We heard a sermon on the Magnificat this past weekend. This is one of my favourite passages of Scripture. The pastor opened it up in a new way and as a result I can now argue Mary would have been one of the top quizzers if she had been in Old Testament Bible Quizzing.
The entire song in Luke 1:46-55 is taken from different passages in the Old Testament. This isn't so unusual. What is unusual is that SHE KNEW THEM ALL. Why? Why would she know them all? She studied them. She memorized them. She was taught them by her parents. As a result, she was found righteous. Scripture had transformed her life. God looked down on her and saw a young girl (the pastor argued she could have been as young as 13) who would have understood the message the angel was bringing to her. It wouldn't have been a shock entirely because she knew all the prophesies about a coming Saviour. The shock would have been that in her humility God had chosen her, a humble peasant girl.
I was just loving this entire sermon so much. I started listening to it through the eyes of a young girl, or even just a young person. They were sitting all around me. I came home so fired up to share it with those who hadn't been able to make it. But even those who had been there, I wanted them to hear how I had heard it. It had struck me in the middle of the sermon how critical Bible Quizzing and the memorizing of Scripture is and could be for their future. If Mary had been like a typical teenager of her time, not caring about the Lord or about the importance of Scripture, she could have missed out on being the mother of Jesus!
I kept thinking about this. The pastor described how initially a FACT was given to her, "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son". This then moved her to FAITH, "let it be to me according to your word". Then the FEELING came. In fact her heart nearly exploded with joy as she sings the Magnificat, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant...."
How many times do we do it the other way around? Or, dare I say, a young teenage girl, thinks the other way around. Instead of knowing the facts of Scripture, they only dwell on how they feel. That's when it occurred to me how the entire sermon could have been written just for a teen girl. Mary's life, as a young girl in her early teens, was such a role model for how to live a godly life. So I came home and started discussing this with great passion.
"We have to think about what promises and truth we know instead of how we feel! Don't you see?!"
What does a young teen think, "I'm not pretty enough. I'm not smart enough. I don't have any skills. No one likes me. I will never be successful in life."
But Mary probably never had a thought like that in her life. Because her mind was filled with Scripture! So many teens instead fill their minds with the lies that come from malls, instagram, lame friends (who aren't really true friends half the time).
So I went on and on, "The next time any thought occurs to you that is negative, or a lie, or whatever it is that is making you feel awful about yourself.....do what Mary did....think about the FACTS!"
It's true. We have to think on what is "true, pure, lovely". Then our mind gets restarted. I reminded them, "Faith is next and out of that faith, feeling will come and your heart will explode!" That really upset my 6 year old, "Did Mary's heart really explode?!" I had to explain!
Oh, how I wished all the teens in my life had heard the sermon the way I heard it. I wanted to shout it from the mountain tops. I even shared this with my teenage son who had been at work that night so was unable to be there. He is finishing up a major math course that has been a struggle all year. He is looking to get into a program that will potentially determine his life career. I told him to be encouraged! All the Scripture that he has memorized in the past may one day be what he falls back on to lift his spirits when the lies start to come in. I encouraged him to reflect on the truth he knows, not the lies. To embrace, by faith, these truths and then to get excited about how God may have a life-changing plan for him, just because he is being faithful to what he knows. Mary never knew how memorizing all the Scripture would one day make her purpose for living so clear! That was one of the truths that struck me. Her joy in the whole passage is partly because God gave her such a high calling, such an amazing purpose for living! I wanted my kids to embrace that excitement. I wanted them to know their purpose will flow out of all that they have memorized! One day, there will be this moment when it all comes together and they will have this "Aha" moment....
The reason I loved this, too, was that Mary didn't have to wait till she was old to have purpose. If she really was 13 then her purpose was discovered at a very young age! Lord, make my kids know their purpose early on! May they not wander for years wondering who they are, what they are good at, where they should be used.....But again, we don't know a lot about Mary's parents, but I'm guessing they regularly taught her from a young age. They didn't know what lay ahead for their daughter. They were simply diligent, trusting in God for their future and her's. Mary was blessed undoubtedly, but her parents must have also been blessed beyond their imagination! Imagine being the grandparents of Jesus! That would have been amazing!
I was recharged, if you can't tell. I was ready to take this Magnificat to all the pastors of all the churches and I was ready to challenge them to change all their programs to strictly memorizing Scripture just because of the impact it had on Mary. It is my new go-to passage to prove the benefits of Scripture memorizing! How can you do anything else with young people? How can we get so off-track and make it anything BUT memorizing Scripture? Is it easy? No. Trust me. My 8 year old said the other day, "THIS IS SO HARD!!!" when I asked him to sit down and memorize for the next quiz meet. But the benefits are so huge I can't even imagine any pastor daring to argue with me to NOT have that as part of any youth or child program.
My 19 year old was excited, too. We may just take on this challenge, I don't know. All I know is that it explains a lot as to why Bible Quizzing was so hard to organize this year. We have had so many challenges putting it together. We wanted to throw in the towel so many times. It makes so much sense now. If we stop Bible Quizzing and memorizing, we could miss what God has in store for us. We will end up not knowing Truth so that when the hard times come, we will be stuck with Feelings which are so unreliable. Mary was filled with Truth, with Facts. She didn't miss out. Her incredible purpose for living was crystal clear.
So, this is my prayer, for my kids, my nieces and nephews, for all those who struggle with wondering who they are, what they are to do, and who sometimes miss the truth and instead hear the lies. Know Scripture the way Mary did and it will all be crystal clear.
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