Mary responded,
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.” (Luke 1:46-50, NLT)
The first element of Mary’s love song is the abundant joy she feels in her heart. This fourteen year old virgin was certainly overwhelmed with the news of her pregnancy, but even more by the idea that God had chose her to be theotokos, “the God-bearer.” Every joy that is shared is a joy that is doubled in intensity, so the joy she felt because of her pregnancy was multiplied as she shared it with Elizabeth.
One can’t help but notice that her joy was focused on the character of God. In the above text she is overcome by God’s salvation, holiness, power and mercy. God’s character is the foundation for all of his thoughts and actions. Mary recognized that all that God was doing was based on who He was, just as all of God’s activity today is based on who He is.
We all have our moments of fear and doubt when we wonder if God is going to act or how He will act should he choose to do so. We cannot perfectly anticipate what God will do in any given situation, but one thing we do know: He will always act according to his character. Mary may not have had anyway of anticipating that salvation and mercy would come through God incarnate as an infant. But she could count on the fact that God would do something because that’s who He is. The more we learn of the character and nature of God, the more we will be comforted when fears rise and doubts swell.
