Joshua 10-12 Luke 1:39-56

“You are blessed because you believed that what the Lord said to you would really happen.” (Luke 1:45 NCV)

Under normal circumstances, no one would have noticed this meeting between an older lady who was expecting a child, and this child who was expecting a baby. These weren’t normal circumstances, though. This was the mother of John, the forerunner to the Messiah, meeting Jesus, the Messiah, while both were in utero. John jumped in his mother’s womb when Mary greeted Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Elizabeth fully understood the importance of this meeting. Mary, having just been told about her baby, the future Messiah, rushed to see her cousin. Elizabeth recognized that Mary was the mother of the future Messiah. As she gushed about the joy she experienced because of the meeting, she told Mary that her blessings came because she believed what the Lord had said would really happen.

There are many today who claim to seek God’s blessing. Too often what we see when they talk about that is a story of how they told God what they wanted with the expectation that He would bend to their will and give them their desired object. Mary didn’t want a baby, at least not yet. Before the angel came, Mary had no idea of the blessing God had in store for her. Yet, when the angel came and spoke of this impossible blessing, she believed – after a little discussion, of course. I can guess with a fair degree of reliability that Mary wasn’t praying for a baby. I don’t even think she made any special prayers seeking God’s blessing. I believe that her life was lived in such a way that she was prepared for God to act. Too often we have desires and throw them in God’s face as a request that He bless us by fulfilling our desires rather than seeking God and the blessing of walking with Him. It seems that many of us desire the kind of god who gives us presents instead of His presence. Elizabeth understood the blessing of being in the presence of the Lord. May we be a prepared people who understand the blessing of His presence and share the joy of His love with others.

Lord, help me to know You, even as You know me. Let me experience the joy of the greatest blessing of all: Your presence.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.