In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus." (Luke 1:26-31 ESV)
Mary was greatly troubled when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” Sometimes God's Word first evokes perplexion and distress for us. We are so used to feeling that God is up in heaven watching from a distance that it undoes us to realize, instead, He is right here with us. And we are so used to seeing ourselves as nobody special that we are perplexed to think that God favors us - that He is for us.
Truth is, God recruits from the pit more often than from the pinnacle. He delights to use ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. It's like Casting Crowns' song:
I'm just a nobody tryin' to tell everybody
All about Somebody who saved my soul
There are times when the we dare not hope God might do something spectacular through our ordinary lives and like Mary and Moses and Gideon and a host of other people in Scripture we say, "Who, me? Really? Are you sure this isn't a mistake, Lord?" Mary's "Who, me?" took the form of a question with a bunch of questions underneath it:
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34 ESV)
Mary had to be wondering, "What will Joseph think?" And "What will my parents think?" And "What will others think? I'll be scorned and condemned for becoming pregnant when I'm not married." We all want to be accepted and not rejected by others, and "What will people think?" drives too much of the fears and decisions of our lives. The crucial question is: What will Jesus think? All that besides the obvious question, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?", which essentially asks, "God, how are you even going to do what you are promising?"
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God." (Luke 1:35 ESV)
God was committed to working a miracle to fulfill His redemptive purposes. To save us from sin and death, God will supernaturally implant Himself into a Mary's body to enter our world as a flesh-and-blood human being -- the Son of God (not of Joseph). God incarnate in the flesh to walk among us, show us the face and heart of the Father, lay down His life as the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sin, and conquer death for the people He loves. For you and me. This is the wonder of the birth of our Savior!
Mary's response to Gabriel was surrender.
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38 ESV)
Mary found peace in the place of surrender. I have found the peace that surpasses all human comprehension (Philippians 4:7) in that same place of saying "yes" to God's will because I love Him and trust Him enough to give my life to the One who gave His life for me. Wherever it is that I need to say to God, "Thy will be done" is the place of perfect peace when I say to Him what Mary said, "Let it be to me according to your word."
This visit from Gabriel began a season of anticipation and wonder in Mary's life as she carried the Son of God for nine months and then raised Him as her own son for 30 years. God is pleased with this active waiting on His purposes. Active waiting means continuing to live faithfully until God's will is accomplished. Sometimes the journey is messy and complicated. Sometimes we wonder how in the world God will ever make something good out of the mess we're in. Our part of faith is to take the next right step as we wait for God to act.
The next right step might be letting go of the wounds of the past and forgiving the one who inflicted them. The next right step might be pouring the liquor down the kitchen sink and attending the first AA meeting. It might be signing up to go way out of my comfort zone and serve at the homeless shelter or sign up for the international mission trip. It might be setting the alarm 30 minutes earlier and letting God have the first word in the day by spending quiet time with Him in prayer and reading Scripture each day. The next right step might be apologizing for an unkind word spoken in anger.
The next right step might be to actually ask God, "What is the next right step I need to take?" and then listening for the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit to direct us. Active waiting in a season of wonder and hope means taking that next right step, no matter how difficult or scary it might be.
Faithfully taking the next right step allows the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives, and through us to accomplish His greater purposes in our world. And there we find anticipation for what God will do and hope that things can be different, because God is with us.