Devotional 12-17-08

Magnify the Lord

Please read Luke 1:47-55

After Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and began to fully realize her role in God’s plan, she burst into the song recorded in this coming Sunday’s lectionary Gospel reading. This passage is known traditionally as “The Magnificat” because in the first line, Mary says “My soul magnifies the Lord...”

What does it mean to magnify the Lord?

I think first of a magnifying glass. My grandmother kept a magnifying glass near her bible on the table next to her chair. She used the magnifying glass to enlarge the print on a page or the eye of a needle. Mary acts as a magnifying glass to help people see God: “Look how big our God is! Look what God has done through a lowly girl like me!”

But to magnify also means to extol or to laud. The origin of the word comes from the Latin word that means to make something big or great, to make it magnificent. When Mary said that her soul magnifies God, she was emphasizing God’s greatness. She sang, in effect, about God’s magnificence—although she was the one who would give birth to the Savior of the World. I see it as a song of humility, emphasizing not what she has done, but what God has done through her.

Mary is not the first person to have such a response to God’s blessing in her life. Her song echoes that of Hannah, who upon learning that she was pregnant sang “My heart exults in the Lord! My strength is exalted in my God!” (See 1 Samuel 2:1). Consider also David’s song, recorded in this Sunday’s Psalm, “I will sing of your steadfast love, O LORD, forever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.” (Psalm 89:1-2). These are just a few of the many scriptural examples of the exuberant joyous songs of those who recognize God’s presence in their lives. What about you?

Do you recognize God’s blessing on your life? What is your response? Does your soul magnify the Lord?

Dear Magnificent God: Help us to resist the temptation to magnify ourselves and take credit for the good things in our life when we know that all we are and all we have is only by Your grace. Thank you, Magnificent God, for the abundant blessings you freely bestow. We magnify your name! Amen.

Jeff Taylor