Notes of address by R. K. Wilson at Glasgow, 3-1-1916.
Hannah raised a song in a dark day; even as Deborah did in hers of similar darkness (1 Samuel 2:1-10). It is remarkable that Hannah could raise such a beautiful psalm of triumph to God in the midst of abundant wickedness all around. That did not lessen her resolution to give up her son for the service of the house of God. She could leave safely to God the matter of dealing with her enemies, while the Lord's enemies would be broken to pieces in His own good time. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and up therefrom. He makes poor and rich. He brings low and lifts up. From the lowest to the highest all are in His hands. He exalts the beggar from the dunghill and sets him amongst princes even to inherit the throne of glory. With that knowledge none need seek favour of advancement at man's footstool. All is in the hands of a higher power! But the prophetic touch in the song of Hannah stretches forward to our day when the inheritance of the throne of glory set in heaven is shared by those of low degree. The way up is by going down! We get down at the Lord's feet, coming under his sway of grace; meanwhile "He will keep the feet of His saints" (1. Sam. 2:9). That is fulfilled now in the feet-washing of John 13. When the Lord came to earth, Anna, like her namesake of the earlier day, kept to God's place and His people in the temple, serving God with fastings and prayers night and day. She had good things for all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. It is worthy of note that she spake of Him. In Luke 21, we see the record of another of the daughters of faith who acted in direct opposition to all the grasping greed of the day in which she lived. The widow gave her all into God's treasury! However. much the religious leaders of that day might be misrepresenting God's character by their conduct, she was not hindered in acting in faith under the eye of God alone, from which she could not be hid. The rich people's giving was all surpassed in the Lord's unerring verdict by the two mites which formed all her possessions. She won undying fame; they, acting for the praise of men, have been forgotten.