„Great salvation he brings…”
(2Samuel 22,51)
Hannah’s jubilant song of thanksgiving and David’s song of praise form a poetic frame for the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. A duo of earthlings, a mother and a king, whose entrance to the theatre of human events was just as incidental as yours and mine, now speak of the greatest experience we may have: they see the approaching great salvation of God. Hannah’s gratitude for Samuel and David’s reflection on personal and national victories are the starting points, but what they see on the horizon, God’s future mercies closing on them, the “great salvation he brings” is the main point of their testimony.
It is not easy to be thankful. A “Thank-you” forwarded to God in thought or song falls short of His purposes if it deals only with the past. Guidance given, problems solved, prayers answered are acts of a God, who is much bigger than what you and I have seen Him to be. He is even mightier than the sum total of our common experiences. That is why faith’s appreciation is really thankfulness projected into the future. These songs end on the note of gratitude of greater expectations. True thankfulness starts from the past, but takes us to the future.
How thankful are you? What is the tense dominating in your prayer of thanksgiving? The past tense does not do justice to a God waiting on us in the future.
Lord, help me to turn from my personal victories toward the approaching salvation, when the whole World will be filled with your glory! Amen.
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