MARY's SONG OF PRAISE.

MARY's SONG OF PRAISE.

Luke 1:39-56.

Before Mary became the wife of Joseph, an intense longing possessed her for communion with Elizabeth. Both these holy women were subjects of peculiar grace; both subjects of a miracle.

Mary arose, and took her journey with haste to the city in the hill country of Judea, where Zacharias and Elizabeth sojourned; and no sooner did Elizabeth hear the salutation of Mary than she was filled with the Holy Ghost, and lifted up her voice with a loud cry, and said:

"Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

It was tender grace in our loving God to have given Mary this strong confirmation of the faith which He had imparted to her that she should be the mother of the Messiah. It was more to her, perhaps, than almost anything else that took place between the time of the angel's salutation and the birth of her Divine Son. God knows how to provide

SPECIAL ENCOURAGEMENT FOR SPECIAL TIMES OF TRIAL.

We need not plan and plot and arrange for ourselves. He never leads us through dark valleys or fiery furnaces, but He is with us; His presence, His rod, His staff, strengthen and comfort us.

The Holy Spirit made Elizabeth a prophetess, and with all the dignity of a God‐filled woman, she declared to Mary:

"Blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord."

This was a strength for the suffering which came upon her when Joseph misunderstood and distrusted her, and when, if her heart had not been filled with God, she would have been at the point of despair.

Mary was filled with the Spirit, even as Elizabeth was, for her impulse was to praise God. (Eph 5:18, 5:20.) She sang:

"My soul does magnify the Lord." 
No thought of self‐glorification took possession of her heart; no thought of self‐pity; no thought of self-defense; the Lord was so great in her eyes that herself was out of sight; and in lowliness of heart she said:

"My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour."

Her Son and yet her Saviour! Mary was conscious, indeed, that she needed One who should save her from her sins. Instead of taking pride in the unparalleled position to which God had called her as the mother of the Messiah, the very position which the Church of Rome gives her, Mary spoke of her low estate.

"He hath looked upon the low estate of His hand‐maiden."

A sinner only, a sinner who needed a Saviour: and thus taking root in grace, she ventures to lift her eyes to see the greatness of her position.

"Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." 
But again it is not in self‐glorification, but in the depth of consciousness how great His grace has been to her.

"He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and Holy is His Name."

And, as though she would guard herself against the thought that there was anything extraordinary in her to commend her, she says:

"His mercy is unto generations and generations on them that fear Him." (R. V.)

Another glance at her God, and she says:

"He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts."

How she has learned through the condescension of God, even to her, that the fond imagination of her nation that the Messiah should first come in earthly glory and deliver them from the Roman yoke, was an imagination which God should setter! God needed no earthly princes:

"He hath put down princes from their thrones, and hath exalted them of low degree."

In her own person and her own laid‐down life and reputation, Mary was a witness beforehand of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

She has found a fulness of satisfaction in her God, and thus she sings:

"The hungry He hath filled with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away."

And with the thought of Israel in her heart, sacrificed as she was for her people and all her fallen race, she says:

"He hath holpen Israel His servant, that He might remember mercy (as He spake unto our fathers) Toward Abraham and his seed forever."

Three months' stay with Elizabeth strengthened Mary's faith, and then she returned home to go through the furnace which awaited her.

There are many reasons why God's blessings don't always come to pass in a person's life, but the most frequent cause is simply unbelief on our part. There are no limitations on God's part. He is willing and able to do anything He has promised. The problem is with our believing.
The Lord has given every believer faith (Rom. 12:3).
 It was given to us at salvation through hearing the Word of God (Eph. 2:8; Rom. 10:17). It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). 
However, we must choose to exercise it.

Our faith is linked to our knowledge (2 Pet. 1:1-4). 
What we think is how we will be (Pro. 23:7). The problem is not that we don't have faith. The problem occurs when we don't allow our faith to work because we don't keep our minds stayed on God's Word. 
Then our faith is choked out by the cares of this life (Mk. 4:19).

Keeping our minds stayed on God's Word will release our faith and thereby release the power of God in our lives. Certainly, Mary must have been a person who put God's Word first in her life.
Mary saw a performance of what she believed. We receive what we believe, not what we desire or even need.

 Today believe the word that the Lord has spoken about you.

1. Mary's Song of Praise—Luke 1:39-56 by Mary Elizabeth Baxter