A Prayer of Thanksgiving - 1 Samuel 2:1-10

We’ve read the Westminster Shorter Catechism’s definition of prayer before in worship, but I think it’s worth reading again.

98. What is prayer?

“Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.”

It’s rather interesting because throughout the Westminster Standards that connection is regularly made - the connection between prayer and thanksgiving. Which is worth noting because it’s not the first thing that we think of when we pray is it?

When we pray it’s usually to complain or make requests, we rarely stop to express our thankfulness to God. When was the last time you prayed simply to thank God for his bountiful blessings?

And yet, that’s precisely what we have in this passage! Hannah simply prays to express her thankfulness to God. Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving is a poetic summary of chapter 1 and as she looks back on her life, she sees God’s goodness, faithfulness and blessings.

Her prayer of thankfulness breaks down into three parts: first, Hannah expresses praise to God simply for who He is (vv. 1-2), second, she thanks God for what he has done (vv. 3-8), and lastly, she looks forward with hopeful anticipation to what God will do (vv. 9-10).

But so much of Hannah’s prayer is in response to what she’s been through. Perhaps you remember the basic elements of chapter 1: she’s in a polygamist marriage, she’s barren, her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, would regularly mock Hannah’s barrenness.

Hannah’s existence was bleak and depressing, that is, until God answered her prayer and gave her a son!

Hannah’s praise for who God is (vv. 1-2)

But Hannah’s thankfulness isn’t simply a response to what God has done. It’s not like she withholds her thankfulness to God until he does something for her.

Which unfortunately, seems to be the only time many believers express gratitude to God. They only praise God when He gives them what they want. But if you never get what you want, then God is a source of perpetual disappointment. Or worse, you think he’s unfair or set against you. Which is emblematic of a prayer life that is only focused on yourself.

Because the truth is, God never promises to always give you and me exactly what we want. In fact, God doesn’t even promise a life of ease and comfort, and yet, that’s exactly what we all expect!

In fact, when life is going precisely as we’d like, we often forget about God altogether. Ease and comfort often distract us from remembering God.

But that’s not Hannah’s approach to God is it? Because in this passage she offers a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving after her life improved. She doesn’t forget about God. Because she remembered that God alone is the sovereign ruler of the universe and has the power to lift up the broken.

Which is why she begins her prayer with, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord.” She begins by simply rejoicing in the Lord. She simply rejoices or exults in who God is. She also says that, “[her] horn is exalted in the Lord.”

Pastor Richard Phillips notes that, [those living in the ancient] agricultural world knew that a beast holds its head and horns high as a symbol of victory and power.” It’s similar to us saying you hold your head up high. She has a sense of pride.

But of course, her pride is not in herself! She’s proud because of what God has done! He has lifted her up!

Isn’t this all God 101 stuff? He’s worthy of your praise simply for who he is, and when you look at your life, hopefully you come to realize that he’s taken care of you.

Hannah is thankful to God, which is remarkable when you consider her background. She was married to a polygamist, barren, mocked, and mistook for a drunk. Hannah has every opportunity to be bitter! She has every opportunity to be angry with God.

Even the fact that God gave her Samuel could have been a source of bitterness for her, because she became pregnant with him only after she vowed to dedicate him to the Lord!

You can almost hear how Samuel’s birth could be turned into a source of bitterness for her. Would any of us be surprised if Hannah was frustrated because God only gave her a son after she promised to drop him off at the tabernacle? Hannah went years without a child, and who knows how many prayers Hannah prayed!

But that’s not Hannah’s reaction at all! Her reaction to what God had done for her is to be appreciative, grateful and thankful. She doesn’t let any seeds of bitterness take root.

Because as she looks at her life, she sees God’s goodness, faithfulness, and blessing. She’s experienced God’s goodness in her own life, which is why she wants to defend God’s honor from those who belittle God.

She says, “My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.” The Hebrew is literally, “My mouth is opened wide,” much like a snake who is about to devour his prey. When you read that, you might think; is Hannah gloating? Is Hannah talking trash to her enemies?

