Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, 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 conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him 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 Jacob’s descendants 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 on 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 unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Reflection:The Holy Spirit is powerful enough to make the impossible become possible. Mary never thought that an angel would appear to her in person much less being told that she would bear a child, our Savior. Facing something like this would have naturally caused doubt and great fear, but the comfort that Mary immediately received comes from the assurance of God’s work through the Spirit. How else could she have responded the way that she did? Truly what seems to be impossible comes to fruition by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Response:There are events that come into our lives that are powerful enough to cause us to stop in our tracks. They can alter the very course that we are currently living on. Whether good or bad, we can either run away from them or trust and believe in our God who is more powerful than any circumstance we might face. When we live for the Lord, sometimes what God requires of us seems impossible and very uncertain. But we have the powerful Holy Spirit alive in us, so we no longer are bound to negative reactions to what is ahead, and we are now freed and enabled to trust that God is in control and that He is able to accomplish what He desires through us. Let’s pray and ask God to help us simply come into humble and thankful agreement with His Word ways, and to respond to Him as Mary did, trusting that He is able to even accomplish the impossible.
