1 Sam 2:1, Then Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Thy salvation. 
Last week we looked at this passage in the general overview of how it is so indicative of what the Lord is doing in the great and awesome work of His salvation plan. We recognized how it was at the beginning of a chapter in which the honor and the majesty and the holiness of God would be guarded against all those attempts of this age’s efforts to besmirch and discredit the manifest nature of God in all His Righteousness and Glory.
Today, we will consider this passage in another aspect, using many of the same scriptures that we read last week. This verse will take a few weeks of our consideration in several facets, as scripture always does when the Holy Spirit makes it alive to meet the every need of the readers of His Word. It is one of those scriptures which contain a plethora of joyous realities, many of which we dare not miss as we relish the great work of God in the course of the history of humanity as well as the history of each of our lives.
As we continue our look at this verse it is with a question that I will pose to each one of us. How fully do our hearts exult in the Lord? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary the word exult means to be extremely joyful; to REJOICE; to leap for joy. 
In this morning’s passage, we have this mother of Samuel declaring to the whole world, as it is recorded in the Word of God and passed down from that time forward that her heart exulted in the Lord! She had been barren, and the Lord had heard her weeping cries and had opened her womb and she bore a son. This boy was now weaned and she was presenting him to the Lord for the rest of his life. She would only see this child grow as she came to town but once a year to sacrifice to God. And yet, her heart was leaping for joy in the Lord.
We have the complete picture of one who was so grateful to Jehovah that she could see past her oh so limited time with the child during his years of growth and maturity. She was cognizant of the fact that he would be completely set upon the use of the Lord for whatever the course of his life. She willing offered her only son to the Lord for the sake of the glory of God in this soon to be prophet of the Most High. 
Accordingly, she set aside the every fiber of those maternal instincts to cling to this child, the experience of all the joys and the pains of watching him grow day by day, in order to honor the promise she made to Jehovah. She would rather fulfill her vow to the Lord for His Hand upon this boy, Samuel. Her choice was rather to know the full measure of the smile of God’s radiant face upon her obedience with the service that this son would provide within the framework of his spiritual training. 	
She had the eyes to see past the earthly present situation into what was of greater and most urgent need. She willingly presented to God that which God Alone was due. Because she exulted in the Lord, her heart was set on pleasing Him from Whom all blessings flow. She knew that the Lord God Almighty, Alone, needed to be the focus of her life and of the life of her son. She was setting aside earthly joys for the joy of the Lord in her life and as the covering for Samuel. 
His entire life would, because of her obedience unto God, become a shield and a bulwark in the service of Yahweh. What she was giving up was nothing in comparison to the relationship that her son, Samuel, would have with the Lord. For her, it was worth every lost earthly day as a mother. This was all for the sake of Samuel coming into the knowledge of Who God is and all that God has done, is doing, and will do within this, the work of His glorious hands. 
This heart after God is expressed by the Prophet Habakkuk in Hab 3:1-6. Please open to it so we can join in this expressed exultation in the handiwork of God upon the lives of His people. This is expressed through the manner in which God rules and overrules throughout all that He has created. 
Hab 3:1-6, A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. Lord, I have heard the report about Thee and I fear. O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise. His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power. Before Him goes pestilence, And plague comes after Him. He stood and surveyed the earth; He looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered, The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. 
What a power filled picture of the Hand of God in action as He causes all things to work in concert throughout His creation. There is nothing that is beyond the grasp of His Hand. At the same time, there is mercy in evidence. There is praise and radiance and power beyond description in the course of how He manifests His glory on the earth. His ways are everlasting and nothing is beyond the scope of how He can work. 
This is not just in nature, but in the hearts and minds of those men and women whom He has created for His purposes. God changes the people through the use of His awesome power to be conformed to His will and His testimony of holiness and righteousness. Nothing is outside the scope of utter obedience unto the Lord God Almighty! 
In that reality, our hearts can be joined together with Hannah in her exclamation that she exults in the Lord. We too can rejoice in the Sovereignty and the awesome power and provision of God. Our souls can leap for joy in the consideration of Who God is and all that He has done! That should bring forth utter exaltation unto the Lord with every fiber of our beings, as it did in Hannah’s heart. Accordingly, we can understand and we can find our rejoicing in all that is required of us, as did Hannah in her faithfully giving to the Lord her first-born son.
Another with whom this tremendous recognition of the majesty and the splendor and the awesomeness of God was at the forefront is Mary, the mother of Jesus. As we read last time, her heart was as well dedicated to the truth that Jehovah is worthy of every obedience and honor and praise of exaltation. Please open in your Bibles again to the first Chapter of Luke and we will rejoice, once more with this young woman in the reading of verses 46-55. As we have seen, there is the same heart of rejoicing in the Lord as was evident in Hannah’s declaration of exulting in Yahweh, the God of all creation. 
