Mary, What Did You Know?

http://youtu.be/XiaZYZor6vI

"Mary Did You Know" by Mark Lowry is my favorite Christmas song.  I love the word picture drawn by the words of this moving song.

However, someone once told me that good songs or hymns don't necessarily make for good theology.  Just look at "We Three Kings."  Just because there are only three named in Scripture does not mean there were ONLY three.  So I decided to look into just what Mary was told and what she did know.

In Mt. 1:18 she is told by Gabriel that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  This is also repeated in Luke 1:26.  Luke, however, goes into more detail about this conversation.  He tells Mary that He will be called the Son of the Most High.  In verse 35 she is told that the Holy Spirit will come upon here and the power of the Most High will overshadow her and He is to be called the Son of God. 

So it is reasonable to assume that she knew that when she kissed her little baby, she kissed the face of God.  It is also safe to assume from her conversations with Gabriel that she knew that her baby boy was Lord of all creation and that he would one day rule the nations because Joseph was of the house of David.  Even further, in Luke 1:43 Elizabeth (Mary's cousin) asks, "'Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?'"

She also knew that he was capable of the miraculous.  Remember the wedding at Cana?  Mary did not hesitate to ask Jesus to make more wine for the wedding.  Even though Jesus objected, she informed the servants to do whatever He asked of them.

She may not have known what specific miracles He would perform, but she was aware of His ability to do them.  So, yes, in a sense she "knew" about all the miracles mentioned in the song.

Did she know that her baby boy would save our sons and daughter, make her new and deliver her?  Yes, again, she knew.  In Matthew 1:20-23 the angel of the Lord (predominately believed to be the preincarnate Christ) tells Joseph that His name is to be Jesus for He will save his people from their sins.  I am sure Joseph shared this piece of information with Mary even though the Bible is silent on that matter.

Even though we are told by Scripture that "Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often" (Luke 2:19) Mary was not the only one who knew these things.  Zechariah knew.  He knew that his son was going to be the forerunner of the Son of God.  Zechariah also knew that Jesus was to be the fulfillment of God's covenant with Israel.  As I have already mentioned, Elizabeth knew. The shepherds knew as well as the wise men.

So Mary did know that when she held her sleeping baby he was the great I AM.  Does that ruin the song for me.  No, no, a thousand times "No".  "Why?" you may ask.  Because I know that there was much that Mary did not know and I am sure she wondered about.  Even though it is fairly certain that Mary knew some of the things in the song and in the rest of her life, she did not know the specifics and I feel certain that she did not know that her son was "heaven's perfect Lamb."  For if she had, like any other mother, she would have tried to interfere with the completion of God's plan.  What mother wants to know that her baby was born to die on a cross to save the world?  So the song is still in that sense, a great song. 

Here I Am

"Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'" (Gen. 22:1)  "When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am." (Ex. 3:4 New American Standard Version)

"Here I am."  Those words began to haunt me as I studied my Sunday school lesson this week.  God has been reminding me in soooooo many different ways that by ignoring this blog, I am being disobedient to Him.  There have been pastor's sermons, songs, Sunday school lessons, even an impulsive comment from a friend.  He even "poked" me through the devotional posts by a friend on Facebook. 

Oh, I had all kind of excuses.  "I don't have time. You know, God, it takes one hour to do a post properly and I have a house to clean, dogs to take care of, a half hour of exercise to do every day.  Not to mention laundry, dusting, vacuuming, cooking.....  And now with Christmas coming, there are parties, ceremonies, performances, basketball games, gifts to buy and wrap, and more cooking...."

The more I tried to get out of doing what God wanted, the lamer the excuses became.  Then came the lesson I had to teach yesterday because our regular Sunday school teacher had had cataract surgery and I am the class substitute teacher.  The passage?  Genesis 22: 1-13. 

In just 13 verses, Abraham says TWICE, "Here I am." So today I searched the phrase "here I am" through the whole Bible and I was surprised at what I found.  In Genesis 31:11 and 46:2, Jacob tells the LORD, "Here I am."  In Exodus 3:4, Moses tells the LORD, "Here I am."  In I Samuel 3:16 and 12:3, Samuel responds to God, "Here I am."  Isaiah has the same response in Isaiah 6:8.  God responds to Israel, "Here I am." in Isaiah 52:6 and 65:1.  Even Ananias, when called by God to go and lay hands on that murderer Paul, responded to God's call in Acts 9:10, "Here I am."

So that begs the question, "Where am I?"  All the reasons (excuses) in the world do not wipe away my disobedience to God's call. 

God wants my total obedience, body, soul, mind and spirit.  A pastor once taught me that obedience is doing the right thing with the right attitude at the right time. 

This is my time to be obedient.  Okay, Lord, I think I have it this time.  Here I am.

What Do We Stand For?

"I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one." Ezekiel 22:30 NASV.

My dad used to always tell the five of us, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." I have learned since my dad died in 1992 that he was a very wise man. Like any other teenager/young adult I found my dad's euphemisms annoying at best. But as I have, as my eye doctor enjoys saying, "grown older and wiser" I have learned he knew more than I thought he did.

So what do I stand for? First I stand for God and His Word. I would like to think that I do a good job at this but in reality, I'm not very good at it. Oh I teach Bible Studies and Sunday School Classes and have had a few VERY interesting conversations with evolutionists and atheists on Facebook, but all these have been on MY terms and in MY time. I often wonder how often I really stand up in GOD'S time and on GOD'S terms.

