May It Be
December 24
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her (Luke 1:38).
Have you ever had a boss come to you and give you an assignment which had rules never before used? Not only were the rules different, he was asking you to agree to them not knowing the outcome or impact it would have on your life. That must have been the way Mary, the mother of Jesus felt.
God was about to do something so extraordinary that it required a face to face meeting with the subject, Mary, and his key angel, Gabriel. What God was about to do was so foreign that it needed detailed explanation.
Mary had been handpicked to give birth to the Christ-child. Can you imagine!? However, in order to do so she was going to be pregnant while yet unmarried, something totally taboo in her culture. In fact, women were stoned to death if found to be fornicators. So, when Mary heard the assignment and responded by saying, "May it be," this tells us what a courageous woman of faith she must have been.
She did not understand the implications of what she was about to do. However, she placed her total trust in God and knew that if God chose her for such an assignment, she could trust the outcome to Him. She would even have to trust the explanation to Joseph, who was not going to understand. In fact, when he discovered Mary was pregnant, he immediately considered divorce proceedings.
However, when God saw Joseph's response, He sent an angel to explain the situation through a dream. I am sure the time between her telling him and his dream must have been difficult to explain. She did not know God was going to solve the problem. This is another example of her faith and courage. I would imagine most women might have responded to the angel like this, "I won't do it unless you tell my husband!"
Do you have an assignment from God that seems impossible on the front end? Is God calling you to trust Him for the outcome? Take a lesson from Mary and release the outcome to God.
For more from Os Hillman and T.G.I.F., visit todaygodisfirst.com