Luke 1:46-55, And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. "For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. "For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. "And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. "He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. "He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. "He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his offspring forever." 
There is a great similarity in the terms of what these two women faced. Each one willing gave their first born son to the purpose of the Lord, knowing that the Hand of God was upon their son. They were not willing to stand in the way of the Lord with respect to what it would cost them over the course of the lifetimes of their boys. Hannah was willing to forgo the times of the physical growing years of her first born in order that he would be the fulfillment of her promise of dedication unto God. 
Mary, knew that her son, Jesus, was destined to become the Savior of the nation. However, we are not sure if she understood what that would entail in terms of her own physical anguish and tears at the foot of the cross. She would watch the tormented gasps and the last breaths that would wrack His shattered body. This He would willingly bear, with His mother watching horror-stricken, in order to accomplish that necessary salvation of those He came to love into the very family of God. Mary witnessed the Hand of God strike this perfect and Holy child of hers, and His death undoubtedly was a death knell within her spirit. 
At the same time, days later, she would know the unfettered joy of His resurrection power in action. Her heart and being, as evidenced in her exaltation, was that the Lord would show His power and His might and His awesome work in and through this child that was to be born from her body.
A parallel glorying in the Lord was voiced by Zacharias as recorded later in this first Chapter of Luke, verses 67-79. When John the Baptist was born, his father, Zacharias also exulted in the Lord with all his heart. He could not but utter the praise and the blessing of the hope of all the people in the Lord God Almighty. Once more, as we read it again, it is with that newness of heart that joins in the exaltation of the work of God in the course of His so great gift of salvation.
Luke 1:67-79, And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant — As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old — Salvation from our enemies, And from the hand of all who hate us; To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace."
Zacharias was looking forward to the Salvation to come through the One whom John would announce. There was an anticipation of what God was going to do for those whom He had created. This looking ahead to the surety of what God was going to do welled up in his heart the desire to give Jehovah all praise and glory and rejoicing. Zacharias, as should we, was exulting in the promises of God to those whom He had chosen unto Himself.
The Apostle Paul is the next voice of rejoicing after the fact that salvation was established through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. He encourages his readers in the reality that what God did is so awesome and so worthy of complete exulting in the goodness and the grace and the mercy and the sovereignty of God over the whole of His creation. 
We are to be so thrilled with the work of God that our souls cannot but leap for joy in the awesome power of God displayed in the gift of His Only Begotten Son. We are to never tire of dwelling on and rejoicing in and pouring forth complete adoration unto the Lord for the magnificence of His so great and awesome gift of Love.
Please consider Rom 5:8-11. Rom 5:8-11, But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 
The Apostle continues this wondrous encouragement to rejoice in the Lord and to encourage each other to rejoice in the Lord as he continually did himself. We are to set our minds upon the worship of God with all our confident assurance set concretely into Jesus Christ. That is the safe-guarding of our hearts and minds by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we are so instructed in Phil 3:1-4.
Phil 3:1-4, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, 
And, as we read last week, in Phil 4:4-7, this encouragement to fully and completely and utterly and repeatedly rejoice in the Lord is stipulated for us. We are to count on God in every situation and circumstance and dilemma. We are to allow nothing to hinder our exulting in the Lord God Almighty, Who has worked so truly and perfectly to save us unto Himself!
Phil 4:4-7, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 
Even as we read these passages last week, they still hold anew the great work and splendor of God that should never be quenched in the manner of our exulting in Him. They are new every time that we read them and should cause us to proclaim that God Alone is worthy of all praise and adoration and honor and glory. 
This continues with the passage from the Apostle Peter as he also joined in the refrain that our hearts and minds are to exult in the work that God has done through the salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ. He as well brings forth the truth that we are not to be side tracked or hindered by those things which we may consider tests and trials and tribulations in this age. 
We are to recognize that our times of difficulty are set before us for a purpose, a glorious and awesome work to be accomplished in us. They are to build us up in our faith and utter and absolute reliance upon God! They are not to be considered as something that would cause us to falter or turn away from the One Who has so wondrously manifested His great love to us. 
Please open again to 1 Peter 1:6-12, and let us conclude this morning with this great and triumphant call to exult in the Lord God Our Savior. 1 Peter 1:6-12, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which angels long to look. So be it!
Then Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Thy salvation. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Rom 5:1. Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.