If ever there was a person who should have reacted to life’s circumstances with worry, uncertainty & discouragement, it was Mary.
A young girl, engaged to a good man, looking forward to a future similar to the other women in her family. A quiet life, married to a carpenter, raising his children.
But a visit from an angel turned everything upside down for Mary. Suddenly she was unmarried & expecting a child; the certainty of being cast off by her betrothed at the least, stoned for adultery at the most. Instead of a wedding celebration to plan, she would likely face judgement & shame from friends, family & community.
She was blessed to be trusted to carry God’s only Son.
She was burdened to be trusted to carry God’s only Son.
Isn’t that often the perplexity of life? To carry blessing & burden all at the same time?
The angel told Mary “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
I don’t think Mary felt the urge to rejoice yet.
What she felt was humility & distress; “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, & considered what manner of greeting this was.”
No joy so far – curiosity maybe, but not quite joy.
I discern awe in her words, “How can this be, since I do not yet know a man?” What he was suggesting made no sense to her human understanding.
And the angel said to her, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”
I get the impression of determined acceptance more than a feeling of joy at this point.
“Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’” She would walk in obedience to God; no matter what she was feeling at the time. She would allow faith, trust & obedience to reign in her life, not fear or uncertainty.
Mary would take the next step before her; that next step was one of faith, taking her to her cousin Elizabeth’s house. This is where she would find joy waiting.
At the sound of her voice, the babe in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy. The older woman told the scared young girl, “Blessed is she who believed.”
Mary burst into song. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”
This is where joy was found…In the Savior.
Like Mary, I’m sure we can all relate to news that has turned our lives upside down. Maybe it wasn’t from an angelic announcement; maybe it was news from a doctor, employer, family member or friend.
Suddenly plans & dreams are irrevocably changed. I’ve been there before; unmet expectations & events throwing me for a loop, changing the direction of a life so carefully mapped out & planned.
During times of disappointed dreams I’ve had two choices: Walk forward in faithful expectation & trust in God’s greater plan for my life, or allow disappointment to cripple me into ineffectiveness in the Kingdom of God.
I’ve made both choices.
The choice to allow disruption & disappointment to render me useless. Occasions where unmet expectations have kept me in bed with the blankets pulled over my head. I’ve wanted to give up & give in to discouragement. Times when I didn’t walk forward in faith.
Those were moments that joy was drained from my soul.
Yet there have also been times when I have made the choice to refuse fear & discouragement, & instead I faced disappointed plans & unmet expectations head on with courage & faith. Times when I didn’t feel the emotion of happiness, but made the intentional choice to step forward in obedience anyway.
Those were moments that joy filled my soul.
And days when I have felt the burden of circumstances weighing me down, almost crushing me, making me forget Who I belong to & Whose strength I walk in. Then a friend would come alongside & remind me of the joy & blessing to be found in those unexpected circumstances.
The perplexity of holding blessing & burden all at the same time. That’s often where joy is found.
Like Mary, I’ve found that joy breathes life into us in those moments when circumstances that should cause us to shrink back with anxiety & fear, instead cause us to boldly step forward in faith.
Because faith has shown us that with God nothing is impossible.
Because faith gives us the courage to say “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”
Because faith brings us to the Savior, & that’s where joy is found & like Mary, we can sing “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”
Such a good reminder of how “joy” is most often the result of our faith and obedience to God… something I know I needed reminded of!!