“You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.” . . . Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” - Luke 1:31, 34
Mary had grave doubts about the grave risks of being highly favored of God. She must have been tempted to think about other godly men and women who had been specially chosen, too.
There was Daniel, who was described by an-other great angel as a man “greatly loved” (Daniel 10:11) of his God. Yet Daniel had ended up in a lions’ den!
Then there was David—he had been hounded from pillar to post by the king’s army and had lived in the dens of the earth. God seemed to ask such hard things of his favored ones!
How was Mary going to be able to cope with the privilege of being highly favored of God? She had no problems believing God could do what he had promised he would do. Her fears were rather within herself. Would she be able to do what she had promised? How could she have a baby when she wasn’t even married? It seemed impossible—harder than facing Daniel’s lions or David’s Goliath and Saul’s army combined! In other words, Mary surely had grave doubts concerning her own abilities.
Have you ever doubted your own ability to obey God? Oh, you know what God wants you to do. He has made that abundantly obvious, but just how, you wonder, are you going to accomplish it? God supplies the answer to our grave doubts about the grave risks of obedience. He offers us the promise of his power—the overshadowing of his Holy Spirit.
For Further Study: Mark 8:1-10
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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