![]() When we fail to remember the promises, we gradually drift away from His way. Every Word that He has ever spoken remains ( Isaiah 40:8), but if we fail to treasure and ponder what He has said, His promises can be lost from our heart and mind. However, they are not lost in God’s heart. ![]() Without the sacred practice of treasuring and pondering, we can lose God’s words. If we do not remember what He has done, if we forget what He has promised, those promises may perish or be lost. One of the definitions of the word “ treasured” is “ to preserve a thing from perishing or being lost.” When we fix God’s words in our minds and talk about them day and night, we remind ourselves to believe ( Deuteronomy 11:17-18). Mary treasured God’s Words to her, actively remembering and reflecting on what He had spoken to her through Gabriel and through the Holy Scriptures. “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19) ![]() All who heard it were amazed, but not Mary. First it was Elizabeth who encouraged our young heroine, and now the shepherds confirm that this was no ordinary baby. Watch for it – God sends another confirmation, a Word that Mary can hang onto her calling when she may have been tempted to doubt or to forget what God had promised. Unsuspecting shepherds, hanging out in a field with some sheep, were urged by an angel to go find the Messiah baby who was wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. God sent unlikely witnesses to sing the praises of the newborn King. This disruptive edict brought Mary and Joseph to the place where it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born, and so He was, right there in a stable. We now find Mary and Joseph heading to Bethlehem in Judea because Caesar Augustus wanted to take a census of the whole Roman world. Certain that God would fulfill His promises, she believed that God was trustworthy ( Luke 1:45-49). She was equally sustained by her faithful heart. How did she have the strength of spirit to say “yes” to God under such challenging circumstances? We have discovered that her yieldedheart enabled her to surrender to God when she recognized herself as a servant and bravely agreed to mother a son in a most unusual fashion ( Luke 1:38). How could this young woman express such confidence in God under extreme circumstances ( have we mentioned that she was pregnant and unwed?). When Scripture speaks of submission between any two persons, such as within a marriage (Ephesians 5:22–24 Titus 2:9 3:1 Hebrews 13:17), it allows no condescension from one to the other.Mary’s marvelous song of praise stirs hope in our hearts. Jesus is God incarnate (John 1:1, 14)-He is literally the divine Creator and Master of the very parents to whom He submits. This remark also helps to clarify that submission in no sense implies inferiority. When His family arrived and wanted Him to leave, He did so, as part of a pattern of godly obedience (Exodus 20:12). His remaining in the temple wasn't an act of rebellion. Rather, it seems Luke is clarifying that Jesus' attitude continued to be submissive. His remark does not suggest that Jesus was, only now, after the incident in the temple, being submissive to His parents. Luke's comment here about Jesus' submission resolves several interesting debates about the Bible and Jesus' early life. Though she does not understand, at first (Luke 2:50), she remains open to the work of God in her life (Luke 1:38). This is the same way she reacted when shepherds arrived to see the newborn Jesus (Luke 2:19). That she "treasures" what is happening implies that she deliberately chooses to remember it-holding it in her mind as something worth maintaining. In response to this, Mary once again is said to pay special attention. Though Mary is upset that He "mistreated" her (Luke 2:48), He reassures her that the temple is the only place she should have expected Him to be. One such incident is her frustration when a twelve-year-old Jesus is accidentally left behind in Jerusalem, only to be found three days later in the temple (Luke 2:41–47). Like anyone else, she would have had moments of doubt, confusion, or misunderstanding. ![]() Mary does not understand everything which happens to her with perfect knowledge.
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