And Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation. (1 Samuel 2:1 ESV)
Hannah had been barren the majority of her life (1 Samuel 1:2). Her husband’s other wife though, had no problem bearing children. She would use this against Hannah and provoke her to tears (1 Samuel 1:6). This would go on year after year.
Hannah did not allow the pain she was currently facing to change the way she prayed to God. Her faith in God remain the same despite what she was going through.
Finally, God decided to answer the prayers of Hannah and give her a child, Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20). After Hannah had her child she sang/prayed a song. In the first verse of it she says that she ridicules or derides her enemies, her husband’s second wife, because of God’s salvation or in other translations deliverance. Do you catch how she got back at her enemies? She didn’t tell them I told you so. She didn’t flaunt her child in front of them. She didn’t tell them how mean they were. No, she praised God. She got back at her enemies by praising God for providing for her.
What does this mean for us today? As long as we rejoice in our salvation through Christ, our enemies can never put us down. Our treasures are not here on earth and we are even called aliens or strangers here. We have won no matter what happens here on the earth because of our Savior’s work on the cross.