The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us

I can't believe it is December already! The snow has been falling in Michigan, and I have been making Christmas cards and Christmas goodies, slowly working through a fairly short gift list, and wrapping up another semester of homeschool. We like to mark the season of Advent together as a family. This year we got a dog treat advent calendar and are reading some Scripture each night. Ash loves the treats, and we all love to give them to him, which has been helping us stay consistent with our reading.

As we begin to anticipate the birth of Jesus, we often find ourselves reading the first two chapters of Luke. In Luke 1:46-55 we encounter a passage of Scripture typically titled Mary's Song. When Mary visits her cousin, Elizabeth, she declares words of praise, including "for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name". These words echo a similar declaration from Psalm 126, which is this blog's namesake and holds a very dear place in my heart. Psalm 126:3 says, "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." In my reading of Scripture, I have seen these words one other time in Joel 2:21b: "Surely the Lord has done great things!".

In the original languages the words aren't exact quotes of each other, and I have no idea if Mary was thinking of Psalm 126 when she was praising God. She might have been, as Psalm 126 is part of the Psalms of Ascent, which would have been sung during the pilgrimages to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast days. Regardless, in a Psalm that speaks of people returning from exile, in a book by a minor prophet highlighting the coming day of the Lord, and in Mary's Song, we see a declaration that the Lord has done great things. This is never more true than at Christmas, when we remember "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14a) and "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5).

Loving all the snow we already have!

These words echo throughout Scripture because they are true. "The Lord has done great things for us." And what we can see now is only the beginning. As we remember His first coming, we also look forward with hope to His second coming, when He will wipe every tear from our eyes. Happy Advent!