A Mother's Song - God is Mighty for Us
Luke 1:50-53
A Mother’s Song: God is Mighty for Us
And Mary said…
“His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.”
One generation will commend Your works to another;
they will tell of Your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious splendour of Your majesty,
and I will meditate on Your wonderful works.
They will tell of the power of Your awesome works,
and I will proclaim Your great deeds.
[Psalm 145:4-6]
| T |
he Psalmist speaks of God’s might as something which every saint should know. How would this generation … this church … commend God’s works to another? What would we say? Would we relate the glorious stories from the historical accounts of the Word of God? Or would we tell what mighty deeds God has done for us in our day? What do we know of the glorious splendour of His majesty? Is His majesty a misty concept which we can describe with the help of an analytical concordance? Or do we know personally the glory of the presence of the Living God in our midst? What can we tell of His wonderful works? When did we last see the power of His awesome works? When did we last witness His great deeds? I rather suspect that this Psalm condemns us because we have not sought His presence and His might, for though we know of His mighty acts, they are a distant story and not a present experience.
Mary, however, spoke of great things done for her and before her by God. She spoke of mighty deeds performed with His arm and of how He had scattered the proud, brought down rulers and sent the rich away empty handed. Perhaps God does more in our presence than we realise. Perhaps God is more active than we sometimes perceive. I recommend that we would benefit from seeing the might of God through Mary’s eyes.
God’s Might is Extended to Those Who Fear Him — If I do not see the might of God revealed in my life it may well be because I do not fear Him. Mary speaks of God’s mercy being extended to those who fear Him. Segueing into consideration of His might appears quite natural, and Mary’s song would lead us to expect that divine mercy and the might of God are somehow interrelated. In some fashion God reveals His mercy to those who witness His might; and mercy is extended those who fear Him. Likewise, we would conclude that His might is revealed to those who fear Him.
In the dark description of fallen man which Paul provides in Romans 3:10-18 it is likely significant that he concludes with a quote from the 36th Psalm. The damning statement against wicked man is that there is no fear of God before their eyes [Romans 3:18]. In the eyes of man it is of no great consequence whether we hold God in awe or whether we fail to fear Him. Seldom have any of us had the experience of trembling before God. If the churches of this day are not much moved to hold God in awe, should we be surprised if the world about us is casual in its response to the Person of the Living God?
Perhaps one reason that we are not motivated by holy fear is that we are uncertain what is meant by fear. May I suggest that the word fear means essentially what it says. Indeed we should come boldly before the throne of grace and we should know that in Christ we are accepted as dearly loved children of God. There must always remain the lingering knowledge that we are dealing with a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise and ever-present. We can only describe Him as Other. He is not like us; rather His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are so far beyond our thoughts that we cannot compare ourselves to Him. Thus, we know that God is to be held in awe.
His grace is awesome. We cannot understand how holy God would delight to call sinful man to life in Himself. His love is awesome. We cannot understand how this God of love could concern Himself with our rebel race. His mercy is awesome. Who could conceive of forgiveness as we have received from God for such terrible transgressions? His might is awesome. He called all things into being and defeated sin and has made a way for us into the most holy place through the blood of His Son. Our God is awesome. The condemnation of the race is not that we fail to recognise that God is awesome, but that we fail to hold Him in awe.
Let me explain. Intellectually we know that God is mighty. With our mind we can rationalise that God must be awesome in might and power. We witness the might of a prairie storm, the power of a raging river, the strength of one of God’s powerful creatures such as a grizzly bear … all these are evidence of His might and power. In this park we can on any day see the majesty of the mountains and all the glories of high meadows and alpine lakes and we know that God must be a powerful Entity. If we pause to reflect on the connection between God’s creation and His might, we are convinced that God must be a God of might and power. Somehow the intellectual acceptance of His might fails to move us to holy fear. Our knowledge fails to induce us to hold God in fear … to experience the overwhelming sense of awe at the presence of such a God.
