In my last post on the angel's message for Mary and her response to it, I skipped one verse in the angel's message. I didn't want to ignore it. It struck me when I read it and I wanted to spend more time on it.
"For no word from God will ever fail." (Luke 1:37)
In this one simple sentence, the angel spoke of one of the greatest truths about God. If God says He will do something, we can be sure that it will happen. It may not happen according to the timeline we wish it would, but it will happen in God's time.
Even the birth of the Messiah was an example of this. Old Testament prophets spoke of the Messiah to come. The law of the Old Testament that they were still living by pointed to the Messiah. But that didn't mean the Messiah came when the people of Israel may have wished He would come. They had been waiting for a long time and I'm sure many of them would have given up hope or found it very difficult to hold on to hope. But the message of the angel to Mary was proof of the truth of what He said in Luke 1:37.
No word from God will ever fail.
I think this verse jumped off the page at me because it's something I needed to be reminded of right now. It's a reminder I've needed often in my life and I would guess the same is true for most who call themselves followers of Christ.
When life is hard or things aren't going the way we had hoped they would, it can be easy to stop believing God will do what He has said He would do. We begin to doubt that what God's Word says to us is true, because we forget that God doesn't promise this life will be easy or happen exactly as we wish it would. He promises that He will be with us through it all. And that is true even when life isn't going what we would deem to be well.
I don't know what is going on in your life this holiday season, but whatever is, I hope you are able to take encouragement from Luke 1:37 and the incredible promise it contains. For no word from God will ever fail. In the midst of whatever life has brought, we can rest in the promise that God will never leave us to get through it on our own. That's exactly what we're celebrating this time of year - that God came near to us.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Trusting God's Plan
What would it have been like to be Mary and have a visit from an angel? Especially an angel with the message Mary heard?
The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of a greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; His kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:28-33)
The angel appeared to Mary with the message after God had been silent for 400 years. There had been no prophets speaking God/s message to Israel. God had been silent. They had heard nothing.
And then an angel shows up with a message for Mary. A message that would have been difficult to believe.
Mary questions the angel about how.
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:34-35)
So, not only was God speaking after 400 years of silence, the message was also that a miracle would occur. I don't know about you, but if I had been in Mary's shoes, I would have been wondering if this was all real at this point. I would have had a hard time believing God would choose to break His silence by speaking to me.
I love Mary's response to the message the angel brought:
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." (Luke 1:38)
Whatever questions or doubts she may have had, Mary chose to trust God. She chose to move forward with the message from the angel and trust God with whatever happened.
I wonder how I would have responded. Would I have chosen to trust God as Mary did? Or would I have allowed my doubts and fears to cause me to try to run from what I was being told?
What do I do today when God asks me to do something? Do I respond as God's servant? Or do I run the other way?
The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of a greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; His kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:28-33)
The angel appeared to Mary with the message after God had been silent for 400 years. There had been no prophets speaking God/s message to Israel. God had been silent. They had heard nothing.
And then an angel shows up with a message for Mary. A message that would have been difficult to believe.
Mary questions the angel about how.
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:34-35)
So, not only was God speaking after 400 years of silence, the message was also that a miracle would occur. I don't know about you, but if I had been in Mary's shoes, I would have been wondering if this was all real at this point. I would have had a hard time believing God would choose to break His silence by speaking to me.
I love Mary's response to the message the angel brought:
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." (Luke 1:38)
Whatever questions or doubts she may have had, Mary chose to trust God. She chose to move forward with the message from the angel and trust God with whatever happened.
I wonder how I would have responded. Would I have chosen to trust God as Mary did? Or would I have allowed my doubts and fears to cause me to try to run from what I was being told?
What do I do today when God asks me to do something? Do I respond as God's servant? Or do I run the other way?
Sunday, December 15, 2013
God's Interruption for Joseph
I appreciate the writers of each of the gospels has a different way of looking at the events that happened when Jesus was born. They each emphasize different things, but all of the share things that are a part of the story.
