EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
3/12/2026 10:00 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: PT 2 1Intro to “Mary’s Praise”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
1:46-55
Message of the verses: “46
And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble
estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me
blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has
done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from
generation to generation. 51 He has
shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of
their hearts; 52 he has brought down the
mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty. 54
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to
his offspring forever.’” (ESV)
I continue in this evening’s SD to quote the rest of
MacArthur’s introduction to the verses above.
“Central to worshiping God is praise. The writer of Hebrews exhorts his readers to ‘continually
offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is, the fruit of lips that give
thanks to His name’ (Heb. 13:15). Worship
also includes ‘doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is
pleased’ (v. 16). The apostle Paul
notes that even the seemingly mundane act of meeting financial needs is an act
of worship. Thanking the Philippians for
their gift he wrote, ‘But I have received everything in full and have an
abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have
sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God’ (Phil.
4:18).
“True worship as defined by our Lord has two
components: it is, He said, to be ‘in
spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). Worship
in spirit is genuine, unfeigned, from the heart, as opposed to mere outward
ritual. In his classic work The
Existence and Attributes of God, the seventeenth-century English Puritan
Stephen Charnock wrote,
“Without
the heart it is no worship; it is a stage play; an acting a part without being
that person really which is acted by us: a hypocrite, in notion of the word, is
a stage player….We may be truly said to worship God, though we [lack]
perfection; but we cannot be said to worship him, if we ‘lack] sincerity. (Reprint; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979,
1:225-26)
“Bless
the Lord, o my soul,’ wrote
David, ‘and all that is within me. Bless His holy name (Ps. 103:1; cf.
51:15-17). In Romans 1:9, Paul
wrote, ‘God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His
Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you.”
“The Bible reveals a number of prerequisites for worshiping
in spirit. First and foremost, a true
worshiper must be controlled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. That, of course, presupposes salvation, since
those who are not saved to not have the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32; Rom.
8:5-9), and thus cannot worship God.
Second, to worship in spirit requires that the thoughts be focused on
God. Worship flows out of an undivided (Ps. 86:11) mind filled with and meditating
on the truth of God’s Word (Josh. 1:8; Pss. 1:2; 4:4; 63:6; 77:6, 12; 119:15,
23, 48, 78, 97,99, 148). Third, Worship
in spirit requires repentance, since sin hinders fellowship and communion with
God. Thus David prayed, ‘Search me, O
God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there
be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way’ (Ps.
139:23-24). Finally, to worship God
in spirit requires humbly accepting His will no matter what the circumstances
(cf. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son; Gen. 22:1-18).
“Worship must also be in truth. As noted above, God rejects selfstyled
worship that is inconsistent with His revealed truth. The only source of that truth is His Word
(John 17:17; cf. Ps. 119:142, 160), so only worship consistent with Scripture
is acceptable to Him.
“Hebrews 10:22 summarizes the
approach of true worshipers to God: That
are sincere (they ‘draw near with a sincere heart’), faithful (‘in
full assurance of faith’), humble (‘having…hearts sprinkled clean from
an evil conscience’), and pure (Having ‘bodies washed with pure water’). As a result of such worship God will be
glorified (Ps. 50:23), believers purified (Ps. 24:3-4), and the lost
evangelized (Acts. 2:47).
“As noted in the previous chapter of
this volume, Mary is an example to all believers of faith, humility and
submission to God’s will. This section
of Luke’s gospel reveals that she also modeled true, acceptable worship. After hearing the astounding news from the
angel Gabriel that she was to be the mother of the Messiah, Mary immediately
went to visit her older relative Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant with
John the Baptist (1:36). There God’s
confirmed that His promise to her through Gabriel would indeed come to
pass. God’s confirmation eased Mary’s
doubts, answered her question, and strengthened her faith. Verses 46-55, known as the Magnificat (from
the first word of the Latin text), record her outburst of praise and worship in
response.
“Mary’s hymn is filled with
allusions to Scripture, revealing that her heart and mind were saturated with
the Old Testament. It echoes Hannah’s
prayers (1 Sam. 1:11; 2:1-10) and prayers in the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and
the writings of the prophet.
“For example, Mary began in verse 46
by saying, My soul exalts the Lord,’ which echoes Psalm 34:2, ‘My
soul shall make its boast in the Lord.’ Her reference to God as her Savior
(v. 47) is reminiscent of such Old Testament passages as 2 Samuel 22:3; Isaiah
43:11; 45:21; 49:26; 60:16; and Hosea 13:4, while her statement, ‘For He has
had regard for the humble state of His bondslave’ (v. 48) reflects Hannah’s
prayer in 1 Samuel 1:11 (cf. Ps. 136:23).
Mary’s exclamation, ‘for behold, from this time on generations will
count me blessed’ echoes Leah’s words in Genesis 30:13. Her declaration, For the Mighty One has
done great things for me’ has Old Testaments roots (cf. Ps. 126:3), as does
the following statement, ‘holy is His name’ (cf. Pss. 99:3; 111:9).
“Mary’s hymn also reveals that she
was well-versed in the history of Israel.
She spoke of God’s having ‘done might deeds with His arm’ (51), including
‘scatter[ing] those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts (v. 51), ‘[bringing]
down rulers from their thrones’ (v. 52), ‘exalt[ing] those who were humble’ (v.
52), ‘fill[ing] the hungry with good things; and [sending] away the rich
empty-handed’ (v. 53).
Mary also understood the rich theological truth of the
Abrahamic covenant. She knew that God ‘has given help to Israel His servant,
in remembrance of His mercy,’ in keeping with the promise He made ‘to
Abraham and his descendants forever’ (vv. 54-55). Jesus taught that ‘the mouth speaks
out of that which fills the heart’ (Matt. 12:34), and Mary’s praise is the
expression of her faith in God’s Word.
“Mary’s praise is the expression of
her faith in God, her love for Him, and her deep understanding of
Scripture. The result is an example of
worship for all believers to emulate, as she displays the attitude, object, and
motive of worship.”
3/12/2026
10:53 PM
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