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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His
servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One
has done great things for me—holy is His name.”
“His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and His descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors.”
Luke 1:46-55
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Mary just wasn’t any servant. She was a
servant of the Lord God Almighty.
She said so herself after hearing the
proposition from God brought to her by the angel Gabriel, her words
underscoring an amazing display of faith and trust in her Lord whose plan would
change her life and the lives of all mankind forever. Without reservation or
question, Mary accepted that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give
birth to a son named Jesus who would save the world from their sins. She did so
knowing that there would be social ramifications from the general public as
well as Joseph, the man she was engaged to be married, for she had no sexual
relations with him or any man for that matter but yet everyone would assume
that she had.
You would think all this would have left
Mary a nervous wreck as she pondered the days and months ahead but she showed
nothing but a calm, blessed assurance in the wake of learning her divine, holy
destiny.
As we see in today’s scripture passage,
Mary was full of nothing but praise toward the Lord for blessing her with the
honor to bear and give birth to His Son. Look again at her words here:
And Mary
said:
“My soul
glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been
mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will
call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is His
name.”
“His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and His descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors.” Luke 1:46-55
Note her praise was directed toward first
what God had done for her and then what He had done for others. Before she
discussed each, Mary opened a window into her heart and let us see her
emotional and spiritual state as she praised:
“My soul
glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
We would all be well suited to adopt this
as a daily life attitude and even lead off each daily prayer with Mary’s words.
For one of the greatest responsibilities any believer holds is to conscientiously
seek to bring honor and glory to the Lord in all we do. Each day is chocked
full of opportunities to do so and we should be laser-focused in our ambition
to let everyone see our spirits rejoicing in God, our Savior. After all, don’t
the scriptures command us to do this while approaching every day the Lord
grants:
“This is the
day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
Through her words, we know that Mary got
this principle and as we see, she put it into action as she then went onto to
detail why she was in a spirit of praise unto the Lord:
“For He has
been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations
will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is
His name.”
There were plenty of other Jewish virgins
who were of higher stature than Mary, a resident of the small town of Nazareth
which had such a negative reputation that a person would ask later in the
scriptures whether anything good could ever come out of it (John 1:46).
Well as we know, something very good did
come from there as Nazareth became Jesus’ hometown, all because God, the Mighty
One whose name is holy, chose a servant-centered virgin who lived in a humble
state to do a great thing and make the way for her to give birth to the Savior
of the world. Since then, indeed all generations have called her blessed and
admired her for the courageous loyalty, obedience, and resolve she displayed.
Yes, Mary had been blessed to where she
praised God for all He had done for her but she wasn’t finished because God was
good to far more than just her. Here’s how she praised Him for the way He
blessed others:
“His mercy
extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed
mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away
empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and His descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors.”
God’s blessings and His keeping of covenant
promises had not started with Mary. Not by a long shot. Rather, she was an
addition to a list of others who had accepted God’s propositions with faith,
particularly Abraham who Mary mentions. God’s favor on His people Israel began
in large part through His covenant agreements with Abraham who He made the
father of many nations. From that point on, God had helped His people over and
over again, delivering them in their times of need and disciplining them when
they needed it, all out of the deep love He had for them and His hatred for
sin.
It was a merciful God who ensured that the
people of Israel were His people and He their God, despite their history of
failing and falling. And the scriptures affirm that from generation to
generation, He extended His grace and forgiveness and performed mighty deeds
with His arm. He did it through the time of Mary and He has never stopped doing
it since.
Friends, God is good, not just some of the
time but all of the time, and He is worthy of all our praise. Like Mary, our
souls need to be glorifying Him and our spirits rejoicing in Him, not just occasionally
but always.
For we are just two days away from celebrating
the birth of a baby by a young virgin from humble origins, a baby who would be
named Jesus and would one day bring salvation to all who would place their
faith and trust in Him. Through this baby, hope was born and victory over sin
and death were to follow, paving the way for us to live eternally with God and
Jesus forever.
I pray you will you join me in praising God
for the gift of His Son today and every day He blesses us with through His deep
mercy, compassion, and love.
For this is the day the Lord has made and I
know I am going to rejoice and be glad in it.
Will you join me?
Amen.
Let us pray.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
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