Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”…
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be bornwill be called holy-the Son of God….For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1: 26-38 (ESV)
Sitting here this morning, I can only shake my head as I try to understand it all. I mean the plan to have the Son of the most high God born to a virgin in Bethlehem, in a stable, behind an inn, with only a few barnyard animals there to celebrate the occasion.
Isaiah prophesized the birth years earlier when he announced: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”
But I’m sorry, it is simply not the way any of us would have introduced the Savior into the world.
Stop for a minute and think about it-Mary was a young girl, perhaps fourteen to sixteen years of age. No doubt from a poor family. And she was chosen by God for perhaps the most important act of obedience in history-the Virgin Birth.
Strange.
But then we’re talking about God, who was there before anything. And, if we’re honest about it, a lot of things which happen, and a lot of His ways, do seem a bit strange to us. After all, he has communicated with us through angels and dreams, by writing on walls, or talking through a donkey. He has led His people out of slavery in Egypt and across the desert with a column of cloud by day and a column of fire by night. He had a fish chase after and swallow a deserter. He parted the Red Sea. And then He allowed His Son to be nailed on the cross to die-for us.
So I wonder why we always seem to have to understand the mind of an infinite and holy God to fully submit, to fully follow, and to fully believe. We will never understand God’s ways on this side of Heaven.
Did you notice Mary, though? Young, poor, a virgin, and probably not too sophisticated with the ways of the world and her culture, she asked a quick “How will this be…” to Gabriel, making sure he knew that she was virgin. And when the Angel answered her-she was all in!
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
She didn’t question. She had to be overwhelmed, but she didn’t seek to control the situation. She didn’t have any idea how she would explain it to her family or to the family of Joseph, to whom she was engaged to be married, or to the friends and community who might surely want to know when they observed her walking around the neighborhood, unmarried yet, but appearing to be pregnant.
Instead, Mary gave up control of all of that-and said “let it be!” Mary got control of her life, in alignment with God’s plan for her life, by giving up control of her life to God.
“Let it be!”
Reading that story again in Luke causes me to pause and think that Mary’s story is a lot like mine, maybe even yours. We find ourselves in the middle of life-overwhelmed at times-not knowing which way to turn or what we should do with decisions and difficulties we face. At times, we’ve all reached a point where we’re not sure how we can hold it all together much longer and don’t know what to do or where to go for help and guidance. We look for answers and listen for God’s direction-in whatever form it may come, and then hope we recognize it when it does. Sometimes we even look in the wrong places for direction or relief.
But Mary’s example to the world, in that Divine moment in history as she stood before the Angel Gabriel, tells us to just give God control. In the midst of whatever I am going through, whatever you are going through-give God control.
“Let it be.”
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
What about you? Time to give God control?
You can trust Him. Let it be!
In His Name–Scott
