Thursday August 22
Mary’s Reasonable Joy
Luke 1:46-56
46 And Mary said: "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. 50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. 54 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, 55 As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever."
56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.
In Luke 1, we are looking at the divine joy that Mary experience when she believed the message that the angel Gabriel had delivered to her directly from God, that she would miraculously conceive in her womb a baby who would be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of the Highest, and she would call His name JESUS! (vv. 30-32). My friend, there is divine joy for anyone who will believe and recognize the presence of the LORD in their hearts and lives.
Today we are in a broken world that is full of misery! A world that is being overwhelmed with difficulties, discouragements, and problems that result in people everywhere experiencing dissatisfaction, disappointment, discouragement, and depression. But I’m convinced that you can still experience divine joy in your heart and soul despite your present overwhelming situation!
We have been discussing Mary’s divine joy and rejoicing that was spiritual as she experienced the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in her body and life. Her joy was in God (v. 47). She knew she had a Savior (v. 47), so she had salvation joy. She had praiseful joy and “magnified the Lord” (v. 46). She had grateful joy because she knew didn’t deserve or merit this honor (v. 48). And she had hopeful joy because she knew her experience with Jesus would bless generations to come (v. 48).
Today we are looking at Luke 1:49 and talking about Mary’s reasonable joy! For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. When we are so really conscious that the Lord hath done great things for us and in us, by the mighty operation of His Holy Spirit, the joy becomes, as it were, natural. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy and peace…” (Galatians 5:22). The psalmist proclaimed, “The Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad” (Psa. 126:3).
When Paul and Silas were in chains in a dirty Philippian jail with their backs bloodied from being beaten, they weren’t complaining. At midnight they were singing praises to the Lord for His presence (Acts 16:25). Later Paul would write to the church at Philippi from a prison in Rome and tell them in Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Read these verses carefully! When you recognize that “the Lord is at hand”, He is present, He is right there with you, your only reasonable response is to rejoice!
Paul wrote to the believers at Rome in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
When you realize that you have received God’s marvelous mercy of salvation through Jesus Christ which you did not deserve as a rebellious sinner, it is only reasonable that you respond with surrender to His plan and purpose for your life and do it with prayer and rejoicing! In verse 12, Paul goes on to say: “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer”!
After the people heard Ezra read the Word all day, Nehemiah told the people not to mourn but rejoice, because “the joy of the Lord was the source of their strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Yes, my friend, instead of mourning and moaning and complaining about all your problems, meditate on God’s mercy and grace that you have experienced through Christ Jesus, and you will experience reasonable joy and rejoicing!
“Meditate on these things…” (Philippians 4:8-9). And remember that He Who is mighty is still “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20).
God bless!
Amen!!!!!