses this time around. There was nothing, but just God bringing His plagues upon Philistia. There was just God toppling over a stupid statue, putting the plague on some citizens, creating terror, to where they just said, “It’s not worth it.” No blood on the battlefield, just, “We were wrong, here’s your nation back.”

You and I can get lost in the cultural context, but let us just take out the metal, the stone, the wood, because the lowercase gods are still there, and we’re still serving them. We may not erect temples, but we erect fridges, entertainment centers, we find our gods anywhere and everywhere, and when tragedy hits, all we do is say, “Out of all my gods, maybe the One God I should be serving will help me out here.” In a state of complacency we resort to, “Oops, we forgot god, let’s call him up to our front lines. He’ll help us!”

Peter calls the Church a “royal priesthood” in 1 Peter 2:9. This means we can read passages like the one we are today and walk away not only seeing the narrative for the facts that they present, but also using the narrative to gauge and call our life to account. In this passage we see two examples of priesthoods: a rejected one, and a responsive one. Which are we like?

This is our King, and this is true! Our King owns the world! This should bring great comfort! How’s the world going to end? It’s in our King’s hands! Who’s going to watch out for us as a people and as individuals?! Our King does, and He owns the very world we operate in, so He’s highly qualified! Who cares about us when nobody else might?! Our King does, and He died for us, so He’s shown that He loves us! Who sees injustice that we might see, but the authorities might not?! Our King does! Who sees the suffering of voiceless million unborn children, and the neglect and selfishness of would-be mothers, and the crying hearts of want-to-be mothers?! Our King does! Our King does! And in His Kingdom the barren give birth, and in His Kingdom the lowly are exalted, and in His Kingdom the proud are humbled!

Hannah’s song is a good prelude to both 1 and 2 Samuel, has within it all the themes that we find in 1 and 2 Samuel. First and 2 Samuel, considered one large book, is then bookended by a similar song by King David in 2 Samuel 22. But within Hannah’s song, she lays out four primary aspects of the kingdom of God, by way how the King Himself interacts with us.

When the author opens up 1st Samuel, he gives us a character that graces its first pages and fades behind her son Samuel, but Hannah reminds us that we have a King who cares. We have a King who is the Lord, Yahweh, the One True God revealed in the Bible, the eternally existing One, the One who ultimately is going to bring about the Savior of not just Israel, but the World. And we have the Lord of Hosts, who has hosts of angels, people, places, power all at His disposal, because He is Sovereign and He closes and open wombs. And He cares.