Mary – Sometimes God’s plans leave Questions.

Often when we think of Mary in the Christmas story, we think of her perfect obedience, and there may be a little truth there, as she was obedient onto the Lord. However Mary also questioned what the Lord told her that day. You could say that a God sized plan left Mary with a God sized question.

Luke 1:31-34 – 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Here we see Mary asking a question, a big question, and a question any of us may ask in that situation. Mary, out of the blue, is dropped into a supernatural situation. An angel appears to her, telling her not to fear. It tells her she blessed among women, she’d going to have a son, His name will be Jesus, he’s going to be great among men, and he will forever rule over everything. Can you even begin to imagine what must have been going through her mind at that time?

I wonder how much silence passed between them, as Mary processed all that she had been told. How much time elapsed before she finally uttered the question, “But I’ve never known a man?” Perhaps she thought the angel had the wrong girl, or maybe just the wrong time period, but she knew that there was no way she could be pregnant! God had a big plan for Mary, and Mary had big questions.

In this case, the angel answered Mary’s questions that day, Gabriel went on to say:

Luke 1: 35-37 - 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Mary was given the details, but it’s important to remember we don’t always get them. When he told Abraham to go, he didn’t tell him where he was going. When Jesus called Peter to follow me, Jesus never said follow me to what. Sometimes when we have big questions, God wants us to wait on the answers. Sometimes we just need faith in Him. 

  

Remember, Abraham needed faith as he climbed the mountain to sacrifice his son. Joshua needed faith when God had him marching around the walls of Jericho. Peter and John needed faith, when they stood before the Jewish leaders and said they could not stop proclaiming Christ. In each of these cases, God called ordinary men to a great task. They set aside their own goals to follow his, God was with them, but they probably each had some big questions.

Today we may be doing everything right, but still not understand everything God is doing. We may have questions, but need to trust God and have Faith in Him. I love what Solomon wrote on this.

Proverbs 3:5 - 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.