And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
(Luke 1:46–48; NKJV)

How do you respond when God changes the direction of your life? When He upends your carefully laid plans? Change is hard. It’s often chaotic and stressful as well. Mary’s response shows us how God designed us to respond to His moving in our lives—humbly trusting Him to plan our way, protect us, and provide for us as we find our joy and peace in Him.

Mary says God has ‘regarded’ her lowly state. The biblical idea of ‘regard’ is looking intently or attentively with caring concern.¹ The Greek word only occurs two other times in the New Testament. Once where a man cries out to Jesus, asking Him to “look on” his demon-possessed son (Luke 9:38). And once in James’ discussion of favoritism, where he cautions us not to “pay attention” (show favoritism) to the wealthy (Jas 2:3).

Does God look favorably on us? Yes. God looks favorably toward all humanity. He shows His loving concern for all people, for example, through His governance of the seasons, providing the sun and rain, which are essential for the life-sustaining cycles of Creation (Matt 5:45). He has also shown His love toward us by sending His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so we can receive eternal life by believing Him (John 3:16).

God also shows special favor toward believers. Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Those rewards, too numerous to list here, surely include forgiveness and salvation from sin and its consequences (Acts 16:31), His Spirit’s presence with us (Rom 8:9), and the promise of eternal life with Him (John 20:31).

Another way God shows favor toward believers is our identification as His children and our inclusion in His household. When we are “born of the Spirit” (John 3:3–8), we receive adoption as children of God (John 1:12–13). When we trust Jesus with our lives, loves, and eternity, the Holy Spirit joins Himself alongside our spirit, uniting us with God, making us His children and co-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:14–17).

Mary shows us what it looks like to wholly trust in God when life takes an unexpected turn. She didn’t curse God for upending her life plans. She didn’t turn away from God, looking to her connections, power, status, or wealth to make the most of her new situation. She didn’t doubt God’s plan (like Zacharias initially did) and go about life as if nothing had changed.

God showed special favor to Mary, blessing her uniquely with the privilege of being mother to the promised Messiah. She responded with the heart of a lowly servant, praising God and rejoicing in Him for choosing her for this special task.

Did Mary somehow earn such a privilege because of her great trust in God? No. God’s favor is not earned. God gives it freely according to His purposes and we receive it willingly. It is a dangerous, materialistic theology that believes God wants us to be happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise. Rather, God’s design for us is to find joy, peace, riches, and wisdom in Him regardless of our circumstances (Matt 6:19–21; John 15:1–11; 1 Cor 1:26–30).

But there is a sense in which God’s favor becomes real to us through an attitude of humility and trust toward Him. Our perspective is key. Whether we see our circumstances as burden or blessing depends on our willingness to yield to His will. This doesn’t minimize the agony and suffering of the bad times. But pouring out our hearts to God in such times strengthens our hope in God, Who’s goodness is well-proven and promises never fail.

Mary lived these truths beautifully. When she was told that she—a betrothed virgin—was to become pregnant by supernatural means and bear our Savior, she looked past the stigma and suffering of the situation to the fulfillment of God’s promises and the special place He’d given her in their fulfillment. She adopted the attitude of a lowly servant, yielding to God’s raising her up with a very special, unique calling, for which all generations rightly call her blessed.

Few of us will ever have a calling so publicly esteemed as Mary’s. But God desires to bless each of us with a calling unique to us (Eph 2:10). The question is if and how we will receive God’s calling and moving in our lives. May we receive such callings and movements of God as Mary did, looking past any hardship and suffering in the moment and humbly trusting our loving God, finding our joy and peace in Him.

Notes

1. Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000), s.v. “ἐπιβλέπω.”