From Saul’s Spiral to David’s Strength: Choosing God When Life Falls Apart

Smoke rises from Ziklag, families are gone, and a weary band turns on their leader. That’s the moment David does something that feels small but changes everything: he strengthens himself in the Lord before he takes a single step. Our conversation follows the long arc of hope—from Hannah’s raw prayer to Samuel’s calling, from Israel’s demand for a king to Saul’s unraveling, and finally to David’s surprising response under crushing pressure.

We draw out the contrast that Scripture wants us to see. Saul grasps; David asks. Saul moves first and prays later; David inquires of God and only then acts. At Ziklag, that posture leads to a rescue marked by mercy along the way—feeding a dying Egyptian who becomes the key to the enemy’s location. The victory that follows is full, but the test continues after the battle: will power turn inward? David answers by sharing the spoils with those who stayed behind and blessing the surrounding communities, insisting that what the Lord gives is meant to be stewarded, not hoarded.

Along the way, we wrestle with why we ache for good endings, why life often refuses to give them on demand, and how hope can be more than a mood when the camp is still burning. We talk about seeking God first as a practiced reflex, not a last resort; how generosity is the natural language of people who trust God with outcomes; and why Jesus is the steady center when everything else cycles between gain and loss. If you’re caught between panic and paralysis, this story offers a path: pause, strengthen yourself in the Lord, ask, and then move with courage and mercy.

If this episode helps you reframe a hard season, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with one practice you’ll try this week.

Chapters

• 0:00 From Ecclesiastes to Hope
• 3:48 Why Stories Need Good Endings
• 7:33 Hope Threaded Through Scripture
• 10:33 Israel Demands a King
• 14:33 Saul’s Disobedience and Decline
• 17:33 David Anointed and Rising
• 21:33 David Versus Saul: A Contrast
• 25:33 Ziklag in Flames
• 28:33 Strengthened in the Lord
• 31:03 Pursuit and Provision on the Road
• 35:03 Victory, Justice, and Generosity
• 39:03 What Endures and What Fades

