Opening illustration: At age 16, Madame Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717) was forced into an arranged marriage with an invalid 22 years older. She found her marriage to be one of utter humiliation. Her husband was often angry and melancholy. Her mother-in-law was a merciless critic. Even the maid despised her. In spite of her best attempts at devotion to her husband and family, she was subjected to relentless criticism.
Forbidden by her husband to attend church, she sought God in His Word and worshiped Him in secret. She learned that even in the midst of her dreary circumstances she was “perfectly fine—within the safe hands of God.” In her book Experiencing The Depths Of Jesus Christ, she wrote, “Abandonment [to Christ] is the key to the fathomless depths. Abandonment is the key to the spiritual life.”
How can we respond to difficult circumstances with acceptance and abandonment? Mary’s response to the angel in Luke 1: 38 shows us. The only way to have that same attitude is to believe that God’s will is “good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12: 2), and to lay down our will and patiently submit to Him day by day. (Illustration by David Roper, Our Daily Bread)
Let us turn to Luke 1 and see how each one of us can associate and receive those blessings …
Introduction: We have here an account of the mother of our Lord; though we are not to pray to her, yet we ought to praise God for her. Christ must be born miraculously. The angel’s address means only, Hail, thou that art the especially chosen and favored of the Most High, to attain the honor Jewish mothers have so long desired. This wondrous salutation and appearance troubled Mary. The angel then assured her that she had found favor with God, and would become the mother of a son whose name she should call Jesus, the Son of the Highest, one in a nature and perfection with the Lord God. JESUS! The name that refreshes the fainting spirits of humbled sinners; sweet to speak and sweet to hear, Jesus, a Savior! We know not his riches and our own poverty, therefore we run not to him; we perceive not that we are lost and perishing; therefore a Savior is a word of little relish. Were we convinced of the huge mass of guilt that lies upon us, and the wrath that hangs over us for it, ready to fall upon us, it would be our continual thought, Is the Savior mine? And that we might find him so, we should trample on all that hinders our way to him. Mary’s reply to the angel was the language of faith and humble admiration, and she asked no sign for confirming her faith. Apparently the Angel of the Lord imparted blessings upon her life and future.
How do we know that we are in the safe Hands of God?
1. Fear (you may have) Not ~ v. 30a
Fear is an immediate and intense internal alarm system that alerts us to the presence of danger. It prepares us either to flee from or fight against the perceived danger. The Bible uses words like fear, afraid, terror, dread, anxious, tremble, shake and quake over 850 times to portray this core human emotion. Healthcare professionals use terms like fear, anxiety, panic attack and phobia to illuminate the spectrum of our fears. For our purposes we use fears and anxiety interchangeably.
Mary obviously had many fears … being a teenager, her main fear was how it was going to happen? You’ll find all the contemporary teenagers coming and asking the same questions …
We too may have many fears in our lives, job, future, marriage, spouse, school and most being the fear of the unknown. But why should we fear not?
(i) If we reflect on whether God has ever walked out on us, we all would easily testify that, that has never ever happened but we can give instances when we have walked out on Him. The Word of God tells us that He goes before us, with us and hedges us all around. (Red Sea)
(ii) Similarly when we reflect on whether God has fallen short or stopped working in the lives of His followers, it would be found to be untrue. We may have failed Him a number of times but has He ever failed you?
(iii) He will not dessert or leave you hanging half way … Even today when we go through the fire or the waters, He doesn’t leave us or forsake us … He goes with us. He is a God who has never left us in the past, never forsaken us today and will never do so in the future. Has God abandoned anyone of you here this morning?
We can conquer our fears. To admit that we are afraid is to admit that we are human. But to admit being afraid and then trusting the Lord and going forward will take the fear out of fear.
Illustration: Our fears while living in the middle-east ~ job, being caught, deportation, no connections, family, isolation, our future … God trained us in that situation to be strong and of good courage and fear not for anything for or in the future.
2. Favor (but you have found) ~ v. 30b
To favor means to give special regard to; to treat with goodwill; to show exceptional kindness to someone. Sometimes, it means to show extra kindness in comparison to the treatment of others; that is, preferential treatment.
However, favor is not always used in a comparative way toward others. It sometimes simply means that the one favored is shown kindness and treated with a generosity and goodwill far beyond what would normally be expected. This is generally the favor that we receive from the Lord. We are treated much better than we could expect. Of course, every believer is favored to some degree. Therefore, we must understand God’s favor in degrees. The more we please God, the more we will be favored by Him. Also, it is important not to think of this favor in material or worldly terms. God’s favor most likely will be given in spiritual blessings more than in material blessings. Here are some of the ways by which we obtain the favor of the Lord:
• By praying unto the Lord (Job 33: 26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
• By keeping the commandments of the Lord (Proverbs 3: 1-4 [1] My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: [2] For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. [3] Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: [4] So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
• By seeking and finding God’s wisdom (Proverbs 8: 35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.
• By diligently seeking good (Proverbs 11: 27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
• By living righteously (Proverbs 14: 9 Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favor.
People who found favor with God: Noah, Abraham, David, Gideon, Esther, Ruth, Mary …
Illustration: Maureena and I always found favor with our teachers, mentors, earthly bosses and above all God Himself. Why so? May be our obedience, submission to authority, humility, dedication, commitment, faithfulness, integrity … Have you found favor with …?
3. Forerunner (so that you will be) ~ vs. 32, 33 (Ref. Isaiah 9: 6 & 7)
What does it take to be a forerunner? Some would say studying in America; others would say it is more important to study at a prestigious university. Others who are sport fans know it is having a certain physique as well as landing on a winning team. Others would say that it has to do with your family background. You understand, connections are everything. And inherited wealth gives one a great place to start. Undoubtedly, many other things are important to greatness.
And most of us have given up in this pursuit for ourselves but still in our hearts are the glimmering hopes that our son/daughter might be a forerunner. We invest our lives into building a great person out of our children.
How did Christ become a forerunner/great?
By being Isolated, Alone, Vulnerable, Uncared for, Rejected, Inhumane, Refugee, Persecuted, Homeless … remained humble, submitted to the Father’s will and focused.
These all were the humble steps Christ Jesus was made to walk. To be made in the image of man was for Him the rich becoming poor. But this is an oversimplification of the things Jesus Christ really went through to get into this world. Everything was staged. The plan was set in ink and secretly revealed in a special code in the Old Testament scriptures where literally tens of scriptures were fulfilled in the matter of a very short time before and after His stealth entrance into this world.
Deuteronomy 28: 13 says, "And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, (blessings) if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them (condition).”
Christ Jesus came and gave up His life that so that we might be set free. It is God Himself who sent His only begotten Son to die for sinners and to set us free. He did become great because He was great. If there is such love, if there is such a grand plan of redemption, will you stay in your cell because of unbelief? Dare you stay alone when the Chief General Himself has come to set you free? Will you not come now to believe and follow the real “great One?!”
Conclusion: Many of you here this morning may be in a similar situation like Mary, but remember because of her integrity, faithfulness, commitment, purity and obedience to God’s commandments she was blessed immensely. She suffered for becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit but at the end of the day she was blessed greatly as she was in the safe hands of God. Anyone who abandons himself to God will never be abandoned by God.
