"May It Be To Me As You Have Said"

Are you ready and willing to place your future in the hands of the Lord? Are you? That’s what we are called to do. That’s what faith does when it is expressed in your life. It is the unyielding belief that God will do right by you; that God knows best; that he is correct when he speaks and justified in his judgments.

Indeed, We have been taught to pray, “Thy will be done” , but do we really mean it? Or are there certain regions of our lives that we withhold from him and reserve for ourselves. If we are honest, don’t we sometimes think that things will turn out better for us when we are the ones who are in charge? Don’t we sometimes think that we know better than the Lord?

What we’ve hit upon here is really the struggle of a lifetime. Our inability to “let go and let the Lord” often punctuates our lives with moments of unbelief and doubt. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not too crazy about unbelief and doubt. I’m not too crazy about my inability to fully trust this one who loves me so. And I think you probably have similar sentiments.

So what we’re going to do is follow the life of someone who actually did put their future in the hands of the Lord. We will hear as much of her story as is available to us. We will visit her at certain critical points in her life to see how she responds. The text is Luke 1:38 which says “ ‘I am the Lord’s Servant,’ Mary replied. ‘may it be to me as you have said.’ “

“May it be to me as you have said.” Now this, is a shining example of applied faith. the young Mary has just received a message from God. She is told that even though she is a virgin, she will soon be with child. Furthermore, she is told that the child she will bear will be The Son of God who reign forever on the throne of David. And what does she say? “May it be to me as you have said.”

Now contrast this with what she might have been tempted to say and what we ourselves often do say. Instead of “May it be as you have said.” She could have said: “May it be to me as I have said.” Think about it! She already had plans to marry Joseph. She was betrothed to him. And like any human being, she probably spent a lot of time thinking through all the things connected with her upcoming marriage. And I’m guessing that being pregnant and having a baby before she was married wasn’t really part of her original plan. Neither was the horrible embarrassment of being pregnant outside of wedlock. They stoned adulterers in those days. Soon there would be no way for her to hide the fact that she was with child. What would people think? What would they say? What sort of whispering would go on behind her back ? What sort of scornful looks would she have to endure? No. This was not part of her plan. And she might be tempted to take a stand against it. Like Moses and also like us she might have said “No way!” “Don’t ask me to do this! Find someone else!” “This is not where I see myself in five years!” But that was not her response. She said: “May it be to me as you have said.”

You see, Mary understood that since she was one of God’s children, that God would see her through and bless her no matter how things might appear. With her faith, she took steps to surrender the control of her future into his hands.

A day or so after this, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was carrying John the baptist in her womb. Elizabeth told her that she was blessed by God. Blessed to be the mother of the Lord Jesus. Mary’s response was to praise God. She said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in god my savior and she went on to expound on all the good things that God was going to do with the Son she was privileged to carry. It was just another way for her to say “May it be to me as you have said.”

Nine months passed, and she had just completed an arduous journey with Joseph to the City of David. She was suffering , no doubt. How disheartening it must have been as they went to the inn only to find that it was full. How troubling it must have been to give birth to your first born in a barn. This was nowhere near what she had planned, I’m sure. But everything turned out all right. Some shepherds came, all excited about her child. They told everyone what they had seen. And Mary, “Mary treasured up all these things in her heart.” With excitement warmed by the appreciation that others held for her child, she said in her heart: “May it be to me as you have said!”