AN UNASKED-FOR MIRACLE -- Devotional for September 10, from "Good Seeds"

The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said, “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son. You shall name Him Jesus, but He will be called the SON of the Most High.” Mary responded, How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “With God, nothing is impossible!” (Luke 1:26-37)

Young virgin Mary was just going about her business when it happened. It wasn’t quite “business as usual” though, for she was engaged to be married. We don’t know if they had set a date yet, but Joseph and Mary certainly had set their hearts on one another, and a bright future together. Enter: Gabriel, bearer of tidings that would change forever the simple hopes of this simple, good couple. And Mary herself was not quite a “business as usual” person, what we’d call today “a typical teenager.” We see this first in the way the angel addressed her, “Hail, favored one,” speaking of God’s sovereign choice of the maiden to bear His Son. But later the wording is varied: “Mary, you have found favor with God.” Was it her character, her faith, her purity? We don’t know, but there was something about her – along with whatever was in the mind of God – that made her the perfect choice as the “Mother of the Son of God” (a better rendering of that common phrase). The lesson that hits home to me in this event concerns an unasked-for miracle. Joe Christian reads this passage and immediately latches onto verse 37 as a promise from God just for him; and then he “names it and claims it” regarding the particular miracle he has in mind, that he wouldn’t mind God performing for him – and the sooner the better! This brand of Christianity smacks more of Christian superstition than pure religion. If it merely irritated fellow believers, I suppose we could bear with it, in Christian love. But surely it bodes poorly for the testimony of Bible truth to the unbelieving world, when they witness Christians who are always on the lookout for a better deal from God. How is this any different from those regular attenders of another kind of “church” – the gambling casino: “Come on, Lady Luck, smile on me tonight!” This is about as far from God’s way as you can get! The miracle that was about to take place in the body and life of Mary was all of God. She was mystified by it, and someday she would be mortified by it (as Simeon prophesied: “The child will be a sword to pierce you own soul” Luke 2:34). But, having not asked for this blessed burden, she accepts it with a smile and says, “Be it done to me according to Your Word” (verse 38). That’s the kind of person God will entrust with His miracles. Don’t ask, but be ready when it comes, for whatever impossible but wonderful thing God has whipped up for you!