Magnify the Lord

Mary’s song in Luke chapter 1 is a beautiful passage, and it is one that is often skimmed over or skipped altogether in readings of the Christmas story. This year, however, the first sentence jumped out at me:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.” (1:46-47)

I hadn’t really stopped to think about that word magnify before. Perhaps it’s the first graders I spent the day with, but my mind immediately stumbled over that definition.

To magnify is to make bigger, but how do we make God bigger?

But there’s more to the context of that statement “and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”

To magnify the Lord is not to literally make Him bigger, for He is already infinite. And, after all, a magnifying glass doesn’t change the size of the item it magnifies, it just makes it seem bigger.

To magnify the Lord, we speak about Him in such a way that others perceive Him as He is. --But if you’re at all like me, it can be easy to fall into a habit of doing just the opposite, of speaking about God as if He were actually much smaller than He really is.

When we complain about circumstances, or speak as if we doubt God can really help with a problem as big or a situation as hopeless as ours, we make it seem to others as if the God we serve is weak or unreliable. In reality, He is omnipotent and flawlessly faithful.

For some reason, wintertime seems to be a time for discouragement and dissatisfaction. This year especially, with the world in such a state of upheaval due to the pandemic, it will be even easier for us to minimize God before others with our words by complaining or giving in to doubt or despondency. But it also provides an excellent opportunity for us to magnify the Lord, by gratefully speaking of what He has done, what He has promised to do, and what He will do because He is faithful.

Will you join me in magnifying the Lord this Christmas season?