The Favor of God.  By Sara Cain.

“My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for He who is mighty hath done great things, and Holy is His Name.”

I love this worship song from the 1970s by the Maranatha Singers. It’s based on Mary’s Song in Luke 1:46-55 after the angel Gabriel’s  visit to tell her that God had chosen her to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah.

Mary,  Woman of Favor

I always associate the word “favor” with Mary, the mother of Jesus. I think we sometimes cheat ourselves out of the rich lessons we can learn from her because we want to avoid a Catholic kind of worship of Mary. We know through scripture that Mary is not our intercessor nor worthy of deity assignation and worship, so we tread lightly around discussing her outside of the Christmas story. That’s tragic because we can learn so much  by looking at Mary’s life and character.

Why did God favor Mary?

When the angel Gabriel told Mary about the “birth of Jesus plan”, he referred to her as highly favored.  (Luke 1:28)

^“The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

God didn’t choose Mary just because she was a good Jewish girl in the right place at the right time.

God chose Mary, He  favored Mary, because of her heart posture.

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”  ~ 2 Chronicles 16:9

To be “perfect toward Him” means we seek His favor more than we seek the favor of anyone else, even ourselves.

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”  ~ Isaiah 66:2

Mary knew God through the books of Moses, the Psalms, and the writings of the prophets, as well as growing up hearing the stories about God handed down orally from generation to generation. She had a deep reverence for God in her heart because she knew what He had done in the history of her people.

When Gabriel told Mary what God was asking of her, she was afraid, as any of us would have been. Luke 1:29-30 …

“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.’ “

I doubt that put her mind at ease immediately. As Gabriel completed the message, I can only imagine the confusion and fear it would invoke. It was unthinkable that a young woman, still a teenager, would be pregnant out of wedlock. It was reason enough to ban her from society (and sometimes worse) with repercussions reaching her whole family.

Nevertheless, this was Mary’s reply …

“I am the servant of the Lord. May it be unto me according to your word.”  ~ Luke 1:38

Mary’s response to this news (after she had digested it) was not only complete trust in God’s plan, but she surrendered to His Will with a song of praise and thanksgiving, ten verses extolling God’s goodness, beginning with, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

This was Mary’s heart posture. Mary was favored because her heart desired God more than anyone (her family, her fiancée) or anything else (her perfectly planned future), and she worshipped Him with a pure heart in humility, gratitude, and obedience. She took delight in His Word, and He took delight in her.

Mary teaches us that God’s plan for us may sound scary and impossible, but when we surrender to His Will, he does great things in our lives that not only bless us, but also blesses others. She illustrates better than anyone in the Bible other than Jesus Himself that God’s favor means God has a special and specific purpose for us.

“Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”  ~ Psalm 5:12

Mary, Woman of Wisdom

The poetic book of Proverbs personifies Wisdom, sometimes referring to it as “her” and other times referring to wisdom as “me”.

“For whoever finds me (Wisdom) finds life
And obtains favor and grace from the Lord.”  ~ Proverbs 8:35

One of my favorite stories is the wedding in Cana where Jesus did His first public miracle. (John 2:1-12)

Here’s a partial paraphrase of the passage…

Mary to Jesus:  They have run out of wine.

Jesus: What’s that to do with me? My hour has not yet come.

Mary to the servants:  Do whatever he tells you to do.

Jesus’ words that His “hour has not yet come” referred to when He intended to publicly identify Himself as the Messiah.

But Mary was one to seek God’s wisdom. She knew this was a divine opportunity to prepare the way for the public to accept Jesus for who He was when He did reveal Himself.

This was not a case of a mom and son having a difference of opinion with one giving in for the sake of peace. We know this because we know the character of both Mary and Jesus. They both were in perfect obedience to the will of God. So, without further discussion, the miracle was set in motion.

In their culture, a wedding feast lasted for 7 days. The bridegroom’s father hosted the extravagant feast to show that they were worthy of the bride and able to provide for her properly. In fact, they could be sued if they failed to provide a lavish feast and ample wine for the whole 7 days according to the marriage covenant.  The tradition was to serve the best wine first before the wine dulled the senses of the guests and save the poorest wine for last. Providing the wine was not just hospitality, but a covenant obligation.

So as the story unfolds, Jesus gave the servants instructions which they followed, and miraculously the water turned into the best tasting quality wine anyone had ever tasted and there was more than enough. Because this was late in the festivities, this best wine was served last rather than first.

The guests at Cana recognized the language of bridegroom and covenant, and the legal weight of running out of wine. They understood the order of serving the good wine. When the host of the feast said, “you have saved the good wine for last” every Jewish person in that room knew they were watching something far bigger than a miracle at a wedding.

At Cana, the original bridegroom had failed. He had run out. He could not provide what his bride needed.

So, Jesus stepped in.

Mary knew exactly who her son was and His divine purpose.

She understood the importance of the occasion and what it foreshadowed.

The Bible calls Jesus the Bridegroom over and over. John the Baptist called Him the Bridegroom. Jesus called Himself the Bridegroom.

Paul called the church His bride. Revelation tells of Jesus, the Bridegroom, returning to receive His Bride, the Redeemed Church.

Jesus stepped into the role of Bridegroom for the Bride who had been failed by every covenant before Him.

Mary’s wisdom guided her son- the Son of God–  onto a path that blessed the people around them and prepared their hearts for what was to come, thereby smoothing the road before him. A mother’s act of love. A woman’s devotion to God.

As mothers and mentors, Mary teaches us that seeking God’s wisdom not only brings us favor, but guides us into bringing the Kingdom of God near to those around us.

Mary, the Woman Who Stays

I can’t begin to imagine the depth of pain Mary experienced as she witnessed the crucifixion of her precious beloved son. I feel a thousand things, and yet have no words to describe what she endured.

Mary’s pain at the cross wasn’t just grief; it was love stripped of the power to protect her beloved.  She stood there with her heart pierced and her hands empty. She felt the sword that pierced the side of Jesus in her soul.

But she didn’t leave.

Sometimes that’s what faith actually looks like. Staying.

We often mistake our own helplessness for God’s absence. We think because we can’t stop the pain, He must not be there.

We can’t always fix the problem or even understand it, but just refusing to leave when your heart is breaking is trusting that God is still working in the loss.

Mary was with the disciples when Jesus met them in that upper room and ascended back into heaven after spending time with them. In true Mary fashion, it was she who led her sons, all of them, even the brothers who never followed Jesus before, to that life-changing meeting. (Acts 1:14). Mary was faithful to participate in intercessory prayer with the disciples and other followers that fueled the spreading of the gospel and birth of the church throughout the remainder of her life.

Mary stayed , continuing in obedience when the angel’s news turned her life upside down.

Mary stayed, standing on faith when her heart was torn apart witnessing the brutal loss of her son.

Mary stayed, completely surrendered to God and His will after all that had been taken from her, to the end of her days.

Mary teaches us that when our eyes can’t see what God is up to, when all looks and feels like loss, we can still trust Him because He is still God. He is still good. He is still sovereign.

It’s God’s favor upon us that enables us to stand and to stay.

Through Mary’s life we see that God’s favor is

Gace,

Mercy,

Strength,

Perseverance

Protection, and

Purpose.

Do you desire be highly favored in God’s eyes?

Surrender to His Will.

Arrange your life around loving Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Above all else, seek His Kingdom and His righteousness first.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
    from those whose walk is blameless.”  Psalm 84:11