Blessed and Highly Favored

And having come in, the angel said to her,

"Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you;

blessed are you among women!"

Luke 1:28

She was probably an average teen-age girl, on the verge of marriage and therefore adulthood, and she was probably going about her daily routine and minding her own business when the angel came to her. The Scriptures do not indicate that she was doing anything particularly special on the day Gabriel appeared with his message, although there is the possibility (as we have discussed in earlier posts concerning the timing of all this) that she was celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights, also known as Hanukkah.

It was a time of festivity, of gift giving and rejoicing. It was a time for remembering all the wonderful things that God had done throughout the ages for His people. It was a time for lighting special candles and praying special prayers, and one of those prayers always arrests my attention:

"We light these lights for the miracles and the wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made our forefathers, in those days at this season, through your holy priests. During all eight days of Hanukkah these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them except for to look at them in order to express thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, Your wonders and Your salvations."

Hanukkah was about commemorating the God's miracles and the salvation of His people, and it was about personal commitment and dedication. Perhaps it was at that very moment of prayer and candle-light and dedication that Gabriel appeared to the young Jewish girl and said the most amazing things!