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:03

Get in the message this morning. So we're done with Ecclesiastes. So everyone take a big old sigh of relief. If you've been here for the last nine weeks or so, listen, Ecclesiastes is a hard book to go through. It's somewhat depressing on one level. Um, Solomon and all of his wisdom reflects on his life and comes to the realization that everything's pretty much useless, right? Except for pursuing God. That that's the conclusion of his wisdom. He says, pursue God above all things. Those things matter. So it only seems fitting that we're going to spend the next couple weeks talking about stories of hope. The Bible is an incredible, it's an incredible story of hope. Uh I always think about uh in our culture day, we're like I'm a I'm a pretty decent movie buff, and and almost every movie that I watch has uh a very similar uh plot line, right? There's always a protagonist at the beginning. Uh there's always something that happens to the protagonist that gets them out of shape, like you know, something that's out of their control, right? And then they as they go through uh the progression of the movie, you see things kind of unfold for them, uh unravel for them, and life's really just falling apart. But but you love this person, right? That we're taught to like kind of cheer for this person because we want to see them successful, we want to we want to see them do well. Um if you know me, I'm a I'm a Marvel fan. So uh the last step of I think it was phase three or phase four, uh, the end game, when it was kind of two movies. By the way, if you haven't seen these movies, I don't know what to tell you. That's not I'm trying not to spoil it. But um, there was a two-part movie. So like as you walk out of the theater, the first one, you're like, this is awful. Everyone's gone. Right? Half the world population. And then obviously we come back on the end of it, and then it all comes back, and and Iron Man is Iron Man and does the the sacrificial play, right? But but every movie we watch, every story we read, there's always this this hope that the main character comes to the conclusion that's a good one. It it's the movies that mess us up, are the ones that end poorly, and then that's it. It goes a credit, and you're like, that is not supposed to happen. If you've ever seen the movie The Mist by Stephen King, it was a really popular Stephen King book. If you've ever seen the movie The Mist that was made after him, the adaptation, I pulled that movie. For all of you, those of you who are older, I had a DVD. For those of you who are younger, if you don't know what that is, little disc thing that plays movies. Okay. I remember I was watching on DVD and I watched the end of the movie, and I pulled it out and I broke it in half and I threw it away. And I'm like, this is the stupidest ending I've ever seen into a movie in my life. Because we long for things to work out well. That that's what we want. We want to believe that our trials and our suffering have a purpose. We we cannot fathom that everything we go through eventually just comes to an end and ends poorly. We desire for things to end on a hopeful note. And the Bible is full of stories. From Genesis to Revelation, the entire story of God is a story of hope. Now it doesn't mean that things don't happen, because they do. Characters uh we study in the Bible have have awful outcomes sometimes. And you know, we we talk about Daniel being thrown in the lion's den. It's not exactly ideal. Uh we talk about Abraham and and having a, you know, God said, Listen, you have to sacrifice your son, your only son. We we we talk about we talk about David and and and and all of these these characters we see, and their life is sometimes difficult, but but for every every difficult moment, there's a victory. Abraham doesn't sacrifice his son, God provides a ram. Moses sets his people free from slavery, even though they were forced in exile. David conquers Goliath. Daniel comes out of the lions, then Esther. If you've ever read the story of Esther, she she put herself in front of the king in fear of death, and God saved her, used her to save her people. Right? So the Bible is this, it's this constant reality that we continue to follow God, and God continues to show up day in and day out. So we're gonna we're gonna be in 1 Samuel chapter 30. That's gonna be our main text, but we're gonna speed run through the first 29 chapters real quick, because the context is important, right? So chapters 1 through 3, if you've ever read through 1 Samuel, is about a woman named Hannah. Hannah's barren, she has is unable to have children, and and culturally, especially back then, um if you look at it and understand how it was, the the women's primary role in the house was to provide an heir, to provide offspring. And and so Hannah being barren, this was unacceptable. Not only to her, but but it was unacceptable to the culture, right? And so she goes to God and she says, God, if you give me a child, I'll dedicate him to your service. And and so she gives birth to a man, uh, a young little child named Samuel. Samuel, who's the book, who's the the title of the book, first and second Samuel, becomes a prophet for God. She designates him to the temple. He he actually establishes and really