Over thirty years of ministry, I’ve focused with intention on Mary’s early journey to the stable, this blessed Christmas season, I want to draw attention to a portion of scripture the often goes overlooked- Mary’s song, part 1:
Luke 1:46–50
“And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation.’”
— Luke 1:46–50
Mary sings before anything looks safe or finished. Joseph hasn’t married her and Nazareth hasn’t heard from an angel. There is no manger, no shepherds, no wise men- just a promise, a cousin who believes her, and a future that suddenly got very complicated. Yet her first words are, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She is still at the beginning of the story, but she talks as if because of God’s goodness, the end is already settled.
Mary does not pretend her life is easy. She calls herself lowly. The word carries the weight of humiliation, smallness, being looked down on. Young, poor, pregnant before the wedding, living under Rome- she is not exaggerating her pain. But right in that low place she says, “He has looked on the humble estate of his servant.” Knowing at the start does not mean denying the valley; it means daring to believe, “He sees me here.”
Then she says something outrageous for a girl in her situation: “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” Her neighbors will whisper other words, but she lets God’s future verdict speak over her present confusion. She looks at the tiny, hidden beginning inside her and calls it “great things” because the Mighty One is the One who started it. She does not know the details of the road ahead, but she knows enough about His character to sing at the beginning.
You may be at the start of something you do not understand, or even in the middle: a calling, a hardship, a change you did not choose. You don’t have a map, only a few uncertain steps. Mary reminds us that we don’t wait for everything to make sense before we worship. We let who God is interpret where we are. We trust that the mercy that has flowed “from generation to generation” has reached our address too!
Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, teach me to know You at the start or the middle, and everywhere in between. I want to trust Your gaze in my low place, to receive Your future word over my present life, and to call Your hidden work in me “great things,” even before I see the ending. In the season, I worship you, in Jesus’ name, amen!
