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“…be it unto me according to thy word.”
“Let everything you've said happen to me."
(Luke 1:38, KJV and GW translations)
I find it incredible that Mary had no more argument with the announcement she was given. Out of the blue, she is told that she’s about to become a mother. And there was no argument.
She did ask a question. “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Luke 1:34 (KJV) Perhaps she had passing thoughts about what she might be required to do to make this pregnancy happen. I can think a dozen thoughts in a split second, surely Mary could. Where did her mind go?
Scripture tells us that she asked the ‘how?’ question, and then submitted. Just like that. I’m quite sure I’d have spent a lot of time trying to argue my way out of it. But then, God knew to choose Mary. Not wait 2000+ years and ask Connie.
I want to be like Mary. I want to submit easily. I want to take God at His Word, believe He can and will do exactly what He says, and then have the desire to want what He wants. Becoming a mother, with no husband, most likely very young….people would whisper, maybe accuse and shame. But Mary submitted.
Raising children is hard. I’ve often said that if we knew the reality of how hard it is, the human race would become extinct. None of us would feel up to the task, we’d be scared to death to have a child in the first place. Two o’clock feedings and potty training are hard. Adolescence is harder. Young adults can top that sometimes. We suffer when they suffer, increasingly thru the years. The joy they bring is intertwined with the pain of their struggles, especially those that we are powerless against.
The painful night in the stable giving birth among animals would hold no light to Mary standing on Golgatha giving up her boy to a Roman cross. She had no idea when she said the words ‘be it unto me’ what all that would include.
The birthing of the baby Messiah Jesus was the easiest part.