kind of shows how corrupt everything is because Eli and his sons are just a mess. So chapters 1 through 3 is Hannah's story of how Samuel came into existence. Chapters 4 through 7, we watch Samuel. Now there's a time in those four chapters when the Philistines actually capture the ark and they come to the realization really quick this was a bad idea. You don't touch the ark of God, let alone kidnap it, right? So they kidnap it and they end up experiencing some great difficulty. Their God, their God statue, at some point is they find it twice, laying down in front of the ark, bowing down. So they return it as anyone would do. They return it with a gift offering. And then we get to chapters eight through 15, and we made him um we meet a man by the name of Saul. This is not Saul the New Testament, Saul the Old Testament. So, chapters 1 through 7, we see Samuel the prophet, and the Israelites were supposed to follow Samuel because as they followed Samuel, they followed God. God was their king. That's how it was supposed to be. That's how he had established it. But all of a sudden, the people were surrounded by these Philistines and they start crying out for a king because they want a physical king, right? So we're going to talk about hope this morning, but but at this point in time, they are putting their hope in man-made things. They have decided that they need a king. Not just a king, but they need a warrior king. They need someone to protect them from the enemies around them, even though God had done this already. So they they asked for a king, and and Samuel is as politely as he says, listen, that's a bad idea. But he ends up anointing Saul. And from chapters 8 to 15, Saul becomes one of the worst kings Israel's ever seen. Now he starts off okay, but but he actually really early on in his um his leadership, uh, there's a point where Samuel says to him, uh, listen, I'm gonna make an offering on your behalf for God, uh, but you have to wait seven days and you have to wait till I'm there. So culturally back then, uh the prophets were the one who did the offering, the priest, uh, and no one else did, right? But Saul got ahead of himself, kind of got a little anxious, and he did it on his own. So he was disobedient. And and that actually, from the get-go, starts out this idea that he will not be Israel's forever king. But he's actually about to lose his throne. And so Saul kind of goes on this tirade, and he he starts to become more paranoid. Eventually he gets to the point where um, and this is where we get to Daniel or David. So chapter 16 starts the story of David. And David, as we all know, is the only person in all of Scripture who has the title that is a man after God's own heart. So David, David and Saul were complete contrast to each other. You have Saul who's trying to lead like an earthly king, and you have David who becomes king eventually, who's trying to lead as a man who's following God. Right? So the pursuit of these two things is different. And listen, this is going to get important. Because you have a nation that is trying to fix things themselves versus following after God, who has done nothing but provide for them up until this point. So you get to chapter 16. We run through David's life. He kills Goliath, he establishes himself, he gets anointed in chapter 16. He actually serves under Saul. In chapter 17, he kills Goliath. By the way, in every David and Goliath story, if you don't know this, I'm always David. Uh should have landed way better than it did. Rob, I expected a laugh. That's right. That's not true. I'm always Goliath. I've never been David, which is kind of a bummer. But 1 Samuel chapter 17. David kills Goliath 18. Rising military success. Chapters 18 through 20. Um, he develops a good friendship with Jonathan, which is Saul's son, that's going to become important. Um, so chapters 18 through 16, or 18 through 26, Saul pretty much starts to hate David, even though he's helping him, which is kind of ironic. Um, and again, as you read through the narrative, as you continue to read through the the middle part of the book, you start to realize that the um the author is really trying to put a contrast. As David steps into his role, as the man of God continues to step into his role, you see Saul become unhinged because he's seeking himself, his own desires. He becomes even increasingly more paranoid, selfish. Saul is trying everything he can to keep his kingdom, and David is trying everything he can to support it. And and the author of the book of 1 Samuel really lays that out that in no way is Daniel trying to overthrow anything, he's just trying to exist. And so we we come to this realization that there's something not quite right about Saul's approach. Again, Saul is to me, I see him as representing someone who's trying to figure things out on his own. He wants to be like God, he wants to be in charge, he's abusing his power. He he becomes the very kind of king that Israel never wanted. David is a man who is continuing to seek God in all of the things that he does, and all of his decisions. He talks about even as a young shepherd, he sought God first. So we get to 1 Samuel chapter 30, and David at this point is actually living among the Philistines, which is kind of ironic because he killed their greatest warrior.

