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Day 8
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
you have found favor with God. You will be with child
and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon 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. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a
child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth
month. For nothing is impossible with God."
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you
have said."
(Luke
1:30-37)
Have you
ever wondered why Mary wasn’t rebuked for asking the question, “How will
this be?” After all, Zachariah was for asking
essentially asking the same question (Luke 1:18). Mary
wasn’t rebuked because she asked the question in faith, not wondering
if God could keep His promise, but simply wondering
how God was going to accomplish what He promised.
So here we
find two miracles of the Holy Spirit revealed. 1) The
Holy Spirit’s miracle of the incarnation: God becoming human to
rescue humankind! 2) The Holy Spirit’s miracle of
faith to believe it: Mary trusted that all
things are possible with God!
Both
miracles are ours as well. 1) The tiny baby born in
Bethlehem is
both our brother and our God, our Savior Jesus. 2) The
Holy Spirit through Holy Baptism and His Word also has given us the faith to
trust it!
We again
see that faith trusts God’s promises, even when they may seem impossible, “For
nothing is impossible with God.” As we work through
our capital fund appeal, just like Mary we trust in God’s promises.
But, was
simply trusting in the promises the end of it for Mary?
No. There would be that upcoming difficult discussion
with Joseph, perhaps the disbelief and scorn of her family, a rough trip to
Bethlehem while very pregnant, a smelly stable as the surroundings in which
she gave birth and first held her son and Savior, packing up in the middle
of the night, living on the run, etc. Trusting the
incredible promises of God wasn’t the end of it. Trusting the incredible
also meant doing the difficult.
It’s no
different for you and me. Through faith we receive the
promises of God and are totally acceptable to God because of what Jesus has
done for us. And, through faith we act on the promises
of God. Is it easy to begin raising $4 million dollars?
No. But, trusting the incredible, we set out to
do the difficult, for God’s plan transcends all understanding.
Questions to Consider
1)
What seems
“impossible” with our campaign? Is it impossible for
God?
2)
What seems
“difficult” with our campaign? Does it compare with the
difficult things God has asked the saints of the past to do? (Mary?
Joseph?) Is any of it too difficult to accomplish
with the help and power of our Lord Jesus?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, You rule over all things for
the good of Your children. Like Mary, may I treasure the fulfillment of Your
promises in my heart. Help me put those promises into
action in my life. Amen. |