Consequently we are able to go to church, conduct the liturgy of the service without ever permitting ourselves to be moved by His presence. That this God has performed mighty acts is evident and we would each give assent to that fact. That this same God is ever present with us as we worship is also acknowledged, but we fail to make the transition from intellectual knowledge to the plane of the personal. Thus we fail to experience what it is to be lost in awe before Him. We are confident that we worship, but seldom are we able to say that we have ever been lost in wonder and admiration before Him. The concept of holding God in awe is foreign to our experience.
In the 33rd Psalm is a description of God’s might which encourages all peoples to revere Him as God.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
their starry host by the breath of His mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
He puts the deep into storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the people of the world revere Him.
For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stood firm.
[Psalm 33:6-9]
The Psalmist says the peoples of the earth are to fear the wonders of God [Psalm 65:8]. He says the flesh should tremble in fear of God and that one should stand in awe of His laws … in fact, the heart should tremble before God’s Word [Psalm 119:120, 161]. Because man does not now hold God in awe does not mean that this situation will persist, for the day is coming when the people of Israel will stand in awe of Him [Isaiah 29:23]. Jeremiah spoke of Jerusalem in awe of the good which God would do for the city [Jeremiah 33:9]. God condemns the priests in the days of Malachi because they failed to stand in awe of His Name as did Levi [Malachi 2:5]. Certainly I would take from these ancient words of instruction that to fail to revere the Lord, to fail to hold His Name in fear, to fail to be in awe before Him invites censure too dreadful to contemplate.
For the sake of our meditation during this hour, I suggest that we would do well to consider the fact that we know little experientially of God’s might because we do not fear Him. Perhaps the reason we do not fear Him is that we fail to invest time in His presence preparing for worship. Perhaps the reason we do not invest time in His presence in preparation for worship is that we are quite unwilling to surrender control of our own lives to Him. Perhaps the reason we are quite unwilling to surrender control of our own lives to Him is because we are endeavouring to have the best of both worlds. We think of His salvation as a cheap fire insurance policy and we can also hold onto the baubles of this world so that we need not suffer deprivation now or in the future.
If such a challenge is insulting to you, weigh the message. If you indeed hold God in awe you will not be insulted by a challenge to do the very thing you are now doing. If, on the other hand, you are guilty of playing church and pretending to worship, let the challenge move you to holy fear. Should you react with inner anger or a sense of rage it is mute evidence that you have yet to fear God. Consequently, such a reaction bears witness to the fact that you are ignorant of His might.
Again I raise the question, what would the might of God look like? What would you expect to witness were God to reveal His might before you? Should God manifest Himself in our midst, what would we see? The most of Christendom seems to seek that which is momentous and earth shattering. Contemporary Christians seek signs and wonders which dazzle the eyes and overwhelm the senses. Perhaps sight restored to the blind or hearing given to the deaf would prove God’s might. Resurrection of dead bodies would no doubt suffice to demonstrate His power. Feeding a crowd of hungry people would surely qualify to prove God’s might.
There is no question but that our God is well able to do all these things … and more besides. Should it not give us pause that these were the things which the world of two millennia past sought and rejected when they saw them, because the one performing these deeds did not submit to their political and religious views. Mary says that God’s might is seen in more subtle, yet more powerful, ways that through mere miracles.
God’s Might is Revealed in Defeating the Proud — Paul penned a rather extended passage in his First Corinthian Letter which is instructive for us at this point in the message. In that passage early in the letter he challenged the Corinthians to think Christianly. Reading again those ancient words I would also challenge us to think Christianly. Christianly is a strange word, but it simply means to think as Christ would think. The First Corinthians passage speaks of God’s wisdom and of God’s power especially as it is contrasted to the wisdom and power presented within and esteemed by the inhabitants of this dying world.
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord”
[1 Corinthians 1:18-31].
The wise, the scholars, the philosophers are all alike confounded by the wisdom of God. The reason they are disconcerted and dumfounded is that God does not esteem what they esteem. The learned of our world, and those who are thought to be powerful, esteem control over others and value strength. God is not at all impressed by man’s strength or by man’s values.
