There Mary was, completely startled by Gabriel’s appearance in her living room (or whatever room). She was troubled by the divine interruption in her life, and was unsure of what to think of the predicted outcome. How in the world was a virgin going to become pregnant—with the Son of God nonetheless?
I can just see her standing in the presence of Gabriel, brow wrinkled in confusion, mouth agape. She probably struggled to find words to formulate her question. Have you ever felt that way? I know I have had many moments where I felt like I needed to run and get a Q-tip and clean out my ears just to make sure I heard God right.
In the same manner God shocked Mary with His plans for her, He delights in surprising us with radical revelations and seemingly impossible plans that leaves us standing in wonder—questioning if we heard Him correctly, and sometimes even pondering whether or not it was God’s voice we heard at all.
God graciously allowed Gabriel to answer Mary’s first question—but I am sure there were many other questions that went unanswered in the months and years to come. And Gabriel’s answer to Mary’s first question was not even that helpful.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God,” he said in Luke 1:35 as if that really answered what she asked.
If I were Mary my next question would have been, “Okay, but how exactly is He going to do that? Will it hurt?” Perhaps it all happened so fast Mary was left speechless. Or maybe she was just naturally less inquisitive than most of us.
But no matter what the case was, we know God saw fit to give one small girl one very large task—and He deemed it acceptable to leave many questions lingering in her mind as He unfolded His plans and accomplished what He promised.
Many times, frustration leads us to faith like nothing else. Recently I attended a conference requiring air travel. I arrived at the airport early just like the airline advised me to, but because of a security breach in a nearby terminal the lines were extra long and I missed my flight.
I got a seat on a flight—four hours later—which put a big kink in my plans for the day, and I became distraught as I learned the airline could not locate my suitcase. The people at the ticket counter politely told me I would have to board the plane “having faith” my luggage would somehow meet up with me on the other side.
As I sat on the plane looking out at the beautiful California coast below me, I thought of how that particular flight was a metaphor for my life. I had to get onboard without knowing what kind of situation was waiting for me on the other side. Many times, God leads us down dimly lit paths where we are left merely guessing about what awaits us up ahead.
When I landed and eventually spotted my bag, I had never been so excited to see my suitcase before in my life. But what about all the times when the suitcase doesn’t arrive? What do we do when God shuts doors we thought He opened? How do we deal with the uncertainty and apprehension that comes when He opens doors we never knew existed?
We have two choices—we can live in fear or we can live in faith. There is no other choice, there is no in between.
Excerpt taken from God Called a Girl. To order a copy click here.
Tags: Christmas, God Called a Girl, Mary, nativity story
I finished reading God Called A Girl a couple of weeks ago and i LOVED it. I’m so glad God called you to write it! THis post really helped me to today because I’ve been a little stressed through the weekend and this morning it was a good reminder that I can go with faith in God or fear of my circumstances. Ofcourse it always seems when we choose faith satan tries all the harder to get us down, hence my stress level and uncertainty. It just proves we need to press on harder in faith and worship
Tonya: I understand the stress that can come with unanswered questions. This morning I was reading in Joshua 3 and verse 4 really jumped out at me. The children of Israel were instructed to follow closely after the ark of the covenant because “they had never been this way before.” When we face similar situations, we need only to follow closely after God and He will get us through!