Be Still And Know

Luke 1:46-49 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.” These words of Mary are very similar to the Old Testament prayer of Hannah when she learnt that she was pregnant. It is hardly surprising that Mary used these words. She was a young Jewish girl and in the four-day journey from Nazareth down south to her cousin Elizabeth, she would have had lots of time to reflect. It would have been only natural for her to recall the famous prayer of Hannah. That often happens with scripture. When we face a challenge or a new opportunity, suddenly words from the Bible will come to mind and, ancient as they are, they often express just what we are feeling. There are two things about these verses that strike me. First of all, that Mary was humble. She knew that she was a lowly servant girl. She had only rece