(Wednesday, 10-17-07) Prayer 13 - Hannah’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah had prayed for a son, and God blessed her with Samuel. His name basically means, ‘answered prayer,’ because she had asked him of the Lord.

When the child had been weaned (about 2 – 3 years of age), Hannah went again to Shiloh to worship with her family. There, a special sacrifice was made in thanksgiving to God, and Hannah fulfilled her vow to dedicate her son to serving God.

Then Hannah prayed again. This time, it does not appear that her prayer was one of silence and agony, rather it was open and filled with praise. Her prayer is still a worthy example of someone praising and thanking God.

What Can We Learn?
1. Unlike many of her day, Hannah acknowledged God, and her prayer demonstrates her faith.
2. Hannah recognized that it was God who had answered her prayer.
3. Hannah’s prayer is an excellent corrective to the idea that man can solve or provide answers to all his desires.
4. Matthew Henry points out that Hannah identifies four of God’s glorious attributes:
a) His unspotted purity
b) His almighty power
c) His unsearchable wisdom
d) His unerring justice
5. Hannah’s prayer seems to be a familiar source to Mary in her prayer known as the Magnificent (Lk 1:46). This is seen in themes such as:
a) Joy
b) Salvation
c) Uniqueness of God
d) Blessing to the poor/humble

Questions to Ponder
1. What is significant about the fact that Hannah praised God and not how beautiful/smart/talented, etc., her son was?
2. What do we learn by Hannah’s lack of focus on the specific answer to her prayer, and instead, her focus on the much larger subject of God himself.
3. What is Hannah’s connection to the feeble, the hungry, the barren, the poor, etc.?
4. Can you describe the picture that Hannah is trying to paint with her words?
5. Some suggest that Hannah’s prayer becomes prophetic at the end when she speaks of giving strength to his king and exalting his anointed. If so, how did God use this woman to proclaim his word?
6. Why is Hannah’s prayer recorded for us?
7. In what way can the truths about God in this prayer be recognized today?