Mary sang, “He (God) has remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.” Luke 1:54
Heavenly Father, I love to fish in the tidewaters of the Gulf of Mexico, Sitka, Alaska, and the coast of Northern Ireland. But my favorite “tide” is Christmastide—a dozen days for celebrating the wonder and implications of Jesus’s birth.
Mary sang of Jesus’ birth as the surest sign of your “mercy-memory.” You made history defining promises to Abraham; and you neither exaggerated nor forgot those promises. From a pagan moon-worshipper (Abram), you created a new nation. From the “get-go,” Israel was formed to be the “national womb” for the Messiah—Jesus. Through Jesus you are redeeming “a great multitude no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages (Rev. 7:9).
This is the storyline that “graces,” shapes, and controls every day, month, and year until Jesus returns. Redemptive providence gets the first, middle, and last word—not accidental happenstance, human governance, or evil’s malevolence. Indeed, Father, thank you for remembering to be merciful to us.
But, also, a huge “Thank you!” for what you don’t remember, Father. Thirty-three years after giving us “Christmas,” you gave us “Easter.” Because of Jesus’ finished work, you no longer remember our sins against us (Heb. 10:17). You don’t have amnesia; much, much better, you have perfect Gospel-recall.
At his cross, you gave Jesus our guilt and exhausted all judgment against us. And you gave us Jesus’ righteousness, declaring us now-and-forever justified by faith in Jesus. Stunning, but it’s true. Until the Day you glorify us, you see every broken thing about us, but even more so, you see Jesus’ righteousness for us. Hallelujah, and So Very Amen.