The short answer is, yes. She is gloating, which isn’t very southern of her is it? She’s supposed to be a sweet, godly woman. After all, Hannah did have a clear enemy didn’t she? Peninnah. Her husband’s other wife who regularly mocked Hannah’s barrenness.

So at first you might read this and think, Hannah is taking time to taunt Peninnah! “Ha! God gave me a child, Peninnah! That’ll show you!”

However, nowhere in chapter 1 does Hannah ever appear vindictive towards Peninnah. The truth is Hannah is more genteel than that, but probably not as genteel as we would like.

Hannah isn’t talking trash to Peninnah as much as she’s talking trash to all the enemies of God.

Again, keep in mind the time that Hannah is living - there is no king in Israel. There is a leadership vacuum in Israel, and to make matters worse, their enemies were regularly trampling upon them.

So when Hannah says, “My mouth derides my enemies,” she was commenting upon the general state of affairs in Israel.

But she also understood something important: the people of God will ultimately triumph over those who hate and mock the living God. Just as Peninnah was likely silenced the day she found out Hannah was pregnant, those who mock God’s grace and salvation will one day be silenced as well.

Which explains why Hannah says, “I rejoice in your salvation.” She’s happy because she knows God will one day deliver his people! The Lord saves!

Hannah’s thankfulness has less to do with the gift of her son Samuel and more to do with the Giver!

Because salvation has been and will always be from the Lord. He delivered her. Her salvation wasn’t in Samuel, it came from the Lord.

Which is why you and I must go to the Lord for everything! We must take all of our pains, sorrows, struggles, and hurts to him, because he’s the only one who can do anything about it!

He’s not like the false gods of the nations. Like Hannah says in verse 2, he’s the only holy one, there is none besides the Lord. He’s our rock.”

Hannah praises God for what he’s done (vv. 3-8)

And his glory he will not give to another, which is why Hannah rebukes the mockers in verse 3.

In verse 3, Hannah continues to deride those who oppose God. Look at what she says there in verse 3: “Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

Arrogant, wicked men must remember that there are no things done in secret. God sees and knows all things and will hold everyone accountable.

We see this sort of thing all the time, don’t we? We saw the Lord Jesus mocked at the Olympics, but there are even a few different places in the Scriptures where the enemies of God mock Him.

Pharoah mocked God to Moses. The Philistines mocked God by putting the Ark of the Covenant in their false god’s temple. The Assryians mocked God in 2 Kings 18.

Hostility towards God isn’t anything particularly new. And for a period of time, it might even seem as if they’ve gotten away with it! This is the sort of thing that Hannah is addressing. Again, the people of Israel were leaderless, foreign nations had the upper hand on the people of Israel.

Which only emboldens the enemies of God. The parallels for today are striking aren’t they? God is mocked and too often it feels as if we are completely powerless to stop it.

But Hannah makes an incredibly important point in verses 4-8: the way things are right now are not indicative of the way things will always be.

Those who have power over the people of Israel, guess what? One day their weapons of war, their bows will be broken.

And those who are feeble, literally those who stumble, one day they will be strong. The ones who you trample upon will one day trample upon you.

It’s only by the sovereign hand of God that he raises up nations or brings them low. And of course the same is true for individuals.

“Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.”

In other words, those who held feasts will struggle to put food on the table, while those who struggled to put food on the table will cease to be hungry.

Hannah expands on her understanding of God’s sovereignty and describes how it extends to every avenue of life itself in verses 6-8.

“The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. 8 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”

The Lord kills and brings to life. He takes people to their grave and raises them up. He makes people poor or rich. He raises the needy and sits them at the table with princes.

Everything that we experience in life, including death itself, is in God’s control. It’s in his hands. But it’s really more than that, because Hannah reminds us here that only God can reverse one’s circumstances in life.

And she knows this to be true by firsthand experience. Did you catch the end of verse 5?

“The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.”

That sounds a lot like Hannah’s personal experience doesn’t it? She was barren and was around a woman who had many children. Now is Hannah saying that she had seven children, I don’t think so. Seven is the biblical number for completion. She’s saying that the barren woman will have a full or complete number of children. In other words, the barren woman will one day be made whole.

