Did I not tell you,” Jesus asked, “that if you believed, you would see the wonder of what God can do?” Here is the clue to the lesson: It is faith he is looking for, a quiet confidence that whatever it is he is up to, it will be a wonderful thing, never mind whether it is what we have been asking for.
Elizabeth Elliot Devotions-11-18-06
Of all the Christmas messages that could come, or we may hear this season, I really like this one…I have been “pondering” Mary for a while-who she was, what she pondered, what was it like for her to tell Joseph she was pregnant…i’ve been pondering. this is a good message (of course I am partail because I really like Elizabeth Elliot:) ), for us all to ponder.
Subject: Elisabeth Elliot Devotional: December 16, 2006
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Author: Elisabeth Elliot
We see her first, that little Mary (may I say little? I think she was a teenager), as a simple village girl in a poor home in an out-of-the-way place. She is bending over her work when suddenly the light changes. She raises her eyes. A dazzling stranger stands before her with a puzzling greeting. He calls her “most favored one” and tells her the Lord is with her. She is stunned. I don’t believe her thought is of herself (Who am I? or Am I ever lucky!). Mary is troubled. She discerns at once that this has to do with things infinitely larger than herself, far beyond her understanding. What can it mean? The angel does not weigh in immediately with the stupendous message he has been sent to deliver. He first comforts her. “Don’t be afraid, Mary.” Mary. She is not a stranger to him. He is assuring her that he has the right person. He explains what she has been chosen for–to be the mother of the Son of the Most High, a king whose reign will be forever. She has one question now–not about the Most High, not about an eternal king–those are things too high for her–but motherhood is another matter. She understands motherhood, has been looking forward to it with great happiness. Her question is about that: “How can this be? I am still a virgin.” He does not really explain. He simply states a mystery: “The power of the Most High will overshadow you.” He goes on to tell her of another miraculous pregnancy, that of her old cousin Elisabeth, well past child-bearing age. “God’s promises can never fail,” he says. They won’t fail for you, Mary. Rest assured. How will the girl respond? She is at once totally at the disposal of her Lord (she sees that the visitor is from Him). Whatever the mystery, whatever the divine reasons for choosing her, whatever the inconveniences, even disasters (broken engagement? stoning to death–the punishment of a fornicator?) which she may be required to face, her answer is unequivocal and instant: “Here I am. I am the Lord’s servant; let it be as you have told me.” Anything, Lord. We see her next with Elisabeth, who, by the manner of Mary’s greeting and by her own baby’s sudden movement in her womb, knows immediately that God has chosen Mary to be the mother of the Lord. They don’t sit down over coffee and chatter about the gynecology or the practical logistics or what people are going to say. Mary sings her song of gladness, of thoroughgoing acceptance of the gift, of trust in the Mighty One. We see her sweating in the cold of the stable, putting her own life on the line, as every mother must do, in order to give life to somebody else. We see her with the tough shepherds, breathlessly telling their story of the glory of the Lord and the singing of the angel choir. Everyone else is astonished (a word which comes from “thunderstruck”), but Mary does not join the excited babble. She is quiet, treasuring all these things, pondering them deep in her heart. We see her with the mysterious travelers from the East bringing their lavish gifts. She says nothing as they kneel before the baby she holds in her arms. We see her on the donkey again, on the roundabout journey to Egypt because her husband has been given a secret message in a dream. She does not balk, she does not argue. We see her in the temple handing over her baby to old Simeon, to whom the Holy Spirit has revealed the child’s amazing destiny: a revelation to the heathen, glory to Israel. But to Mary he gives the far deeper message of suffering, for there is no glory that is not bought by suffering: her son will suffer–he will be a sign which men reject; she, his mother, will suffer, will be pierced to the heart. No question or answer from her is recorded. Again we know only her silence. We see nothing of her for twelve years–days and nights, weeks and months, years and years of caring for the infant, the toddler, the little boy, the adolescent. There is no mention of any of that. Mary has no witness, no limelight, no special recognition of any kind. She is not Mother of the Year. Hers is a life lived in the ordinary necessity of their poverty and their humanity, no one paying attention to her attention to Him. Whatever the level of her comprehension as to the nature of this boy, she knows He was given to her. She remembers how. She treasures all this. She ponders things in the silence of her heart. Did she share any of them with Joseph? Could she? Could he receive them? We know next to nothing of the dynamics between them. She was content to be silent before God. The apostle Paul tells us we are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3, NIV}. There is mystery there, but when I think of the life of Mary, I see some facets of that mystery that I missed when I read the apostle. Hers was a hidden life, a faithful one, a holy one–holy in the context of a humble home in a small village where there was not very much diversion. She knew that the ordinary duties were ordained for her as much as the extraordinary way in which they became her assignment. She struck no poses. She was the mother of a baby, willing to be known simply as his mother for the rest of her life. He was an extraordinary baby, the Eternal Word, but His needs were very ordinary, very daily, to his mother. Did she imagine that she deserved to be the chosen mother? Did she see herself as fully qualified? Surely not. Surely not more than any other woman who finds herself endowed with the awesome gift of a child. It is the most humbling experience of a woman’s life, the most revealing of her own helplessness. Yet we know this mother, Mary, the humble virgin from Nazareth, as “Most Highly Exalted.” I am thanking God that unto us a Child was born. I am thanking Him also that there was a pure-hearted woman prepared to receive that Child with all that motherhood would mean of daily trust, daily dependence, daily obedience. I thank Him for her silence. That spirit is not in me at all, not naturally. I want to learn what she had learned so early: the deep guarding in her heart of each event, mulling over its meaning from God, waiting in silence for His word to her. I want to learn, too, that it is not an extraordinary spirituality that makes one refuse to do ordinary work, but a wish to prove that one is not ordinary–which is a dead giveaway of spiritual conceit. I want to respond in unhesitating obedience as she did: Anything You say, Lord. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. |
Today was “one of those days“. I was late getting out of the house to get things prepared for the girls Bible Study tonight. I had a good reason to be late as I had a last minute important phone call that ended up being a counseling phone call. I was glad that I was home to help this one person out.
