God Sets Things Right by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

Do you have a song that you listen to when you need hope? Perhaps you have a playlist that encourages you.  Back in 1987 I was in seminary. I was feeling really insecure. I had really low self-esteem. I was trying to find my way in the world. A song came out by a band called Swing Out Sister; the song was called “Breakout.

When that song would come on my car radio I would crank up the volume and sing along at the top of my lungs. I would play the record, (yes we had records back then, vinyl for those born after 1990), I would play the record in my apartment and dance around. Because you see, I wanted to Breakout of my fear and my insecurity. These are some of the lyrics: 

When every answer's wrong
You're fighting with lost confidence
….

The time has come to make or break
Move on don't hesitate
Breakout

Don't stop to ask
Now you've found a break to make at last
You've got to find a way
Say what you want to say
Breakout

When situations never change
Tomorrow looks unsure
Don't leave your destiny to chance
What are you waiting for
The time has come to make your break
Breakout

This was my song of hope for a season of my life. The song that told me I did not have to remain stuck where I was. I had a bright future. I did not have to live in my fears and insecurities. I could live with confidence, as a child of God, beautiful, and beloved by God.

I bet you have a song that gives you hope, one that you sing at the top of your lungs, one that reminds you that you don’t have to be stuck, that you are worthy, you are good enough, you are a beloved child of God. 

Hannah, in the book of Samuel, had a poem, sort of like a song. You see Hannah represents the people of Israel long ago. They were people who lived on the margins of society. Israel was and is a tiny little country, oppressed by others who lived around them. Hannah’s people were poor and hungry. Hannah and her husband suffered in a particular way because she was barren. Being barren brought shame to her and to her family. Children were a means of survival in her time. You needed children to work your farm and to care for you in your old age. 

So Hannah prayed to God and said this:

Oh, God,
If you’ll take a good, hard look at my pain,
If you’ll quit neglecting me and go into action for me
By giving me a son,
I’ll give him completely, unreservedly to you.
I’ll set him apart for a life of holy discipline.

In time God answered her prayer and gave her a son, Samuel. And she presented Samuel to the priest Eli so that he could live his life for God.  She didn’t even keep her son she gave him away. 

That is where we pick up our scripture for today (I Samuel 2:1-10 for those of you following along on the internet). Hannah is so filled with joy. She offers this poem of praise. In it, Hannah reminds us, that God wants what is best for us.

She starts out like this:

Nothing and no one is holy like our God,
….For God knows what’s going on.
    God takes the measure of everything that happens.
The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces,
    while the weak are infused with fresh strength.

Hannah is telling her people that there are many gods to choose from but their God, Yahweh, is the one true God. Nothing and no one is holy like Yahweh. We choose other gods sometimes, don’t we? We choose the gods of money, and fame. We choose the gods of material things and of physical beauty. But the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God who created us is the one true God and no other god stands up to our one Creator God. 

Then Hannah says, “For God knows what’s going on.” God knows our hearts. That’s so reassuring to me.  God knows your heart and God knows mine. Whatever worries you have right now, God already knows them. God is holding our worries in God’s heart. I know you have worries. I have mine too. Our son is sick right now and we don’t really know what is wrong with him. I just have to trust Jamie to God and trust that God knows what’s going on. And God will see us through. Hannah put her trust in God and God gave her a son after she had been barren for many, many years. And so Hannah reminds the people of God’s mighty works in so many other ways. She says: “The weapons of the strong are smashed to pieces while the weak are infused with fresh strength,” Do you feel weak today? Do you need some of God’s strength? Hannah reminds us that God gives strength to the weak, not strength to the strong. They don’t need it. God gives strength to the weak. Amen to that. 

Then Hannah talks about how God brings justice. Oh my, we need some justice today. This is what Hannah says: 

The well-fed are out begging in the streets for crusts,
    while the hungry are getting second helpings.
The barren woman has a houseful of children,
    while the mother of many is bereft.

^6-10 God brings death and God brings life,
    brings down to the grave and raises up.
God brings poverty and God brings wealth;
    God lowers, and also lifts up.
God puts poor people on their feet again;
    God rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,
Restoring dignity and respect to their lives—
    a place in the sun!

This is the way of God, turning our worldly systems upside down and right-side up. Hannah says that the well-fed are going to be begging in the streets and the hungry are getting second helpings. And the barren woman has a houseful of children. God lowers and God lifts up. God puts poor people on their feet again. Oh we need to see some of that justice. Because we have some poor people here in this church. Some people who are struggling financially and some people who are poor and weary in spirit. O God we need some of that justice that Hannah tells us about in her poem.

Then Hannah says the line I love the most: “God rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope, restoring dignity and respect to their lives.” God give us some of that fresh hope, dignity and respect. We need us some of that! Don’t we? When we feel burned-out and lost and alone, we need Got to restore us. We need God to make us whole and to give us our dignity and respect as human beings.

Finally Hannah reminds us of the most important things:

For the very structures of earth are God’s;
    God has laid out God’s operations on a firm foundation.
God protectively cares for faithful friends, step by step,
    but leaves the wicked to stumble in the dark.
    No one makes it in this life by sheer muscle!
God will set things right all over the earth,
    give strength to the king,
    and set the anointed on top of the world!

The structures of the earth are God’s. This means that God made this earth and everything in and on it. We belong to God and God will care for us. God cares for God’s friends step by step. God will set things right. 

Friends these are the promises of God. Hannah reminds us of them with her poem. Her poem became a source of hope for her people. They read it to their children and to their grandchildren. Perhaps they even set it to music. It became their source of inspiration and hope like my song “Breakout” was a song of hope for me in my season, and your songs. You have songs too, that remind you that life is good and that you are loved. 

         That is the message of Hannah for us today. God sets things right. We may be walking through difficult days. We may be weary. But do not lose hope. God has not forgotten you. Since the beginning of the ages, since the formation of this earth, God has known you and God has loved you. Put your trust in God. God will set things right. Amen.