Topic: Christmas devotional from Calvin Miller, “The Tune of the Unknown.”
Luke 1:51-53,
“He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
And sent away the rich empty-handed.”
Mighty deeds are often the work of ordinary people. None of those whom we consider great Bible heroes were heroes to themselves. They were just ordinary people who collided with God during their walk of faith. Only then did their lives acquire superhero status.
Run down the list. Elijah, we are reminded, “was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17). So it was with Moses, who begged God to be released from his “liberator status.” Jacob was so foolish as to wrestle with God. Job pleaded with God to kill him. Jonah ran from God, Peter denied Jesus. Thomas doubted Him. All in all, these men and women of scripture, at least in their own eyes, were not the super-saints that we have made them out to be.
The simple hill girl named Mary certainly did not see herself as an almighty saint but only as a person of lowly status. God was the great One. He was mighty, exalting those of low degree.
Most of the great heroes would have been surprised to look down from heaven and see how venerated they become. Perhaps no one would have been more surprised than Mary. How she must have trembled before the Almighty’s request of her. She was reluctant to agree to God’s plan. His will was not only hard to bear but impossible to explain to others. But the greatness of her life is that she did it. She didn’t wait until God’s plan was complete before she rejoiced. She sang her Magnificat from the very first moments she yielded her life to God.
You will find that you do not have to complete all that God has for you to do in order to find your own joy. From the moment you agree to yield your life, the glory will begin to flow. From that wonderful “yes” moment when you throw your reluctance overboard, you will begin to feel praise welling up in your life. You have only to praise Him to see the great possibilities of God, and they will be fully accomplished through you.
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem