Pray boldly, in confidence and thankfulness

We are humble before the Lord, but we should also look to the examples of our fathers and mothers in the bible to remember how strongly and boldly they prayed. In 1 Samuel 2, Hannah is praying in thanks to the LORD for the gift of her son, but the song is so much more than that. Did you know that this prophetic prayer is the first time we read of a someone uttering the "MESSIAH' or the "Anointed" in the bible? Here is the song, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, then some commentary about it, to encourage you

Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
“Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
“The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.
He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Beautiful! In the bible, 'horn' is the symbol of strength. Hannah is not magnifying herself when she says that her horn is lifted high. She is saying that in Him, she is strong.

Clarke says, "she describes the promised Savior of the world as a King, before there was any king in Israel; and she first applied to him the remarkable epithet Messiah in Hebrew, Christ in Greek, and Anointed in English, which was adopted by David, Nathan, Ethan, Isaiah, Daniel, and the succeeding prophets of the Old Testament; and by the apostles and inspired writers of the New."

As Barnes Notes describes, "The song of Hannah is a prophetic Psalm. It is poetry. And it is prophecy. It takes its place by the side of the songs of Miriam, Deborah, and the Virgin Mary, as well as those of Moses, David, Hezekiah, and other Psalmists and prophets whose inspired odes have been preserved in the Bible. The special feature which these songs have in common is, that springing from, and in their first conception relating to, incidents in the lives of the individuals who composed them, they branch out into magnificent descriptions of the Kingdom and glory of Christ, and the triumphs of the Church,"

Matthew Henry says, "Hannah's heart rejoiced, not in Samuel, but in the Lord. She looks beyond the gift, and praises the Giver. She rejoiced in the salvation of the Lord, and in expectation of His coming, who is the whole salvation of his people....And here is the first time that we meet with the name MESSIAH, or his Anointed."

Pray boldly, pray confidently. Know that your Savior, long prophesied from the time of Hannah, has come. The Kingdom she has alluded to, is soon to come. Picture the words from her mouth as musical notes wafting through time, woven throughout the pages of the epochs of the bible, to land in your heart, today. Love the Lord in all praise and confidence.

A biblical study on Hannah, here.

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