"...for nothing is impossible with God..."

                                                                                                                                       - Luke 1:37

Hello Reader!  So I've been reading the Gospels for my devos just to get a deeper understanding of the character and teachings of Jesus and I've recently come across the passage of Luke 1.  So to recap, this is what happened from Luke 1:5-80:

Once upon a time, there was a dude named Zechariah and he had a wife named Elizabeth, who was somehow related to Mary the mother of Jesus.  They were both old and they didn't have any kids because Liz was barren.  Now ol' Zack's job was being a priest so one day, he was chosen by lot to burn incense all alone inside the temple.  So as he's burning incense, suddenly an angel (enter Gabriel) appears and tells him "Yo man, you're gonna have a baby!  He will be a joy and delight to you and ppl will rejoice because of his birth for he will be great in the sight of the Lord" and he compared this baby (who's eventually John the Baptist) to Elijah since he will "make ready a people prepared for the Lord".  Hearing this, I suppose Zack got a little doubtful and a little freaked so he was like "Pish yeaaah right! Me and my wife are so old!" but Gabe was totally like "Hey, man.  I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time" and Zack was immediately stricken dumb.  So then ppl were wonderin' why Zack couldn't speak and stuff but true to Gabe's words, Liz got pregnant and stayed in seclusion for 5 months; and she gave thanks to the Lord. (Luke 1:5-25)

Flash forward to Mary, who at this time was betrothed to Joseph and was still a virgin.  So as she was doing her daily thing, suddenly Gabe appears to her (Gabe is one lucky angel) and said "Greetings you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you and you will soon be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. 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, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end".  Now Mary too was troubled at these words but instead of saying "yeaaah right" she said "So...uh...how's it going to happen, since I'm a virgin".  And Gabe answered saying that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her, and he also mentioned Liz, who was pregnant and she was old.  So if God can do that, he can give YOU [Mary] a child too, for "nothing is impossible with God".  And Mary replied I am the Lord's servant.  May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:26-38)

Skip ahead to verse 57 and Liz gives birth to John.  Ppl were telling her to name him after a relative (probably because they want the baby to be named after them :P) but Zack told them (actually, he wrote to them) "his name is John" following the instructions of Gabriel.  Immediately, his silence was lifted and he erupted in praise of God and even wrote a song (Luke 1:67-80).  And John became John the Baptist and he was strong and went to live in the desert (Luke 1:57-80).

So there are several points that I want to make from this passage.  First, let's focus on God's promise.  The angel Gabriel appeared to both Zechariah and Mary with a similar message to both of them.  In Zechariah's case, however, the message bore not only a promise but also instruction.  Gabriel tells him in verse 13 "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. ¹⁶Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord".  Notice that along with the promise of joy and delight and all that jazz, there also comes along serious instructions.  And God doesn't even allow room for disobedience, for only when Zechariah followed the instruction of the Lord by naming the child John that his tongue was loosed.  It's like, "Zack, I [God] am going to bless you with a kid but you WILL name him John and you WILL NOT let him drink wine etc."  So when receiving blessings, I suppose it's not always appropriate to only expect blessings and not instruction too, though there are instances where you simply receive, as Mary did.  Just like when Jesus forgives the woman caught in adultery in John 8; he forgives her but tells her to "sin no more".  I'm tempted to put in a "or else" after that statement but Jesus didn't do it.  Hah hah.

