49 For He who is
mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
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!
