daily java

Daily Java:

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” (Luke 1:39-45)

Sometimes things happen that are mixed blessings. You are not sure how to take them. On the one hand, they are a blessing. On the other hand, they will affect your life in ways that will not always be good.

When Mary found herself pregnant, she was happy to be the handmaiden of the Lord. She was glad to be his vessel through whom would come the Messiah, the Chosen One of the Lord.

But the problem was, she was unmarried and pregnant. This was not a good thing.

Yes, the favor of the Lord was a good thing. No, her being pregnant out of wedlock was not.

She was worried about it and decided that the best thing to do was to go out of town and see her cousin, Elizabeth. To all of her family’s surprise, Elizabeth was also pregnant, even though she was quite old.

Mary convinced her mother that the best thing for her to do was to go and help Elizabeth through the pregnancy. She could be a valuable aid in helping her. And besides, she wasn’t doing anything right now anyway.

So she went. More than likely, she thought about her condition all the time. She was probably a couple of months along, not yet showing, but she was hiding the fact that she had not had a period for two months. What was she going to do? When everybody found out, it could get ugly.

Again, on the one hand, she was blessed by God with his Son. On the other hand, she could very easily become a pariah, an outcast, maybe even be stoned for sexual immorality. Joseph would hate her. She wasn’t guilty of anything, but what would she do?

Somehow, coming up to the town and saying, Guess what? The Lord made me pregnant, didn’t sound all that convincing. In fact, it sounded like she was mentally unbalanced.

It weighed and weighed on her mind. She could think of nothing else. She just needed to get away and Elizabeth was her favorite cousin. In fact, she was almost like a second mother. Since Elizabeth had no kids, she had always had a soft spot for Mary.

She got off the wagon and stepped into Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house. Elizabeth turned and said, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”

That was just the confirmation Mary needed. Her doubts were swept away. There is nothing that could have been said to her that was better for her to hear. The Lord remembered her and was not going to let her be alone in all this.

Some people have just the right thing to say to cut through your problems and your despair over a situation. It may be that the situation is a good one, but it is, like Mary’s, a mixed blessing. And you need to hear something good to show that God remembers you.

But the Lord will not leave  you hanging. He will encourage and help you. If it is his will, he will be there.

Just like Elizabeth confirmed Mary, so he will confirm you. And as Elizabeth said, You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.