Sunday Devotional: Psalm 145 and Mary's Magnificat

Just eleven Psalms left. #140 thru #150 span two major themes, the first several being that of throwing ourselves in utter desperation on the Lord, the last Psalms of focused, joyous, almost ecstatic praise to His glory.

And since either, or both, can accurately reflect the Christmas season ...

I got to thinking about the original event. How a young, apparently unremarkable Jewish village girl was singled out by the awesome Lord of the universe and visited by one of His most noteworthy angels. She accepts the honor given her—and some of us might say, of course, except we have to remember Moses’ stubborn, stammering refusal at the burning bush. And you know she had to be terrified, since this doomed her to the stigma of unwed mother, immoral woman, and put the whole of her adult life and reputation in jeopardy ...

Whether before or after facing her family, we’re not told, but she runs off to her cousin Elizabeth, whose husband Zacharias had recently experienced a similar visitation. Elizabeth was hiding out at home, because she’d been informed they’d have a child in their old age, and could it really be true? What if she lost the baby and Zacharias was mistaken?

³⁹ Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

One of the most beautiful, majestic psalms ever, right there, from a village girl barely in her mid-teens, if that. So loved that it gets referred to as Mary’s Magnificat.

As I read this, I wonder, did the Holy Spirit draw these words as an echo to other, older ones that Mary surely heard many times over the course of her still-young life?

Christmas is a time of year everyone has fought over, it seems, from  the Catholic Church’s early attempts to unify people in one faith, to those who felt the same church perverted the simplicity of God’s word, to modern-day groups who, in their zeal for pure worship, claim celebrating it at all is pagan. The season certainly has become a conglomeration of commercialism, greed, sentimentality, and dare I add idolatry? The simple, core truth of God becoming Man is almost unrecognizable under the monstrous layers.

If there’s any beauty at all in the Christmas season, however, this psalm certainly proclaims it. Notice how it echoes—or maybe foreshadows—Mary’s.

Psalm 145 (NKJV) ~ A Praise of David

I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵ I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.
⁶ Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts,
And I will declare Your greatness.
⁷ They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness,
And shall sing of Your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.

¹⁰ All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
And Your saints shall bless You.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom,
And talk of Your power,
¹² To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts,
And the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall,
And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look expectantly to You,
And You give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
²⁰ The Lord preserves all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹ My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
And all flesh shall bless His holy name
Forever and ever.