Dear friends, today I need to ask for special prayer again.
This morning Edith and I will be driving back up to Roanoke Virginia to be
there for our little grandson Luke, and Kimberly and Chris. Luke is presently
back in PICU at RMH because another infection has developed. This morning at
7:30 he is scheduled to go back in for emergency surgery. The neurosurgeons will
be removing the shunts and all the tubing from the brain to the stomach that is
draining the excess fluid from around the brain. They will replace that with temporary
tubing that will continue to drain the fluid externally. He will be treated for
the infection and after a week or so they will repeat the surgery to replace
the shunts and all the tubing. We are so thankful for all your continued prayers
now and over these many months. They mean everything to us! We will keep you updated,
or you can click on the link at the bottom of this chat for more information
from Kimberly’s Facebook page.
For the past several days we have been talking about genuine
divine joy! A joy that you will never find in this world or in the things in
this world. This morning especially, I am so glad that I can still experience
joy despite the circumstances or situation we are presently experiencing. Mary
and Elizabeth lived in very dark days and would face tremendous challenges in
the lives of their special sons. Elizabeth’s son, John the Baptist would have his
life ended by being beheaded by King Herod. Mary would stand at the foot of an
old rugged cross and watch her son, Jesus, be crucified in the most cruel, inhumane,
sadistic, brutal way possible by the Roman soldiers. She would have to listen
to the mocking of priest and people around the cross.
Yet as we read and listen to Elizabeth’s and Mary’s rejoicing
in these verses, we find the source of real genuine joy! Life might seem very
unfair at times, and can be very hard and difficult, but by God’s grace through
His Son Jesus Christ we can still experience peace and joy if we only by faith believe!
For the next several days we will be looking at the specific
reasons that Mary was rejoicing with song in Luke 1:46-56. It is pleasant to
think of Mary as a singer. Did ever mortal voice sing a sweeter song than this?
Her joy was holy, deep, and divine!
Mary experienced spiritual joy. She sang, "My
spirit has rejoiced" (v. 47). The tidings of the grace of God, in
the gift of His Son, filled her soul with joy and made her spirit sing. The
Gospel of God, His Good News in Jesus Christ is intended to reach the very
spirit of man, to touch and revive the innermost spring of His being. My friend
the lip songs of the hypocrite and the sentimental songs of the world never
penetrate to the needy spirit in man.
Mary experienced joy in God. "My spirit hath rejoiced in
God" (v. 47). God revealed Himself, and He was known to Mary in the
gift of His Son, and so known and believed that her spirit rejoiced in God. It
cannot be said of us that we know God if in our spirits we do not rejoice in
Him. Paul put it this way in Romans 5:11, “And not only that, but we also
rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
the reconciliation.”
The joy that is in God is pure and blameless. It is divine
and eternal and never changes! I trust today that you will remember and meditate
on God’s love through Jesus Christ and experience a song of divine joy despite
your circumstances!
God bless!
