The Lyrics to Mary's Song (part 4)

Well here we are.  Less than one week away from Christmas and less than two weeks away from the new year.  To put things into perspective, does anyone remember Y2K?  That was almost 20 years ago!  Time seems to fly by. 

Mary concludes her song with the following statement: "He has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and His descendants forever."  After stating her allegiance to her Savior and stating how blessed she is and remembering how strong He is, she simply concludes with He has helped and will continue to help.

This is a perfect reminder for the transition of years.  God has helped and He will continue to help.  Think of all of the times this year that God has helped.  I know that for me personally, God has helped by finding us a buyer for our home and a new home for us.  God has preserved all of our health and apart from a few colds we are doing well.  God has provided for our financial needs through a sad process of losing money on a house.  God has provided numerous new friends and blessed us with faithful friends who continue to visit and be a blessing to us.  God has helped our children continue to grow into beautiful (and handsome) blessings to us and to many others.  God has held our cars together, allowed us to move all of our things without anything of significance being broken.  He provided numerous helpers for our moving process which involved moving into storage, out of storage and into a house.  He provided a friend to drive to Illinois to help us pick up a few odds and ends.  He provided a place where we could live while we transitioned even though our transition was extended! 

As I go on and on about the blessings of this year I am reminded of the many more blessings of the years before.  This is not to say that the year has not been without challenges, but what an encouragement that God is my helper, what can man do to me?  What a blessed reminder that He has helped and will continue to help as He deems best.  Will you trust Him in the days and weeks ahead to be the God that He says that He is? 

To God be the glory now and in 2017!

The Lyrics to Mary's Song - part 3

"The Mighty One has done great things for me; Holy is His name."

After getting the order straight and understanding (as I said last week) that we are bond-slaves of our God, Mary acknowledges the good God has done for her.   Note that the order IS important.  If we reverse it, we will wind up thinking that God has an obligation to us.  When we reverse it we tend to determine good for ourselves, but here Mary reminds herself that God has done great things for her. 

Note that these things are things that God "has done."  She is not primarily referring to what she is now experiencing, she instead looks back to the history of Israel and makes herself a part of all that God is doing.  She recognizes that she has a part in the much larger plan of God and as such, God has been faithful to all those before her and will continue to be faithful to her.  This is a great reminder especially when we are faced with difficult times. 

James 1 reminds us that we are to count it all joy when we face trials.  And, while I hope that no one is having trials at Christmastime, I know that many people are.  Reality is that people face difficulty every day.  And sometimes we need to say with Mary that God has done great things for me because we need to remind ourselves that God has our best interest in mind. 

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28, NASB)

We can only believe this when we believe that God has done great things for us in the past.  God has been faithful and will continue to be faithful because that is a part of the marvelous character of our God.  So, if you face difficulty, trust.  If you face hardship, hold on.  If you face pain, persevere.  God will see you through it because He has seen you through everything up to this point.  The Mighty One has done great things for me.  Holy is His name. 

The Lyrics to Mary's Song - part 2

As we continue to examine the song that Mary sang following her receipt of the announcement of the birth of Jesus, I want to focus in on verse 48 of Luke chapter 1.

"For He has regard for the humble state of His bondslave. . ."

This is another corrective in our day and culture.  In a culture that speaks of me first, during a time that everything cries out "Me first", Mary instead says, "I am a slave".  I recently received in the mail something that my kids absolutely loved - a toy catalogue.  They poured over each page thinking about what might be.  Then I received in the mail the CBD catalogue.  (For those not aware, this is Christian Book Distributors and it contains books and commentaries and everything that a nerdy pastor might want!)  I poured over it thinking about what might be.  We watch TV and both the toy and the car ads tell us that we need what they are selling and that if we want to be truly happy we will purchase from them.  We watch jewelry ads that tell us that if we love our wives and if we want them to love us we will buy them jewelry, and one stone is not enough, it has to now contain two diamonds - one for your wife and one for your best friend - one ring for the woman who is both. 

We tend to think of God sometimes like He is Santa.  He will bring us good things if we have been good and will bring us coal if we have been bad.  But, He is obligated to bring us something.  We give Him our lists categorized nicely into healings He can perform, blessings He can give to us, curses He can give to those we do not like (we may not verbalize these prayers but we all know they are there.)  And Mary sings the joys of servitude. 

No one thinks they want to be a slave.  But when we consider the Master, perhaps we should reconsider.  Mary rejoices that her Master has had regard for the humble state that the bondslave is in.  She will go on to recount how many blessings she receives from her Master and how He has fed her and exalted her even in her low position.  But perhaps most challenging is her earlier words in Luke 1:38:

"And Mary said, 'Behold, the bondslave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.'"

This is a true servant.  God use me in whatever way you deem best - I will simply allow you to do what you need to do.  This Christmas are you willing to let God use you in whatever way He deems best?  Are you willing to give sacrificially to those less fortunate?   Are you willing to share His gospel with the people you come in contact with?  Are you willing to love that one irritating family member in the name of Jesus?  Christmas truly is the season of giving, but not the giving of gifts to others.  It is season of giving yourself wholly to your Lord and Savior.  Will you bless God with a gift that cannot be wrapped?  Give Him your life.  You will never regret serving Him as your Master.