Let it Be

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

LET IT BE

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 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. 36 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. 37 For nothing is impossible with God." 38 "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

NIV

It would be highly inappropriate to break up this whole conversation between Gabriel and Mary so we must deal with it in the whole. This is the second time in six months Gabriel has been sent to visit with the news of an upcoming birth. First we saw that Zachariah and Elizabeth walked upright before the Lord and now we see that Mary has found favor with God. Although one church in particular has lifted Mary to a very prominent position as the mother of God and in fact have made or commissioned statues of her to be displayed, she was but a young virgin girl who found favor with God. A girl who later as the mother of Jesus heard his very words telling people who is his mother and who are my brothers. He then pointed to his disciples and said for whosoever does the will of the Father in Heaven is my mother, my sister and my brothers. This was to tell his earthy family they also needed to accept him as the Christ in order to be saved. But the point here is in fact about Mary. Although she found favor with God and he sent his angel to inform her of the upcoming birth of Jesus and although she, somewhat like Zachariah asked how this can be, Gabriel did not strike here with dumbness. He explained how it would happen and after his explanation, although it was a farfetched supernatural one, she responded, ok let it be so. Two life lessons here for us. First are in the words of Gabriel and second in the words of Mary. First we hear Gabriel tell her that nothing is impossible for God. How could we not believe that? Yet it appears all too often that is the case, as we look to human efforts to achieve our desires, or to fix a problem we are experiencing. If we truly believe nothing is impossible for God, and knowing all the miraculous wonders he has done, in the past years of men and woman of old, as well as in the past years of our own lives, how could we ever forget that nothing is impossible for him? But we still have doubts at times, and even though we know he can, we wonder if he will. Why wouldn’t he? Why would he not do the impossible for us? Is it something in our walk with him? Are we not walking upright before him? Have we not found favor with him, which would mean he might be displeased with us in some way? It would seem in order to experience the miracles of God, we need to make sure we are walking upright and that we are in a position to find favor with him, at least that seems to make sense. Now it could be that as we accept Christ we have found favor with God, and because of Christ we are upright in his sight, which also makes more sense, so then we should be able to experience the impossible with God. The second lesson here being in the words of Mary is the fact we need to be servants of the Lord and accept the impossible. We need to be willing to experience whatever the Lord has in store for us. This is not our own life, but it is his. Mary had her own plans as being a virgin, she was engaged to a man and would be married and have a nice planned out life. But God had another plan and her life was now going to be turned all upside down, and she was alright with that. This has to be our response to God. If we expect to experience the impossible than we also have to be willing to accept what he will do in our life. That could include having our lives turned upside down, completely different then our plans. We need to be willing and tell him, let it be as you have said.