Today let’s read Isaiah 7:14: “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel” (HCSB).
A virgin have a baby? Ridiculous! Yet the very Child this virgin bore told us: “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). If we would but latch onto the kind of faith it takes to believe Jesus’ statement in every situation!
Mary had that kind of faith. When the angel appeared to this young lady – who was probably around 14 years of age – she told him, “…may it be done to me according to your word…” (Luke 1:38).
And exactly what had the angel told her? “Rejoice, favored woman! The Lord is with you... Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God… you will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end… The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God” (from Luke 1:28, 30-33, and 35).
Mary asked one question: “How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” (Luke 1:34).
Don’t misread her question as doubting – her statement is literal: tell me how this will be done. The angel’s reply is recorded in the passage above, beginning with “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” He concluded in Verse 37: “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
This was enough information for Mary to reply: “May it be done to me according to your word.”
If we look back to Genesis 18 we see a prophecy concerning another “impossible” birth – elderly Sarah and Abraham having Isaac. The angel said to Abraham: “Is anything impossible for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14a).
Let me give you just a few other verses I hope you’ll take the time to look at: Matthew 17:20; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27; and Mark 14:36. Please, please, please read Mark 14:36! We need to realize that while nothing is “impossible for the Lord,” He doesn’t always act in the ways that we think He should. He doesn’t always intervene like we want Him to. In other words, He just doesn’t act like we think He should.
I have no doubt that you can think of one or more situation in your life in which you wanted God to do a certain thing, but He didn’t. Folks, we don’t think like God does! He doesn’t think like WE do! While we see this tiny glimpse of His plan and creation, He sees the whole picture, and even when we don’t understand, He’s always acting with our best interests at heart.
What are you asking the Lord to do for you? Are you asking Him to do it YOUR way, or are you asking Him to work His perfect will?
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways…” (Isaiah 55:8).
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