Willing and Rejoicing

Bible Reading: Luke 1

Focus verse:  "Mary responded,“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.    How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!  For he took notice of his lowly servant girl" Luke 1: 46-48a

Mary was betrothed to Joseph which means that there was a plan and a promise to be married.  I imagine that Mary had been planning of her wedding and the life that she would have as a wife of Joseph.  They had not yet married and she was a virgin, untouched by man, when Mary's life was interrupted.  It was not a small interruption but a major one.  Angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and that Mary would conceive and give birth to a son and name him Jesus.  He will be a holy Son and be called the Son of God.  

Mary could not understand how all this could happen, so the Angel explained that it would be through the power of the Most High.  He reminded Mary that even Elizabeth became pregnant in old age after she had been barren and that the word of God will never fail.  Mary responded with submission to the Lord as a servant and welcomed God's word into her life.  Then, after a visit with Elizabeth, she gave a great cry of praise to the Lord and rejoices in God her Savior.  She proclaimed God's holiness, mercy, might, provision and that He remembered Israel and His promise that Abraham and his children would be remembered with mercy.

When God brings a change in your life, you may be tempted to look at how your life was wrecked, your plans have changed, you have lost your dreams and your own path.  Or would we dare to submit to the Lord as Mary did, to recognize that we are a lowly servant and that God's change is a mercy and a blessing on us.  God isn't going to ask you to raise the Son of God, for that has already been done, but he may ask you to do something different than what you had planned.  It may not exalt you, but it may keep you humbled.  Mary didn't have it so good by earthly standards.  Mary got pregnant before marriage and it looked scandalous, she risked being stoned or divorce.  She gave birth in an animal shelter, she loved and raised Jesus and then watched him die the worst death a man could die, on the cross.  As a mother, she suffered, but as a servant, she was blessed.  She was willing and rejoicing in God.  Let us be humbly willing and rejoice in God as we accept the mercy and direction for our lives for His glory.

Page Johnson

Interlocking Ministries