I rather suspect that when Mary uttered those words recorded in verses 51 and 52 she had in mind the choice which God had made for a virgin to bear His Son into the world. Listen again to those words which burst forth from her lips.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
Later, when Herod sought the child which was born and who was already known far afield as the King of the Jews, he registers astonishment that the child is not known in the courts of the palace. The nobility of Jerusalem knows nothing of this birth and the powerful of the realm have not attended his birth [cf. Matthew 2:1-12].
It is evident that the powerful of this day still do not get it. They still seem to think they can use religion … use God … to accomplish their own ends. The President of the United States seems to think that a few tears will fool God. A few words sobbed out about his heartfelt sorrow will suffice to get God on side. Religious leaders flock to his side and assure us that he feels truly sorry, though nothing is done to demonstrate repentance. The proud still think they can manipulate the Living God. It is just here that I tremble, for if Mary saw that God scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts and that He has brought down rulers from their thrones, then can America avoid divine humiliation? Do not let haughty Ottawa think that she can avoid what must surely come to proud Washington. God yet scatters the proud and humbles the powerful of this world.
Do you remember the account of God’s humbling of the great Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar? That powerful king boasted in his heart of all that he had accomplished. God warned him against his pride in a dream which Daniel interpreted. The prophet of God graciously added his own words of caution detailing how the king could avoid divine judgement. That mighty king chose to ignore the words offered freely and with evident compassion. His sanity was taken from him and his kingdom was removed from his control for a period of seven years. I want you to recall the conclusion of that story, written in Nebuchadnezzar’s own words. That conclusion is found in Daniel 4:34-37.
At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified Him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion;
His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the peoples of the earth
are regarded as nothing.
He does as He pleases
with the powers of heaven
and the peoples of the earth.
No one can hold back His hand
or say to Him: “What have You done?”
At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.
At the highest levels of government, men rule by God’s permission. Just so, at the humblest levels, we perform our tasks by God’s permission. Paul challenged the Corinthians to think when he wrote: “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not [1 Corinthians 4:6b, 7]? Your service before God is no more than that which is assigned and which He equips you to perform. Your service to the people of God is no more than is expected of those who have received grace from God. Your daily labours are a reflection of that which God has entrusted to you. Thus your service in the church, in the home and at the workplace is that which God permits you to accomplish. Nothing more.
How humbling the knowledge that at this Christmastide the proud are yet ignorant of the silent coming of the Son of God. Man bustles through the gaiety of the Season, focused on his own feelings and on the fulfilment of his own desires without once considering that the greatest revelation of God’s might was revealed almost two millennia past when a young peasant girl became pregnant without human intervention.
The Seed of the Woman which would crush the serpent’s head was given through that pious teenager. The Lamb of God which would take away the sin of the world was implanted within the womb of that child. David’s Branch, the Rose of Sharon was even then quietly growing in the womb of Mary. The Star coming out of Jacob, the Sceptre rising out of Israel which would crush the enemies of God had begun the incarnation. God revealed His might in a manner which no one could have foreseen. An embryo even at that moment Mary broke forth in song was growing toward birth, and when that child was born He would be the Son of God and the Son of Man, given to set His people free.
In the birth of Jesus, God revealed His might by setting in motion the events which would lead to the conquest of sin. In the birth of Jesus, the Great I Am set in motion the events which would lead to salvation for the lost, freedom for the captive, sight for the blind, and life for the dead. God would reveal not only His might through intervening in the physical realm, but through providing atonement for sinful man. The sin of the first Adam would be set aside in the death of the Second Adam. Before this theme would be fully played out, God would taste sin for every man and victory would be purchased at an infinite price.