Matthew chooses to focus on Joseph and how he responded to the events. We don't hear much about Joseph in Scripture after Jesus' birth, but he would have raised Jesus like one of his own sons after His birth.
When I try to imagine the conversation when Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant and the child was God's, I find it difficult. I can't quite figure out how you would tell someone that.
But, it's a bit easier to imagine how Joseph would have responded. Matthew tells us what Joseph was planning to do in response: "Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly." (Matthew 1:19)
I sometimes wonder if Joseph said anything when Mary told him or what he would have said to her when she did.
Did he just sit there quietly unable to say anything?
Did he choose to stay quiet because he didn't want to say anything and hurt Mary with his response?
Did he have words of disbelief for her story?
Whatever Joseph's response when he found out, we know that his initial decision was to keep it quiet and divorce he so that she wouldn't face public disgrace.
But a visit from an angel in his dreams changed all of this. The angel confirmed what he had been told by Mary (Matthew 1:20-21). That message from the angel changed his life. Whatever he had thought before, not that he knew the truth, his life wouldn't be the same.
Over the last few months, I've been a part of a Bible study looking at the book of Jonah and how God interrupted his life with a new thing to do. Jonah had a choice in how to respond to God's interruption in his life.
In Matthew 1, we see that Joseph also had to choose how he would respond to God's interruption in his life. Would he choose to still take Mary as his wife, even when it would seem scandalous to those in Jewish culture? Or would he move forward with his plans to quietly divorce Mary?
Would Joseph step into God's interruption and be a part of God building His kingdom? Or would Joseph see it as an interruption and run from it?
We know that Joseph chose to participate in God's plan and take Mary as his wife. Joseph chose to join God in building His kingdom, even if he didn't fully understand it at the time.
We can learn from Joseph's example here about how to respond when God interrupts our plans. Joseph made the choice we should make - he chose to join God. That doesn't mean it was easy for Joseph. He would forever face disparaging opinions for doing so, but he went with God's plan anyways.
It may not be easy for us to go along with it when God interrupts our plans, but it will always be worth it.
Matthew chooses to focus on Joseph and how he responded to the events. We don't hear much about Joseph in Scripture after Jesus' birth, but he would have raised Jesus like one of his own sons after His birth.
When I try to imagine the conversation when Mary told Joseph that she was pregnant and the child was God's, I find it difficult. I can't quite figure out how you would tell someone that.
But, it's a bit easier to imagine how Joseph would have responded. Matthew tells us what Joseph was planning to do in response: "Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly." (Matthew 1:19)
I sometimes wonder if Joseph said anything when Mary told him or what he would have said to her when she did.
Did he just sit there quietly unable to say anything?
Did he choose to stay quiet because he didn't want to say anything and hurt Mary with his response?
Did he have words of disbelief for her story?
Whatever Joseph's response when he found out, we know that his initial decision was to keep it quiet and divorce he so that she wouldn't face public disgrace.
But a visit from an angel in his dreams changed all of this. The angel confirmed what he had been told by Mary (Matthew 1:20-21). That message from the angel changed his life. Whatever he had thought before, not that he knew the truth, his life wouldn't be the same.
Over the last few months, I've been a part of a Bible study looking at the book of Jonah and how God interrupted his life with a new thing to do. Jonah had a choice in how to respond to God's interruption in his life.
In Matthew 1, we see that Joseph also had to choose how he would respond to God's interruption in his life. Would he choose to still take Mary as his wife, even when it would seem scandalous to those in Jewish culture? Or would he move forward with his plans to quietly divorce Mary?
Would Joseph step into God's interruption and be a part of God building His kingdom? Or would Joseph see it as an interruption and run from it?
We know that Joseph chose to participate in God's plan and take Mary as his wife. Joseph chose to join God in building His kingdom, even if he didn't fully understand it at the time.
We can learn from Joseph's example here about how to respond when God interrupts our plans. Joseph made the choice we should make - he chose to join God. That doesn't mean it was easy for Joseph. He would forever face disparaging opinions for doing so, but he went with God's plan anyways.
It may not be easy for us to go along with it when God interrupts our plans, but it will always be worth it.
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