Humility

My soul lifts up the Lord!

My spirit celebrates God, my Liberator!

For though I’m God’s humble servant,      God has noticed me. Now and forever,      I will be considered blessed by all generations.

For the Mighty One has done great things for me;      holy is God’s name!

From generation to generation      God’s loving-kindness endures      for those who revere Him.

God’s arm has accomplished mighty deeds. The proud in mind and heart,      God has sent away in disarray.

The rulers from their high positions of power,      God has brought down low; And those who were humble and lowly,      God has elevated with dignity.

The hungry – God has filled with fine food. The rich – God has dismissed with nothing in           their hands.

To Israel, God’s servant      God has given help,

As He promised to our ancestors,     remembering Abraham and his descendants           in mercy forever. (Luke 1:46-55 The Voice)

Mary's song of praise in these verses has always been a passage I loved in the accounts of the Christmas story. She had accepted a message and a task from God that would have been hard to take on in the culture in which she lived. And then she praised God because of Him fulfilling His promise.

She declared Who God is and what He had done. How He had kept His promises. How He had cared for His people. How great and mighty God is.

Over and over in her song, Mary talks about how God lifts up the humble and brings down the proud. This is something that plays over and over elsewhere in Scripture as well. Jesus modelled this time after time in His ministry.

Even Jesus' birth in humble circumstances speaks to how God raises the humble and brings down the proud. Instead of being born in a nice place withe the appropriate welcome for a King, Jesus was born in a stable.

Jesus' welcome in that stable was by animals and shepherds. Hardly the people you would think would welcome a King. But the humble shepherds heard the message from the angels and went to welcome the King. Then they spread a message of the birth of the King as they went.

The humble person is the one who can be used by God. The humble person is the one follows God's plan not their own.

I don't always do it well, but I pray that I learn to walk humbly before God better every day.

What about you?