unknown: 13:16

Right?

SPEAKER_01: 13:17

He killed Goliath. He's the reason why that army, that nation ended up falling. But but he's been run out of Saul's court. Saul has attempted to kill him multiple times. So he finds himself living among the Philistines. So this is where we are, 1 Samuel chapter 30. So now when David and his men came to Ziglag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziglag. They had overcome Ziglag and burned it with fire, and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but they carried them off, and they went on their way. When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, till they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, uhonam of Jezreel, and Abigail, the widow of Nabel of Carmel. And by the way, verse six is going to be the pivotal verse. Said, and David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all of the people were bitter in their soul, each for his sons and daughters. But it said, David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Now, keep in mind, I say this is a pivotal verse, because David's response to them wanting to stone him, he doesn't run, he doesn't fight back, he doesn't try to hide, he stops what he's doing, and he strengthens himself in the Lord his God. Now we'll we'll find out as the story goes on. This was a regular habit of David. It was a discipline, if you want to call it that, that he understood that seeking God first should be his answer. And and I think about that, and I think about that a lot because Cody has said this quite a few times. So many times when we come across difficult situations, for whatever reason, we seek God last. Not always, but a lot of times we we don't necessarily go to him first because we try to solve it ourselves, we try to come out, come up with our own solution. So I'm gonna share this with you because I think it's funny and it put it makes me look like I have no idea how my brain works, and that's okay. So this weekend we went to Columbus. Uh I went with Danny and the boys. We went up for a remembrance walk, and we spent some time in Kosai, which is Miles, never been there, and then we took Miles to uh Skyline, which he's never been to a Skyline, but we always eat Skyline because we buy at the store, but he's never been to a skyline. And Miles thought that was the coolest thing ever, right? So the plan on Saturday, oh, and the youth all went to a couple of them went to Kennywood, which was a ton of fun. So I had this problem about two weeks ago. And Jesse wanted to go to Kennywood, and Danny's like, we should go to Columbus to do this thing, and I was like, I like Jesse. My wife and I share the same bed. So obviously, this wasn't a hard decision, right? But but I had to figure out semantics. How do we make this happen, right? And so, oh, and and on top of that, uh, is Cam the Grinder here, took his, he's not, he passed his driver's test this weekend, and and so like we did some like car exchanging and stuff like that, and and it was kind of fun because if you've seen my little car, it's like yay big, and it's like the coolest thing ever. I don't know why I own it. Um, someone said to me that I look good in that tundra, and I was like, see, Danny, we should buy a tundra. Um, but yeah, so so I had this thing, right? So we were going to Columbus, the kids were going to you, Camden had my car, right? And so we're having this kind of thing. How do I figure it all out? And so I had this plan, this wonderful plan in my head that I was gonna do a couple things. I was gonna, Camden was gonna have my car. Danny was gonna leave with the boys at 6:30 in the morning, and she was gonna go to Columbus. I was gonna stay back, go get the van so I could drop off the rental van so they could go to Kennywood. And then when Camden was done, I was gonna get my car, and then I was gonna, about 10 o'clock or about 12 o'clock, I was gonna drive to Columbus, meet them in Columbus, and we were gonna have a day, and they were all gonna drive back together. That's human thinking, by the way. That's my thinking. My my brain, I was so excited. I'm like, I've got it all figured out. I'm a genius. And then Thursday before we left, or Friday before we left, I was talking to Rob, and and Rob's like, hey, like when we're done with your car, we'll just bring it back over and we'll grab the truck. And I'm like, wait, what? He's like, we'll bring the car back over and drop it off, and you can just go with Danny in the morning to Columbus. And I'm like, that makes so much more sense. Like, there's so fewer moving parts. And then I had this other epiphany, we could have just switched it out another day, right? But but but I say that because a lot of times our approach is we complicate things. We we come to a solution and and we try to figure something out, right? And so here you have this incredible contrast of the people are trying to, they want a king, and so they've settled for Saul, who's not a great king. And then we come across David, a man who instead of trying to justify his actions, instead of trying to figure out how to solve things, his first response is to go to God and strengthen himself. And we see this all throughout his life before he faced Goliath. Before, as he was running from Saul. David has this constant inward conversation about going to God first. And so David becomes the reflection of a man who's chasing after God's own heart. Right? So continuing in verse 7, and David said to Abathar the priest, the son of Amiliach, bring me the ephod. So Abathar brought the Ephod to David, and David acquired of the Lord, Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them? And he answered them, Pursue, for you shall oh uh you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue. So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook uh bazor, uh where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, and uh, he and four hundred men, two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook bizer. So listen, David, God said, Pursue them. David took men, and at some point he's losing men. He started with 600, they went to the brook, he lost 200, right? So at this point, from David's perspective, everything is falling apart. But he pursued. They gave him water to drink, and they gave