Magnify and Rejoice – Luke 1:46-47
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”
Consider: What does it mean to magnify something? How would you magnify a star that is large and far away differently than a very small, microscopic cell?
Learn:
1 Samuel 2:1-2 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. “There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you;there is no rock like our God.
Ps. 34:3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Ps. 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
As you compare the two verses in the Luke with the other verses that you read above you can see a definite connection between magnifying God because of what he has accomplished and joy in God. In particular God’s work of salvation seems to come up again and again. Joy is an inherent part of the equation.
Kent Hughes says it this way: “Of course, God cannot be made any bigger, but he can be enlarged in one’s life… We magnify or enlarge God when we take into our thinking some new aspect of his greatness… The fuller our knowledge of his greatness, the greater our ability to enlarge him.”
Mary obtained a fuller knowledge of his greatness firsthand through her intimate involvement in the birth of the Messiah. As she reflected on the upcoming event and the Scripture that she had learned in her short life, she was amazed beyond explanation. Like a dam that is about to burst, she could not contain her joy, it filled her so powerfully and completely. She sprang forth with praise upon praise, adoring the grand and wonderful God.
Apply: When was the last time that you cold not contain your joy over the greatness of God? What are you doing to prime the pump of joy with living water from God? Spend time mediating on one verse or one attribute of God to expand your view of the greatness of God.
I Commend Joy! 