For Nothing Is Impossible with God

BY Claire Gibson

What did Mary do to receive God’s plan for her life? How did Mary respond in faith to that plan?

These are the questions that stand out to me in today’s reading. Unlike Moses, who told God why he was not qualified for the job, Mary accepted the position, she embraced what was to come. Unlike Abraham’s wife Sarah, who laughed when an angel told her that she would have a child, Mary accepted the news with somber understanding that more than anything else in her life, she was the “Lord’s servant” (Luke 1:38).

Where does a teenage girl get that kind of courage?

If I’m honest, I am terrified of being the Lord’s servant, because life has taught me that the Lord asks His people to do incredibly difficult things. If Mary had any fear, we do not get to hear it verbalized. Instead, we hear the song she sang aloud—to herself, to Elizabeth, and to the baby in her womb. The words of Mary’s song are directly from Scripture, which means that Mary put His Word deep into her own heart. 

The only thing we learn she did to quell the tide of fear is to hold fast to the life preserver of Scripture. From our modern vantage point, it’s hard to fathom the extent to which this angel’s pronouncement would forever alter Mary’s life. In many ways, what the angel announced was not good news. For someone in Mary’s position, it could have been a death sentence.

And yet, Mary replies, “May it happen to me as you have said” (v.38).

Is it possible that Scripture really does have that kind of steadying power? Is it really true, that if you hold fast to the Word of God, He will steady you when His assignment comes?

Because we all have an assignment in this life. Maybe your assignment is to walk through life without the spouse you dreamed would be by your side. Maybe rather than bearing children, you are bearing the burden of an unexpected diagnosis. Maybe the cross is heavier and the road is harder than you ever expected. And yet, Mary’s calm voice reminds us all, giving us the words to say even when our hearts might feel terrified.

“May it happen to me as you have said.”

Mary knew that her God was good. Therefore, she didn’t need to fear the angel’s announcement. It was an invitation to deeper faith, deeper reliance on the God who can do all things. When we receive life’s hardest assignments, the Word of God and God Himself are with us, to give us courage and strength with which to combat fear. What is true? No plan of God’s can be thwarted (Job 42:2). What is real? God “is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). Speak these words to the people God has placed in your life, and to your own heart because they are God’s comfort and balm to sustain us through every pilgrim journey.