Give me a word, Lord: HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?

Luke 1:28-34 “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”  Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.  “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!  You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.  And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”  Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

As we rush into the celebration of Christmas this week, we begin to slow down and ponder the story of the birth of the King. I wrote about Mary a little while back as I pondered the idea of whether or not Mary knew exactly who the Child she was carrying was. Today, I’m pondering the birth story with a little bit different twist. How did a virgin girl give birth to the King of kings? How in the world did this miracle happen? Well, Mary asked this same question herself. The angel answered her question with this response, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” That’s a good explanation, but wow, still hard to comprehend and understand. But…it happened just as the angel said! Our God can do ANYTHING!

We tend to put God in a little box. We can’t possibly understand His power and authority, so we just put Him in a little box and store Him away on a shelf somewhere. We call Him out of the box when we need Him like He is some kind of genie in a bottle. That is NOT the way it works, my friends. God is BIG. God is HUGE. He is everywhere, all the time. He is all powerful, and He is all knowing. He created us and this entire universe, and He deserves our attention all of the time. He deserves our praise on a daily basis.

Mary didn’t understand how she could conceive this Child, but she accepted the fact and believed that this would happen exactly the way the angel said it would happen. God has always been in the baby miracle business. Isaac was born to Abraham in Sarah in their old age. They were knocking on the door of one hundred. How could an old woman like Sarah give birth to a baby in her old age? How could this happen? …God. What about Samuel? Hannah was barren, and she prayed for a son. She promised to give the child back to God, if He would only bless her with a son. God heard her prayers, and a barren woman gave birth. How could this happen? …God. Then Elizabeth and Zechariah were childless, but they were chosen to be the parents of John the Baptist. They were also up in age, and were well past the age of reproduction. But Gabriel delivered the message to Zechariah that they would bear a son that would announce the Messiah, and it happened just at old Gabriel proclaimed. How could this happen? …God

Don’t you see? God is at work in the lives of His children on a daily basis. He can give a child to a virgin, and he can give a child to a elderly woman. If He can do this, we have to see that there is NOTHING that He can not do. So why then do we tend to put God in a box or on the back burner in our lives? Why don’t we recognize the sovereignty of our God? Consider for a moment the person that you love most in this whole world. How much do you love that person? Take that love and multiple it times infinity. That is how much God loves you. He cares about every single detail in your life. He hears you when you cry. He feels that pain too. He hears you when you are joyful. He rejoices with you. He cares about the things that you care about, and He knows exactly how to meet your needs.

I don’t know what is going on in your life right now, but I’m sure there is a trouble or two on your mind or in your heart. Don’t let those concerns overwhelm you and steal your joy this Christmas season. We wonder how things will work out. We ponder over how things will end. We worry when we can’t see the solution to the problems in life. How can this happen? How will I work this all out? Instead of asking how it will work out and how it can happen, we should be confidently saying, “I can not wait to see how my God is going to work this out!” Or maybe we should declare with confidence, “I’m not sure what you are teaching me through these circumstances, God, but I’m just going to trust you. I know you are in the fire with me, and you are not going to let me get burned!” We have to have faith through the fires in life. We have to recognize that we can’t control what is going on, but God can. He is in control. Everything an and will happen just as He ordains. How can this happen? It can happen because we serve a Holy Father that loves His kids unconditionally and infinitely, and He is actively involved in each of our lives. Let go and let God have control. He will works everything out for our good and His glory…every single time! Let God carry the weight while you wait….