him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread, or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, said to him, To whom do you belong? And where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to Amalachite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. We had made a raid against the Nagob of the Tirithites, and against that which belongs to Judah, and against the Nagab of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire, and David said to him, Will you take me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will not kill me, or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band. And when he had taken them down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of the great spoil they had taken from the land of Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Malachites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoiler anything that had been taken. David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks, and the herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, This is David's spoil. Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook with Zor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. When David came near the people, he greeted them. Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children and depart. But David said, You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, he has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share for as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day. When David comes to Ziglag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, Here is a present from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. It was for those in Bethel and Ramath and the Gab and Jator. There's a whole other bunch of city names there. But David, David has, again, we're seeing a unique characteristic of David. Not only does he seek to know God, but when it comes down to it, and the victory has been won, and he continues to pursue God, when the victory is won, he makes sure that everyone who went to battle and those who stayed behind received the same reward. He didn't hoard it. He didn't make it about them. Again, he kind of calls to account this group and says, listen, that's not how this is going to work. So we continue to see a contrast between Saul and David. David is a man who is seeking to know God. He wants to serve him. And he believes and he trusts that the victory belongs to God anyway. He even says it, listen, God, God gave us all of this. Who would listen to you? Again, Saul is the opposite. Saul only wanted to preserve himself. Saul only wanted to make sure his kingdom lasted. Saul only gave the spoil that he felt was deserved to those he liked. Saul made it all about him, and David made it all about God. In there lies the life that you and I live. The older I get, the more that I realize that the things that I have of this world. They're temporary. They're all temporary. And like I like I don't say that lightly. Like everything that I have, every car that I've had eventually is broken down and needed replaced. Every house that I've lived in eventually breaks down, needs fixed, some get tore down. Like every every part of my life is is it it goes through this cycle, right? Solomon talked about, but we go through seasons. Every bad experience that I've had has always come to an end. I've had moments of high and I've had moments of low. I've walked through valleys for years. I've stood on mountaintops for years. But but life is on this repeated cycle that you and I can't escape. I was like, Aaron, where you go, says living the dream. I love because what does that mean? That means so many different things for different people. Because some of us are living the best life we have right now. It might never get better than this. Some of us are going through some of the worst things we've ever gone through. Ever. Some of us wake up every day and say, God, why? Some of us wake up every day and say, God, thank you. This is life. This is where we are. This is why when people talk about serving God, this is probably one of the more difficult parts of it because it's not always good. It's not supposed to be. If it was good all the time, we would become complacent. If everything worked out like it was supposed to, every single time we would get bored with it. I can prove this, by the way. I love my kids. They have a better life than I had growing up. That's the point, by the way. That's why we work so hard as parents. To make sure that they have a better life. They do not know, and Lord willing, they will never know the struggles that Danny and I had to get to where we are. But if I'm honest, sometimes their attitude makes me want to make them struggle a little bit. And I love my kids, but sometimes they they they can approach life and be a little about themselves. And I remember I was thinking about this the other day. How selfish are they? They're kids, right? They're not selfish. That's just what they know. But but I remember thinking that, and God said to me, Yeah, but thank God they don't have to go through what you did. Right? And and so life is good, life is bad. There's gonna be moments in my kids' life when things are not gonna work out like they wanted to. There are gonna come challenges for them, and I know this, and I'm telling you, my hope and my prayer is that when life becomes hard, they stop and they strengthen themselves in the Lord. Just like David did. Because this is a call to action. It's not just one man's life. Saul and David are contrasts. Saul is someone who seeks himself first, who has failed to seek God, and in the process, his life becomes ruined. He lives in paranoia. He tries to kill his own son. He tries to kill his own daughter. He becomes a deceiver, a liar. David is a man who's just trying to follow after God. And it's interesting because he's almost been killed multiple times. He's now with the Philistines, threatened being stoned. But his life and the way it works out is dramatically different than for Saul. Saul's kingdom comes to an end. He goes mad. David rises and becomes one of the greatest kings ever known. Doesn't mean he's perfect. But David earns the title a man after God's own heart, because when things got hard, David understood one thing. That as long as he had God, he would be okay. That's the life that you and I call to. When we cry out in