BUT, by the time I go to the store on the other end of town (my first stop), I wanted to buy crackers to go with the soup I was preparing for girls study. I stood there and waited patiently for the person in front of me to finish. She was almost done when I started realizing something was wrong. What was I missing? Hmmm, I had my packet which had things I needed for the study, I had..wait…no..I didn’t have my purse! That means I had no money! That means I won’t be able to buy the crackers, potatoes, milk, etc. that I needed to prepare dinner for tonight. Hmmm…well, I’ll go and call one of the missionaries, see if I can borrow a little money from them. Thankfully I had not ordered the crackers yet, I would have felt REALLY foolish! (oh sure I could have turned around and gone home, but I live across the tracks which is about a 15 min public transportation ride, plus about a 7 minute walk to my house ONE WAY..nope…we’ll make do with whatever happens). Ok..so I went on to where we have the girls study. One of the girls is staying at the house while the missionaries are on furlough and after hearing my story said “Oh, here, I have money, go buy what you need!” WOW, thanks God! You provided so fast.
So, the evening went on. She and I had a good time of fellowship while we prepared dinner for the girls. The study went well and everyone ate and was happy.
Myself and another missionary left after the study and were on our way home. We hit a crossroad (she was going one way and I was going another) so we said goodbye and see you later. The path I took was across from my normal path, but it was on a sidewalk (more or less) and I thought that I would just stay there instead of crossing back to my normal path. Well, this path took me past a construction site for a new apartment building. No big deal usually, but this time three or four dogs came out and started barking and nipping at my heels. I looked at them and thought, whatever, dogs are always barking and following you. But this time, these dogs were serious! One of them (two or three were small dogs, not much bigger than a small poodle, the other one, the leader was bigger than a poodle type dog, but not a HUGE dog, not big like a Labrador), was very serious. The bigger dog was the one who came out of the construction site first, barking and nipping at my heels, the others followed. The bigger dog then BIT ME on my leg! I was shocked (I’d never been bit by a dog before and have never really been afraid of dogs). As he bit me I screamed, not loud, more of a screech, and at the same time I thought “what do I do? I know what to do when a bear attacks you but not when a dog attacks you.” He kept barking and wanting to bite me again, (but thankfully he didn’t). I started swinging my bag at him (I wanted to say “Ot vahl lee-which is Russian slang for “get away from me” but I thought, he’s a dog, not a person, that won’t work on dogs), I continued screeching and whimpering and running. Finally they all dropped back after about a minute chase. I walked a few paces and then stopped to look at the damage, blood, bite mark, skin broken. I am thinking, when did I have my last tetanus shot? What made me more frustrated than getting bit, was that there were all these people around and NO ONE DID ANYTHING. I passed a couple right after getting bit and they said NOTHING! They just looked at me with concern in their eyes. I wanted to scream at them, HELLO!!! I JUST GOT BIT! COULD YOU MAYBE ASK IF I AM OK??!!!!! Ahhhh, the joys of living in Ukraine. No one ever gets involved in another person’s business.
I got home fine, shaken up, but fine, and surveyed the damage. Moderate bite, teeth marks, bruise, and swelling, could have been worse. I checked my shot records, I’m ok Praise God! So I cleaned the wound and put a bandage over it.
Today was “one of those days”, but I know the Lord was watching out for me, it could have been worse!
