What is the saying about if something seems too good to be true? It probably isn’t true, right? But, what if it was true? Today, we cross over into the New Testament in our yearlong series, Blogging Through The Bible In 2020. Everything we have been reading for the past 30 weeks has been pointing us to what we are about to read together. In today’s text, we are going to study the right response to God’s Word.
Luke 1 has several similarities to the story of Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis. Both had a godly family where the wife up to this point was unable to have a child, then God intervened in His timing. Both of the children were promised by God, and would be used by God for a huge purpose. Both Sarah in Genesis and Zacharias in Luke struggled to believe God’s promise. The one that stands out from these stories is Mary. Mary shows us the proper response to the revelation of God. Luke 1:38 says, “Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” The angel, Gabriel, had previously appeared to Zacharias and told him about the son to be born to he and his wife, Elizabeth. Zacharias didn’t believe the word of the angel, and so God kept Zacharias quiet until the time of John’s circumcision. However, when Gabriel told Mary that she was going to become pregnant, even though she was a virgin, she had a different response. It’s not that Mary could figure it out, or that she understood it. She had some questions herself. However, her response was, “let it be to me according to your word.”
How do you and I respond to the unlikely or the strange? In this chapter we see the two responses we can have. We can either not trust or believe it, or we can accept it. The amazing thing is, even though Zacharias didn’t believe the message, it didn’t change God’s plan. There is a lesson there for you and I. God’s plan isn’t dependent upon you and I liking it, understanding it, or even agreeing with it. God’s will is going to be done. When Zacharias came out of the Temple, everyone knew he had a vision of God while in there. However, he couldn’t tell anyone. He couldn’t tell anyone because of his unbelief. I remember each time that Diana told me that she was pregnant, and even the time that she told me that a little girl was going to be coming home to us. I couldn’t wait to tell people. I can’t imagine not being able to share that good news. The other lesson from Zacharias is that there is a cost to our unbelief. I hope, I think we all hope, that we are more like Mary and her response. Again, she didn’t understand everything, and she certainly had questions. But her willingness to believe what God told her is remarkable. The question of how we respond is really a question of, do I completely trust God? If I pray for His will, if I read His Word, then shouldn’t I expect Him to do things that are truly incredible? We have spent the last 30 weeks in this series reading about the truly remarkable things God has done. We can look back on our own life and see some miracles that we can’t explain any other way except to say God did it. I won’t say that God’s will is always perfectly clear. There are times when I feel God is leading me in a direction and I just scratch my head and wonder, why this, why now? I won’t say that God’s will is always easy. To be used by God requires me to die to myself daily and to be alive to Him and His will. Sometimes that is difficult if we are being honest. However, every time I have ever submitted to God’s will and done it, I have never regretted it. But there are more times than I can count, that I haven’t done God’s will and I have regretted it. Remember, when you can’t understand the will of God, trust the heart of God. He is good, His will is perfect. Commit yourself not to figuring everything out, but to trusting God no matter what, and then see what God does in you and through you.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin