“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn[a] is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.”

The first memory that comes to my mind when reading this verse, is that of a child and two women in a park blowing a shofar. And, that child my friends, happens to be me.

I was fortunate enough to be raised by a godly family. My mom and her friends were rooted in scripture – so when they read of the shofars being blown around the City of Jericho that meant that we were going to blow on a shofar in the present day and praise the Lord for knocking the walls down in our lives. I thank God every day for this experience with them.

There is something about the horn in scripture that really brings chills to my body. It is often quoted as the ‘horn of praise.’ In Psalm it is used to make music and truly exalt the Lord. But, it is also referred to as the ‘horn of salvation.’ This phrase is cited with physical words such as rock, fortress, strong rock and shield.

And in Hannah’s prayer she lifts her horn up to the Lord which denotes the power of truth. I love that in ancient days the shofar was used for both battle and praise. To me, this points to the significance in praising our Lord and Savior. If an instrument for war was used to praise the Most High God, imagine the effect our praise out of our lips today.

Deliverance. That is the second part of this opening prayer of thanksgiving. She is delighting herself in the deliverance of the Lord. How often do we think of despair and ruin? Sadly, I know my thoughts run haywire when it comes to that subject.

I aspire to be like Hannah and truly delight myself in the precious deliverance God has purchased me with his blood. He died for our deliverance. So, this is something that we should praise him for each and every day.

Take time to delight yourself in his goodness, which means to allow our hearts to truly find peace and fulfillment in Him and Him alone. I pray today reading Hannah’s pray inspires you and makes you think of the power of praise and His deliverance.