Mary shared her heart with Elizabeth: “Everything inside me feels like singing because I am in awe of God. From highest heaven He looks down and sees me. What will future generations think? God brought me—an ordinary woman—under His wings and cared for me. But this is who He is—gathering into His care those who tremble before Him, and tossing the arrogant into history’s ash can. Seeing the hungry, He prepares a banquet, but He slams the door on the indifferent and unmerciful. Everything we hoped for and more—everything He promised in the past—all of this, He will perform, giving all of us reason for song.” Luke 1:46-55 DCP
Some might scoff at Mary’s song. The boot of the Roman empire was on the neck of the Jewish nation. Mighty deeds were measured in columns of marching Roman soldiers. The great miracles of deliverance for Israel were history—ancient history it seemed. The people of Israel lived and died under the watchful eye of the Roman state.
But God gives a great gift to His children. God enables us to see what others cannot see. The unbeliever may look at our lives and see financial calamity, terminal illness, pain of every kind, addiction, hypocrisy and failure. But we look up and see the Shepherd bringing us to quiet waters. We see the Father opening His arms to us. We see our Defender demolishing the schemes of the enemy. We see our Savior holding our hands in His own, looking us in the eye and telling us that we belong to Him.
We look up and see the truth.
This is an excerpt from my latest book, A Beautiful Christmas. There’s a video that goes with the book that I think you’ll love. (Scroll down when you get to the page.)