To this day the proud think that victory over sin will be achieved through time. Evolution will lead us upward to ever-greater glories. I note, however, that the more we tamper with nature the more polluted nature becomes. Perhaps we will simply ignore sin and it will no longer be a factor in our lives. However we continue to die, demonstrating that we are contaminated with the germ of sin. We will defy God and embrace strange, new religions which are as ancient as sin itself. This will lead us into greater knowledge and finally to victory over death. The question remains, how can embracing that which arises from death give us victory over death? How can that which is born in darkness lead us into light? God has conquered the proud and to this day they are in disarray.
The powerful despise the true church because the confessing church reveals God’s power. The glories of man may sometimes be glimpsed in the trappings of rich religion, but the glories of God are seen in the fact that He works in humble men and women to the praise of His glory. Those words which Paul wrote and which I cited just moments before speak to this issue. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him [1 Corinthians 1:27-29].
Dear people, it is not an insult to you (but it is a statement of God’s glory) to acknowledge that we are composed of people whom this world counts as foolish … and we who are thought to be foolish shame the wise. The Church is weak in the estimate of this world, and yet our very existence as a people of God continues to shame the strong. As a people, we Christians are lowly and even despised, in the midst of a world which esteems the powerful and the mighty. Our very presence serves to nullify the things which exist, for people cannot explain us so long as we serve God and so long as we worship Christ the Lord.
God’s Might is Revealed in Caring for the Needy — What a statement Mary makes in that 53rd verse. The words are a natural corollary to what has preceded. The hungry are filled with good things while the rich have been sent away empty. In this God reveals His might. He is not influenced by that which influences this world. Instead, He honours those who seek Him. It is yet three decades future when this child whom Mary now carries will one day deliver a glorious message. Among the first words of that message are these:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you [Matthew 5:3-12].
In these words the world is turned upside down. The poor in spirit receive the kingdom of heaven. Those who mourn are comforted. The meek inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are filled. The merciful are shown mercy. The pure in heart see God. The peacemakers are called sons of God. Those persecuted because of righteousness receive the kingdom of heaven. This is not the way in which the world is run. Here the haughty are adulated and honoured. The conquerors are comforted. The assertive advance in every realm of the land. Those who hunger and thirst for power are rewarded. The aggressors are placated. The devious are honoured. Those who stand up for their rights are adored. It is in the fact that God fails to honour our system that His might is revealed.
I cannot help but note that the spiritually impoverished, those who mourn because of sin and long for righteousness, rejoice at the coming of the Son of God. Those words found in Romans 5:6-8 are yet glorious in the estimate of all believers. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It was for the ungodly that Christ died; it was for sinners that Christ died. When we were powerless, when we longed for relief, the Living God sent His Son into the world.
I would that we could begin to see as God sees. His might is still revealed among us. Whenever He humbles us, forcing us as individuals and as a congregation to rely on His grace, we see His might revealed among us. This church faces the prospect of calling a pastor. The task is daunting and perhaps it seems that the opposition is greater than you can bear. Is it possible that God is using this to remind you of His might? Is it possible that even among you is one whom God would raise up as a shepherd … one who would demonstrate the power of God in his weakness? Is it possible that God is calling this congregation to renewed reliance on Him and on His might to provide what is even now lacking? His might is yet to be seen among us in this day.
Whenever the Lord saves the lost we see His might and we remember that Christ was born to conquer sin and to shatter the power of the evil one. If we see but few saved is it because we are unconsciously looking for that which is not divine might? Perhaps we should give ourselves to prayer for the lost, to seeking the lost as Christ commanded, to calling those wandering in darkness to come into the light that they may see the glories of the Living God and of the Risen Son of God.
I cannot help but wonder if the greatest failing of our congregation is a failure to hold the Lord in awe. There is no magical formula to create awe of the Holy One. His presence will suffice to lead us to fear His Name. I would recommend that we seek His presence through praying that He would reveal Himself in our midst and that He would graciously make us sensitive to that glorious presence. I would recommend that we confess that we are proud and sufficient in ourselves and thus we have missed the glory of the coming of Christ into our midst. I urge us to seek Him in prayer, to pursue Him until He reveals Himself in glory in our midst. Amen.