Have you ever had that "why me" kind of day?
Do you think Mary thought "why me?
Nothing that I have read tells me Mary asked "why me" or even thought it, she simply said “I am the Lord’s servant, May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38
But why Mary? What was so special about her that God would chose her to bring forth His son? The angel Gabriel told her that she had found favor with God. How do you find favor with God? I feel like Mary's response to Gabriel says it all. She didn't ask Why she just asked How, and was then like, "ok then". That's obedience right there. Luke 1:46-55 gives us a little more insight. Mary is faithful to the Lord, she is humble, she was a women of scripture. And those are just a few of her qualities. But she was also from the right family line, she lived in the right place and she was engaged to the right person, she was a virgin, she was poor. Why are those things important? Well if you read my last blog "Jesus is Coming" you would have read about the Old Testament's trail to the Messiah.
But of all those things I feel like what I admire most about Mary is, Mary was courageous.
Mary's courage is to be admired. Luke said Mary was troubled by the visit from Gabriel, and wondered what the meaning of his words were and although he tells her not to be afraid, I don't think she was frightened at all by Gabriel. I take it as though she was troubled/worried by what he was going to tell her but not frightened. Imagine your going about your day and all of a sudden this Angel appears to you. I envision Gabriel as being a Goliath of a figure, big and intimidating. I feel I would have been frightened by the appearance alone and tried to run away and hide, but not Mary she stood there and she listened to what he had to say.
Then Gabriel tells her she is going to conceive and give birth to a son even though she is a virgin. Now here's where I would have been like "umm no, nope, no way! Do you know what they will do to me out there? They will disown me, they will stone me and they will leave me for dead! Nope, not gonna do it!"
This is not Mary's response, Mary's only questions "how? as I am a virgin". He tells her, and again she doesn't question, she just says, "I am the Lord's servant, may your word to me be fulfilled" She was not fearful that she would be an outcast, she wasn't fearful she would lose her fiancé, she wasn't fearful she would be stoned. She trusted God's word. Sometimes in life even though we know we should be trusting God's word; we question what he tells us and we don't always just do as He asks of us. Mary did!
That is courage! That is faith! That is a woman of scripture! She knows that the Messiah is coming! and THAT is Why Mary!
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