I Am Truly a Happy Person!

 

 

“After this, Mary hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea where Zechariah lived, and she visited Elizabeth. As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, ‘You are the most blessed among women, and the child in your womb is blessed as well! How is it that the mother of my Lord should come to visit me? The moment your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished’” (Luke 1:39–45, Modern Language Bible). I would like to meditate on this passage and receive the lesson it gives:

(1) Why did Mary so urgently go to visit her relative Elizabeth (Luke 1:36, Modern Language Bible)? (vv. 39–40) Could it be because the angel Gabriel had said, “Look at your relative Elizabeth. Though she was said to be barren, she is now in her sixth month of pregnancy in her old age” (v. 36)?

(a) Mary, though a virgin (v. 29), had heard Gabriel say, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him ‘Jesus’” (v. 31), and “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. The holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (v. 35). He also declared, “Nothing is impossible with God” (v. 37). Could Mary have wanted to confirm this by going herself to see her relative Elizabeth—who was known to be barren but was now, in her old age, six months pregnant, just as Gabriel had said (v. 36)?

(i) Mary had indeed replied to Gabriel, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (v. 38). Yet perhaps she still longed to see with her own eyes that Elizabeth, once known as barren, was indeed six months pregnant in her old age (v. 36).

(b) Hebrews 11:1–3 (Modern Language Bible) says: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

(i) This passage explains the essence of faith: “Faith is the present reality of what we hope for, though not yet seen; it is the sure foundation that proves the reality of God’s invisible being and promises. This faith does not come from human knowledge or will, but from God’s Word and the Holy Spirit, through which we draw near to God and experience His power” (AI summary).

  • Personally, I believe that the promise the Lord gave me during the University Department retreat at Victory Presbyterian Church in May 1987, from John 6:1–15, will surely be fulfilled in God’s time and in God’s way. Though I am unfaithful, the Lord is always faithful, and I trust that He cannot break the promise He made to me (cf. 2 Tim. 2:13).

  • My responsibility is to meditate day and night (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:2) on the Word of Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:48), and to write down my reflections. As I offer these meditations to the Lord in faith, praying, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight…” (from the gospel hymn “May the Words of My Mouth”), the Lord receives them. Just as He gave thanks for the loaves and fishes (John 6:11, Modern Language Bible), I believe He will bless my reflections when I share them—whether through my blog, Facebook, KakaoTalk, email, or the church website—so that, just as He fed five thousand men with five loaves and two fish (John 6:10,14), He will work a miracle of blessing through the sharing of His Word.

  • Even though my physical eyes cannot yet see it, I believe in God’s reality, for He has enabled me to trust Him:
    “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Num. 23:19, Revised Bible).
    “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:11, Modern Language Bible).
    I believe that He will fulfill the promise He has made to me, in His time and His way.

  • Furthermore, I believe that the promise the Lord gave Victory Presbyterian Church during the summer of 2003 at the Church Renewal Pastors’ Fellowship retreat at Ansang Retreat Center in Korea—“… I will build my church …” (Matt. 16:18)—will also surely be fulfilled in God’s time and in God’s way.

(2) When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby (John) leaped in her womb for joy (Luke 1:41,44, Modern Language Bible). Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaimed in a loud voice (vv. 41–42), “You are the most blessed among women, and the child in your womb is blessed … Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished” (vv. 42,45). Meditating on this, I believe that those who trust that what the Lord has said will surely come to pass are truly happy. The disciple of Jesus—who welcomes Him into their heart, loves Him, obeys Him, and lives for Him and the gospel (cf. Mark 8:35)—is the most blessed of all people.

(a) God is a God who desires our happiness (Deut. 10:13). In God’s eyes, a truly happy person is one who has received His salvation (Deut. 33:29). In other words, the one who believes in Jesus and is counted righteous by God is truly happy (Rom. 4:6). The one who has received complete forgiveness of sins through Christ—whose sins are removed, covered, and wiped away—is truly happy (Ps. 32:1–2). The one whom God protects, fights for, and gives victory to is indeed, in God’s eyes, a happy person (Deut. 33:29).

(i) Therefore, we must trust the God who seeks our happiness and delight to obey His teaching. Such a person is, in God’s eyes, truly happy (Futato).

  • The truly happy person in God’s sight is the one who believes that what the Lord has spoken will surely come to pass. Even if, from our human understanding, His words may seem impossible, we must believe the truth that with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). In faith, we must pray that what God has promised will be fulfilled in us.

  • May you and I experience, through faith, the fulfillment of God’s promises in our lives as He answers our prayers and accomplishes what He has said.