moments of despair, when we say, Oh my soul. It's not that life is easy. It's not that we have to gloss over the tough parts, but when life gets hard, we should be able to stand and say, Oh my soul. God, give me rest. God, I trust you with my life. I trust you with the difficult times. I trust you with the blessing. I trust you that it's all gonna be okay. And it might not work out the way we think it is. David was in enemy territory. And God used him. So many times Saul tried to kill him. And as he ran, God protected him. You and I. You and I have hope. It can only be found in Jesus. That's it. We have a God who loves us, a God who cares about us, a God who wants to be part of our lives. And sometimes we try so hard to do it our way instead of giving it to Him and trusting Him with it. Our default oftentimes is to try to fix it ourselves when in honesty, all honesty, our default should be to go to God first always. It's His life, it's His plan. It's His purpose. He cares about us. He gave everything for us. He sacrificed His Son for us. He cares more about your life than you do sometimes. He wants what's best for us. It doesn't mean that we get to skip the bat. And I I wish. I struggle so much sometimes with churches who teach that if you just have faith, your life's always going to be good. I don't know where they get that from. Because I've read the scriptures and I'm telling you, some of these men, some of these women went through some incredibly difficult moments. A man who is after God's own heart is being chased by a maniac trying to spear him. That's life. That's the life that we experience. But in the most difficult of moments, you and I have hope. Hope that this is not the end. Hope that God's not done with us yet. Hope that God has a plan. Even if it doesn't make sense to us. God is the only steady, constant thing in my life. Throughout the scripture, we see how this repeats itself. God continually shows up again and again to protect the ones that follow him, to protect the ones that remain faithful to him, to protect the ones that he's created. And we see this ultimately at the end of Jesus' life. At just the right time when you and I were still very far away from God. Jesus died to save us. So if we are followers of His, if we are His children, we are His creation, we don't have to live in fear. We don't have to live in brokenness. We don't have to live a hopeless life. If anything, on the contrary, we're supposed to be different. The world is supposed to look at us and think there's something unique about them. And it doesn't mean we're perfect, it doesn't mean that we have all the answers, but it just means that when Goliath comes, we understand that God wins. When I lose my job, God is still sitting on the throne. When the collection calls keep coming again and again and again, God has still saved me. When we lose people we love, God's still God. He's still there, he's still with me. As the world closes around us, we understand, we should, anyways, that our hope comes from him. Because when this world comes to a close, when I breathe my last breath, my hope is in Jesus. That when I die, that there's something waiting for me on the other side of this. I've had this conversation a lot recently. I personally don't understand how people who don't know Jesus have hope. I don't. Because if all you do is you live this life and you amass a bunch of wealth and you die and all of your wealth gets distributed to who knows whoever. If you honestly believe at the end of your life that all the 80 years we had in this place was just to build our kingdom, what hope is that? My hope, our hope, is the fact that when I die, my life continues. That I get to spend eternity with God. I have no idea how long that's gonna be. Forever. I can't even wrap my mind around it. But I look forward to the day that I step into eternity. And I listen, I love this world for what it is. I love being here. I love my family, I love my wife, I love my kids. But when God calls me home, don't cry for me. Please don't cry for me. There's nothing to cry about. You might miss me. And I hate to say this. I'm not gonna be thinking about you. I'm gonna be on the other side of eternity, inheriting whatever God has waiting for me. I hope it's a really big house. Probably won't be. I'll be a shack. I don't care. But what I know is I'm gonna be in the presence of God because that's where my hope comes from. David understood that when times get hard, we have to seek God. That our hope comes from him, that his plans are always gonna work out. Uh, Paul teaches us in Romans 8.28 that for those who love him, God works out everything. And sometimes it's in his timing, sometimes it fits our timing. But but I love the fact that if you look at this story, if you look at 1 Samuel, it actually kind of bookends. It ends with a story of hope. David eventually becomes king, gets established. But I love it because the beginning of 1 Samuel starts as a book of hope. As Hannah, a barren woman, comes to God seeking his face. The Bible tells us that she was praying so earnestly and with such intensity that the priest thought she was drunk. But first, Samuel opens with a book of hope. It has a book of hope as Hannah prays a prayer, and she trusts that God will give her a son, and that son became Samuel, who would eventually anoint David as king. And Samuel became part of one of the greatest stories of Israel ever, simply because his mom went to God first. So as I close the day, I'm simply going to read her prayer, which I think is powerful. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord, and 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 bro the bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are hungry are hungry no more. She who has been barren has borne seven children, and she who has had many sons pines away. The Lord brings death and makes alive. He brings down the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth, he humbles and he exalts, he raises the poor from the dust, and he 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. God will always be God. And if we continue to put our trust in him, his victory becomes our victory. Whether in this life or the next, our hope is in the one who's eternal. Even if that's the only thing you have to hold on to, it's the best thing you have.