The second thing I stand for is Christianity. Please notice here that I did not give a specific denomination. In my life's journey, I have found Christians in almost every denomination, Protestant and Catholic. In fact on of the dearest Christians I have every known was a Catholic priest named Father Miller who served at Fort Knox while we were stationed there. We were newlyweds and he took us under his wing and helped us in our spiritual walk.

But do I go about and spread the Gospel? Well, yes and no. I don't give my testimony as often as I probably should, but then I find myself being a testimony when I am not aware of it. Case in point a Jehovah's Witness came to my door last month (he must have been a real go- getter because it is a half mile between houses out here!). Anyway, he came to my door and I answered it. He asked me to take his literature and I politely informed him that I was of another belief. Then we had a pleasant discussion about who the 144,000 in Revelation were. As he was leaving he thanked me for not "Sicing" my dogs on him (?????). I was extremely puzzled by that but I just let it pass. He offered me a piece of literature and I graciously took it. As we said good-bye he told me that he could see that I was "a nice, Christian lady" and once again thanked me for not "sicing" my dogs on him. ?????? Apparently there were Christians out there who don't answer their door, treat him rudely, slam the door in his face and send their dogs out to chase him off. I may not be the greatest witness for Christ but I would like to think I am better than that!

Then comes family and country. I am like a momma bear with one cub when someone attacks my family. I would not cover up wrong doing. I don't even do that for myself. If your wrong, your wrong. May as well stand up and say it. I feel the same way about my country. America is not always right but it provides me the privilege to have that discussion with the Jehovah's Witness without fear of retribution or death. We could agree to disagree and go on celebrating the freedom that some of the best and brightest of our young and old have fought and died for. I honor their memory by honoring our country and its flag.

I would imagine not many of you are old enough to remember Ray Stevens. He was mostly a comedic singer but sometimes he got serious about what he was singing. That was the type of song that has been running around in my head for weeks causing me to reflect on what I stand for. The name of the song is "Stand Up" and this is the chorus:

What'll make you stand up?
What'll make you rise
With a cheer on your lips
And a tear in your eyes?
What forges your Will
Not to budge one inch more?
What'll make you stand up? (Stand up)
It's time to stand up. (Stand up)
We've all got to stand up. (Stand up)
Stand up for what we stand for. (Stand up)
For what we stand for. (Stand up)

We've got to stand up. (emphasis mine)


In today's world where everyone is so worried about 'offending" someone I know I am not as prone to stand up, either for Christ or country. I believe there is disaster ahead for all of us if we
don't begin to stand up for what matters to us. Especially if we as Christians do not stand up for Christ. If we will not stand for Christ, do we really deserve the privilege of asking for His Blessings?

What Is A Blog??

That is the question that I have been trying to answer these past six months. Exactly what is a blog??

I have heard a blog defined as the realm where little people try to feel important by writing down their thoughts for the world to see. As I searched my heart, I realized that I am a "small" person standing only 5' tall, I do not write this blog to try to feel important. Truth is that I have never felt overly important. In fact, in God's view of creation, I am totally expendable. The Bible says that He could use rocks to glorify His name. Have you seen how many rocks are around?? Anyway, who wants to be shown up by a rock?

I have also seen, as I cruised around the blogosphere, that a great many people use their blogs to espouse their political beliefs and comment on the days events. Democrats and republicans of all ages use their blogs to try to sway people to their way of thinking about issues and candidates. Personally, I am a political independent with no urge to tell anyone how to vote...particularly myself. I always thought democracy was about voting for people not parties and that men and women have fought for the right for my vote to be a secret. Yet I receive every campaign season wanting to know how I voted and how I good a job I think the President is doing. I find that strange since it really doesn't matter how I think about the job he is doing. After all, he is going to be President until the next election, isn't he?

Another type of blog I have seen is used to keep people updated on people they have asked prayer for. I like those kind of blogs. On Facebook friends will ask you to pray but never update the status to tell you how it all turned out. I have been tracking a 5-year-old with brain cancer that way so I know what to specifically pray for her and her parents that day. I see those blogs very useful.

There are the celebrity blogs, though not many celebrities blog anymore. What with Facebook and Twitter where they only have to write 142 words instead of a whole paragraph. That's probably a good thing since they are so busy making movies and such. I watched "Celebrity Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" a few weeks ago and I am not sure I would want to read a blog by a celebrity. In five days not ONE celebrity was smarter than a fifth grader. I think I would rather them tweet than blog.

I also found how-to, how-don't, fashion, news, as well as blogs that just don't seem to have a purpose at all.

In all of this I have found a purpose for this blog. My purpose is exactly what the subtitle says, finding God in the every day things. I believe that God is everywhere and that He is actively involved in my life. I seem to see Him and the lessons He wants to teach me EVERYWHERE!
I have been told not everyone can do that and I should share my gift so they can know where to start looking...to quit looking for the "big" miracle and realize that most of God's miracles are in the small, mundane things of life.

I was told two things that have brought me back to the blogosphere. First, an older and wiser Christian who is known for speaking his mind told me that my writing was a gift from God and that I shouldn't waste it. The second was a sermon that I heard last Sunday at the baby dedication of my niece's baby. The pastor said that God gives you gifts and you should never be afraid to use them nor be afraid of what people say about you. Ouch!

So, I have decided that now that I have true purpose and I have always intended this blog to be about God, not me I am going to try, yet again, to bring God glory through the things He allows me to see and think. I may not be the brightest crayon in God's box, but even white has a purpose.