Second, the impossibility of God's promise.  We're so consumed with what can be done and what can't be done that sometimes we lose sight of the POWER of God.  Sometimes, we just get lost in 'reality' and 'impossibility vs. possibility' that we forget that God made ALL THINGS possible when He created everything in the first place.  If He could create the universe, then isn't everything possible?  It's understandable for us though, we are ultimately human and therefore flawed.  We think we know what is possible and impossible through what we see in daily life; a pig cannot fly, a tree cannot talk, spoons cannot breed with forks to create sporks.  But I suppose that would be the equivalent of saying to someone, "Hey!  You can't place that lego piece on that lego piece!  You can't draw that airplane!  You can't write that word!  That's 'impossible'!".  Well, if you're the creator and author, then yeah, you could TOTALLY draw that airplane or write that word; what's stopping you?  You have the power, you can do it.  Kinda the same with God.  I mean, He created everything, He wrote the lives of a million gazillion people, He shaped the earth and cast the stars in the heavens, HE'S GOT THE POWER!!  Why CAN'T He do it?  Because we humans do think He can?  When you think about it, it's kind of silly, our human rationale.

Then, there's the whole issue of how we react to God's promise.  Look at Zechariah: he was totally doubtful of what God was going to do in his life because he was too stuck into the human sense of reality.  He was hesitant because he knew that he and Elizabeth were old and they've already tried having kids to no avail.  Perhaps he didn't want to try again and fail again.  But look at the signs!  He's talking to an ANGEL for crying out loud!  How can you doubt?  What more can a person ask for as a sign, right?  For God to actually appear in front of him and tell him to his face "yo man, you're gonna have a kid"?  But we ppl are so often hindered by our past and our notion that it's impossible that we lose sight of the POWER of God and what He can do.  Like Gabriel said, "nothing is impossible with God".  And look where Zack's doubt got him!  He couldn't talk at all until John was birthed.  I'm sure after he was stricken dumb that he believed that God was going to give him a son, and if I had given up hope in having a child and suddenly, I have ASSURANCE that God was going to give me one soon, I'd want to praise God at the top of my lungs.  But Zack wasn't given that opportunity, since he couldn't talk.  Because of his doubt, he robbed himself of his chance to give praise and thanks to the one who provided him with this blessing, and it was only until after he had obeyed the command of God that he was given back that opportunity to praise Him and sing to Him.  And man, if he could sing like that when his silence was lifted, imagine that burning desire to praise God when he was silent.  Must've been torture.

But let's look at Mary's reaction.  So admittedly, she too was troubled when she was given this news.  I mean, who wouldn't be?  If someone suddenly got pregnant and you know it wasn't the fiancée, ppl would start asking questions.  Imagine the gossip!  It's SCANDELOUS!!  But Mary didn't ask why, or doubted; no, she just asked "how".  Her question "how is this supposed to happen since I'm a virgin" implies a little doubt but doesn't say it outright.  Doubt would be like "pish no way man.  Are you kidding me??" but her question could be taken as just a simple inquiry, just an "ok...but how is it going to happen"?  I mean, if I were a gurl [ok that's a stretch, but bear with me] and I found out I'm going to be mysteriously pregnant, I'd be a little worried too cuz I mean, I'm gonna be carrying the baby and I've never carried one before so I don't know how it feels, how it's going to happen etc.  But I think God understood that it was an honest question and explained a little bit of what's going to happen to her.  It wasn't much of a description, but Mary accepted it anyway and said "may it be as you said".

So where am I going with all this? I guess what I mean is yes, there are occasions where God is ok with us asking for proof (ex. Gideon asked for a sign THREE TIMES in Judges 6) but there are also occasions where we just have to say "OK.  May it be as you say" like Mary did, even if we're a little doubtful and even if we are afraid of the unknowns.  I think God understands wherever we're coming from but really, it's up to YOU how to react to His promise.  Zechariah's response was understandable and very human, but it wasn't the RIGHT response.  God desires obedience, even in times of doubt.  God also doesn't always dish out blessings like Christmas presents either; sometimes he gives you a blessing but it comes with an instructions manual.  So it's up to YOU whether or not to assemble that blessing on your own (in which case you'll probably destroy it) or to follow God's instructions and trust that this is what's best for you.  And finally, trust that God can do the impossible, because impossibility is a human notion, not a Godly notion.  We have to expect the impossible, for nothing is impossible with God.

Cheers.