_________

“The LORD visited Hannah”  1 Samuel 2:21

_________ – In Hebrew, two small letters are added to this verb.  These letters are missing in English.  But they are important.  Let’s see why.

Do you remember the great theme of Hannah’s prayer?  It’s God’s sovereignty.  Hannah knows that God is completely in charge of life, right down to the smallest detail.  God’s hand is seen in birth and death, poverty and riches, power and humility, victory and defeat.  Hannah places all her trust in God.  When she has no children, she does not rush to the fertility clinic, she does not complain to her husband, she does not seek out an adoption agency.  She brings her struggles to God.  She knows He has the answer.  But there is another element in Hannah’s prayer underlying her trust.  Hannah believes that God is benevolent.  Hannah would never bring her struggles to God if she believed that God was sovereign but uncaring.  Hannah would not plead her case if she thought the God’s plans were unalterable or that God was too busy for her.  Hannah believes two important things:  God is in charge and God cares.

In response to God’s favor, Hannah dedicates her first-born son to God.  God does not forget Hannah’s faithfulness.  And in this verse, we learn that God favors Hannah with more children.  The verb paqad describes attentive action and watching over with care.  But that’s not quite enough to capture what God does.  So, this tiny particle kiy is added to the verb.  It implies that God’s attention to Hannah is certain.  There is no doubt that God means to watch over her.  Kiy can have a temporal sense like “when” or a causal sense like “because”.  But the key behind kiy is this:  God’s favor on faithful Hannah is guaranteed.  It’s no accident that God attends to Hannah.  It didn’t occur because He happened to be wandering by.  God took deliberate steps to make sure that Hannah continued to receive His favor because Hannah was faithful and trusted Him.

Here is the kiy to living full lives.  God pays attention to our faithfulness and trust.  God deliberately visits us.  God hears our deepest pleas.  God loves to answer.  God added the kiy to this verb because He cares.

Sovereign grace.  The most powerful combination of words in the universe.  You can stake your life on it.