1 Samuel 2:2

"There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God." 1 Samuel 2:2 .

How our theology is affected by our circumstances! It is needful to note this in the case of Hannah, lest we give her credit for too much religion. Her prayer had been answered, her heart was full of joy, her mouth was enlarged over her enemies, and she saw in her little child a whole posterity of noble men. Under such circumstances, she magnified the Lord, saying there was none so holy as he, and indeed there was none other beside him; and as for the rock of the enemy, it was not to be compared unto her God. Sometimes we are religious only because we are happy; sometimes we are pious only because we have received what we asked for. There is no particular gratitude or religion in recognising bounty which has been heaped upon us contrary to expectation. The great test of religion is to magnify God when he denies our prayers; when we ask for much and receive nothing, it is then hard to say (but in proportion to its hardness is its goodness) that there is none holy as the Lord, and none beside him in heaven or in earth. This need not check the natural and proper expression of thankfulness when great mercies have been received; that is always not only desirable, but just and reasonable; at the same time let it be firmly fixed in our minds as a lesson that ought to affect our whole thinking, that God is supremely good when he denies, that he is as much Father when He says No as when he says Yes. We must not mistake mere exultancy of animal spirits for religious enthusiasm. There is a great temptation to do this. But all such exultancy has a necessary reaction, and then, having mistaken the exultancy, we also mistake the depression, and think that God has forgotten to be gracious. He lives the true and noble life who casts himself lovingly into God's hands, and says, Whatever God does is right: be it day, or be it night; be it summer, or be it winter, when it is of his sending, it must be welcomed as his gift.