A Heart Of Deep Praise (Luke 1:46-56)
After the rejoicing between Mary and Elizabeth, Mary was inspired and she raised a chant of praise to God who brought her to that point.
God did not look for the princesses of the world but picked someone who could be regarded as having humble beginning to fulfill His plan for the nation of Israel and by extension the whole world. Mary's praise to God is called canticles (a scriptural hymn text that is used in various Christian liturgies).
Mary started by giving praise to God for what the Lord has done for her, for the nation of Israel and by extension for the human race.
This praise is also known as The Magnificat.
Following the story from the beginning before this point, we see that an angel, angel Gabriel, met Mary, and she responded to the angel even though she was initially troubled. The angel calmed her fears. In this part of her rejoicing, she said "my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour".
In this act of Praise, we can see Mary's spiritual heritage - the line of David and the purity of her life. We also discovered that she was speaking as one who needs a savior. The coming of the savior is the greatest reason for us to rejoice.
Apart from rejoicing in her need of the Saviour, Mary also rejoiced in the personality of our Saviour. How did she do that? Mary praised him for his love (verse 48), she also praised him for his favour, and for the mighty things that he's doing or he is going to do.
In verse 52, she praised God for his grace.
We also discovered that one of the things that Mary did was to praise God for the promises, how he had helped the nation of Israel, his message to the nation of Israel and how God has fulfilled his promises to Abraham.
The birth of Christ was a fulfillment of one of those promises. How was this a fulfillment? The Saviour will be born of a virgin; the savior will be born in Bethlehem; the Saviour will die for sinners and he will rise again.
In the person of Mary, we can see one whose heart has deep praise for God, who played a part in the affairs of the coming of the Lord which pregnancy she was carrying.
She didn't take this for granted. She acknowledged the person of God from the depth of her heart and as she was helped by the Holy Spirit.
Talking about giving praise to God, how deep is your praise? To what extent do you actually praise God for the promises fulfilled? He has done so much by giving and fulfilling his promises to you over the years, God keeps his promises. However, we must daily acknowledge the Sovereignty of God by giving him praises from the depth of our hearts, just like Mary did. I pray that the Lord will help us to offer quality praise to God as we celebrate his coming to the world.