But what exactly does she mean by the woman with many children is forlorn?

It’s a way of saying that a woman with many children will one day become dissatisfied with them. What was once a great source of joy, will become a source of pain and disappointment.

I like the way John Woodhouse explains what this means. He says, “Just as Hannah’s misery at her barrenness was not unchangeable so [a mother’s] happiness at her many children [is] not secure.”

And you know, these are profound words of wisdom coming from a woman who desperately wanted a child. Then the Lord gave her a son, which was a source of great joy for her, but then she realized that he couldn’t be the ultimate source of her joy. And those who believe their children will bring them everlasting joy will be disappointed.

The answer is, we must not put our ultimate hope in the things of this world, rather, we must put our hope in the one who holds all things together. Or as Hannah puts it, “...the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world.”

He is the all powerful, sovereign, God of the universe.

The proud, arrogant, and insolent will one day but humbled, but the poor and meek will one day be exalted. Hannah is putting the nations on notice. Israel may be down, but God will one day lift them up.

And the same is true for you and me today. You may be down, but God can lift you up.

Jesus made the same point in beatitudes, “3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

I hope you see Hannah’s overall point in verses 3-8: God is so sovereign, so powerful, in such control, that he can reverse your fortunes in the blink of an eye. The thing that brings you great joy can one day humble you to the dust. And at the same time, the thing that is a great source of pain can become a source of great joy.

What Hannah is saying here is born out of her own personal experience. She was barren, but God gave her a son. She was down, but God lifted her up.

Hannah praises God for what He will do (vv. 9-10)

This is part and parcel for how God works isn’t it? He uses the weak to shame the proud. He humbles those who are exalted and lifts up the brokenhearted. That’s God’s modus operandi isn’t it? When things seem totally desperate, that’s when God intervenes.

Hannah’s confidence never was in herself, it was in the Lord. And Hannah knew that what she experienced on a personal level would also be true for the people of Israel on a national level.

Look at what she says in these last two verses:

“He [God] will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth…”

God will take care of and protect his people! The wicked will be cut off. But the ultimate essence of Hannah’s thankfulness is summarized at the end of verse 9: “...not by might shall a man prevail,” but by the Lord!

Hannah’s words remind me of Psalm 121: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth… The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.”

This is a tremendous reminder for all of us: In the same way Hannah was powerless over her barrenness, so are you and I powerless to save ourselves.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Hannah has learned this incredibly important lesson that you and I must learn and relearn over and over again. Apart from the Lord we are completely hopeless.

And so she longed for the day that the Lord would lift up his people, which is why she says at the end of verse 10, “he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

1 Samuel is all about Israel’s search for a king, and it culminates in the anointing of David as King over Israel. And he ruled imperfectly over the people of Israel in the strength of the Lord.

But we all know that the Bible doesn’t end with 1 and 2 Samuel. Hannah actually says that there is one beyond the king that will be his anointed or literally in the Hebrew his Messiah. The Hebrew word for Messiah, translated into the Greek is Christ.

David was the best king in Israel, but his whole reign demonstrated the need for a better, perfect King. In fact, Hannah’s prayer is the first Old Testament direct reference to the promised Messiah or Christ.

And of course, we understand her words here to be fulfilled by the true King, Jesus Christ.

As we reflect upon Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2: her thankfulness stems from God’s ability to reverse our circumstances.

Interestingly enough, there is a clear New Testament parallel to Hannah’s prayer, Mary’s magnificat in Luke 1. Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

55 as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Mary understood Jesus to be the fulfillment of Hannah’s prayer. Mary looked at Jesus; she saw the one who would reverse the curse of sin and death.

In many ways, this whole passage points to the gospel, because there is only one way to reverse your spiritual circumstances: by putting your faith in Christ.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Which is the ultimate reversal isn’t it? Your sins are forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And it’s for that reason our prayers should always overflow with thanksgiving to the Lord.

Let’s pray together.