Luke 1:46-49 (NKJV) 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.
As we enter this New Year, I want to make one more observation from the experience of Mary the mother of Jesus. We have seen that in order to fulfill here purpose in God it was necessary that she be an ordinary human woman. Her obedience caused a release of the power of God that brought forth an extraordinary life within her. As we approach this year, I think it is important for us to realize that God wants to use ordinary people like you and me.
God needs people who live and work in the community. He needs those who have jobs and raise families even more than he needs leaders. He needs them because the message of the Gospel is not for the gifted and talented. The message of the Gospel is for all people, especially those we might think of as ordinary. Who touches them? Other “ordinary” people touch them.
Of course, we need to understand that none of us is really ordinary. Mary was not ordinary even though all she did was what most other women do. She carried and mothered a child. Her obedience released the extraordinary destiny of God into her life and she changed the world. All you and I need to do is the same thing. We must allow God to produce extraordinary things through us by our obedience.
In today’s scripture, we see Mary’s response to the angelic message. Mary was just a young girl. She was the right age to be married and have children in her society, but she was not married. It seemed that her pregnancy must have been the result of fornication. This was not something taken lightly in her day.
Her future husband did not believe that she could still be a virgin. Even today, most reject the idea of the virgin birth. People wink and say, “We understand why this myth was spread in the first century, but we all understand how girls get pregnant!”
We may accept her story as a matter of religious faith and doctrine, but how could she expect anyone in her day to believe it. Her betrothed husband had to be told by an angel in a dream that Mary was telling the truth. If you were in Mary’s place, how would you react?
I think most of us would react one of two ways. We might say, “It’s wonderful that you would think of me that way, but maybe you could find someone else. I don’t think my Mom and Dad will understand this, not to mention my fiancé!”
If we chose to obey God and accept the assignment we might well look forward to it with dread. “Ok Lord. I’ll do this because I love you and I know I have to obey God, but it’s going to be really hard! I guess I can just forget about having a good life.”
Mary did neither of those things. In verse 38 she says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” She expresses her willingness to obey God. She does not make any excuses or rationalizations. She does not try to negotiate or express how difficult it is going to be. She just says yes to the Lord.
Can I encourage you to “just say yes” to the Lord in 2015? You may not know what the Lord is asking of you just yet, but decide to make this year a year of willingness to be used by God. I believe that is the first step to releasing the extraordinary that God has deposited in your life. You do not have to know the details of the assignment to say yes. You only have to believe that God knows you and that he will not ask you to do something that will hurt you. Whatever it is, he will provide all you need both inwardly and outwardly.
In today’s verse, we see something else in Mary. This is the thought that God placed on my heart for 2015. Mary was not only willing but she was filled with expectation for the wonderful thing God was going to do in her life. When you think about what she was facing, the song she sang to Elizabeth was truly amazing. There are a number of elements we can look at in the first few verses.
First, she praised God for this wonderful opportunity. She did not complain. She did not focus on the danger or difficulty of it. She praised God for it! I believe something wonderful will happen if we begin to praise God for the wonderful opportunities that are before us in 2015. Some of them may be challenging but if we choose to praise God through the challenge, we will certainly see victory.
Second, she saw this opportunity as a blessing from God. She did not ask God, “Why did you choose me for this job. Why couldn’t you give me something easy?” Instead, she chose to thank God for his confidence in her and for the wonderful thing he would do in her life. I do not know what this year will bring for you. I do know that if you trust God and receive every assignment as a sign of his confidence in you, you will do great things this year. Not only will you do great things but also you will be a lot more pleasant to be around!
Finally, she chose to see the positive and not the negative. I am astounded by verse 48. She could have told Elizabeth how everyone was going to think that she was lying. She could have wondered how she would live down the stigma of having a child without being married. Instead, she tells Elizabeth, “All generations will call me blessed.” How could she know that? She chose to believe it. That is how she knew it to be true.
All of this speaks to me of one thing. Anticipation. I believe Mary tapped into a wonderful force that changed her whole perspective on life. She did not just accept the assignment God gave her. She accepted his will with anticipation.
We have just come through a season that is filled with anticipation especially for children. They can hardly wait until Christmas morning. They think about the wonderful presents they will receive. When my children were growing up, there were many times we had very little money. Although they did not always understand, they knew we did not have much. That did not limit their anticipation. They believed something good was coming.
One year we could only afford one present for each child. We made sure it was something they really wanted, but it was far less than we would like to have done. They knew it was going to be a small Christmas. They were still filled with anticipation. Because of their anticipation, their reaction on Christmas morning was no different from on any other Christmas. Anticipation is a powerful thing.
How are you viewing 2015? Are you looking forward to it with dread? Do you feel that nothing is going to change? Do you feel things may get worse? I want to suggest that you ask the Lord to help you choose an attitude of anticipation for this year. You might say, “What if I am disappointed?”
If we choose to anticipate that God is going to do something wonderful, we will not be disappointed. God may do something entirely different from what we expect. Undoubtedly, there will be some trials to overcome this year. If we choose to look forward with trepidation, every trial will be a defeat and even our victories will cause us to wonder when the other shoe will drop. If we look forward to them with the kind of anticipation Mary had, every trial will become a victory and every victory a testimony.
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