{"id":71886,"date":"2024-12-20T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/?p=71886"},"modified":"2024-12-11T13:15:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T18:15:14","slug":"joy-through-humility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/joy-through-humility\/","title":{"rendered":"Joy Through Humility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-56, Psalm 131:1-3, Philippians 2:5-11, James 4:6-10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We love a good \u201crags to riches\u201d story, don\u2019t we? Especially when God tells it in His upside-down kind of way. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God\u2019s plan for our redemption thread through unlikely people, including the stories of lowly women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. They all lead us to this part of the Advent story in Nazareth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s passage, we read of how, because of God\u2019s favor, our far-from-royal Mary would birth a king\u2014the King\u2014who will reign forever. Outlandish, right? This girl of low standing and little means, a promised bride who was no longer a child but not yet a woman, was chosen to mother a king? As this news took shape in her womb, her humble condition moved her to the outer edges of her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God was more interested in who she wasn\u2019t<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary\u2019s words to Gabriel\u2014\u201cSee, I am the Lord\u2019s servant\u201d\u2014tell us the story of what God saw in those deeper places. She wasn\u2019t proud; she didn\u2019t doubt; she wasn\u2019t even hesitant. Her immediate posture of servanthood reveals a heart that loved and trusted God, even when it didn\u2019t make sense. No, she didn\u2019t have much to offer, but what she offered was what He most wanted. She offered herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the thing: we can\u2019t fake humility. We can\u2019t people-please or perform or strive our way into being humble. We can\u2019t fool God. True humility lives in a heart that is completely surrendered. Humility asks that we empty ourselves and adopt the attitude of Christ (Philippians 2:5). Humility looks like trusting Him so completely that our souls are calmed like weaned children (Psalm 131:2). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When our spirits connect with His Spirit, and we hear His voice in our souls, we experience a connection with Him that changes us in places only God can see. That communion transforms our hearts to want what He desires first and only. That\u2019s what opens the door to humility\u2014and that\u2019s when we find His joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This journey to joy is exactly what we see in today\u2019s passage, when Luke tells of Mary\u2019s visit with Elizabeth. As Mary processed the news, her praise bubbled forth. She sang that \u201c[her] soul magnifies the Lord; [her] spirit rejoices.\u201d She understood and was blessed by His plans to exalt the lowly (vv.46-48,52). She held the hope of what God had promised through His Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this season of Advent as we anticipate the birth of our King, our hearts are also revealed in the waiting. As we wait, may we know that He still comes to the lowly. He still gives grace to the meek. He still exalts the humble-hearted (James 4:10). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us rejoice, for from the oft-overlooked rags of humility, come the riches of joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Marnie Hammar<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-56, Psalm 131:1-3, Philippians 2:5-11, James 4:6-10 We love a good \u201crags to riches\u201d story, don\u2019t we? Especially when God tells it in His upside-down kind of way. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God\u2019s plan for our redemption thread through unlikely people, including the stories of lowly women like Tamar, Rahab, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":71562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent2024"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[71574],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"JOY THROUGH HUMILITY<\/b>

\r\nby Marnie Hammar<\/i>

\r\n

We love a good \u201crags to riches\u201d story, don\u2019t we? Especially when God tells it in His upside-down kind of way. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God\u2019s plan for our redemption thread through unlikely people, including the stories of lowly women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. They all lead us to this part of the Advent story in Nazareth.<\/p>
\r\n

In today\u2019s passage, we read of how, because of God\u2019s favor, our far-from-royal Mary would birth a king\u2014the King\u2014who will reign forever. Outlandish, right? This girl of low standing and little means, a promised bride who was no longer a child but not yet a woman, was chosen to mother a king? As this news took shape in her womb, her humble condition moved her to the outer edges of her community.<\/p>
\r\n

But God was more interested in who she wasn\u2019t.<\/i><\/p>
\r\n

Mary\u2019s words to Gabriel\u2014\u201cSee, I am the Lord\u2019s servant\u201d\u2014tell us the story of what God saw in those deeper places. She wasn\u2019t proud; she didn\u2019t doubt; she wasn\u2019t even hesitant. Her immediate posture of servanthood reveals a heart that loved and trusted God, even when it didn\u2019t make sense. No, she didn\u2019t have much to offer, but what she offered was what He most wanted. She offered herself.<\/p>
\r\n

Here\u2019s the thing: we can\u2019t fake humility. We can\u2019t people-please or perform or strive our way into being humble. We can\u2019t fool God. True humility lives in a heart that is completely surrendered. Humility asks that we empty ourselves and adopt the attitude of Christ (Philippians 2:5). Humility looks like trusting Him so completely that our souls are calmed like weaned children (Psalm 131:2).<\/p>
\r\n

When our spirits connect with His Spirit, and we hear His voice in our souls, we experience a connection with Him that changes us in places only God can see. That communion transforms our hearts to want what He desires first and only. That\u2019s what opens the door to humility\u2014and that\u2019s when we find His joy.<\/p>
\r\n

This journey to joy is exactly what we see in today\u2019s passage, when Luke tells of Mary\u2019s visit with Elizabeth. As Mary processed the news, her praise bubbled forth. She sang that \u201c[her] soul magnifies the Lord; [her] spirit rejoices.\u201d She understood and was blessed by His plans to exalt the lowly (vv.46-48,52). She held the hope of what God had promised through His Son.<\/p>
\r\n

In this season of Advent as we anticipate the birth of our King, our hearts are also revealed in the waiting. As we wait, may we know that He still comes to the lowly. He still gives grace to the meek. He still exalts the humble-hearted (James 4:10).<\/p>
\r\n

Let us rejoice, for from the oft-overlooked rags of humility, come the riches of joy.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"20","scripture":"Luke 1:26-56, Psalm 131:1-3, Philippians 2:5-11, James 4:6-10","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}