Luke 1:37 “For nothing is impossible with God.”

This is one of the shorter verses in the whole Bible, but it’s also one of the most important, from two standpoints. The first is the message itself, which is one that God has had to keep reminding people of throughout history. We get caught up in life as we know it, and we can’t imagine that things could be any different. Essentially, we forget that God is God, and if He spoke the universe into being, then nothing else presents any obstacles. The second reason this verse is so important is the specific miracle to which it refers. This is talking not just about a virgin being pregnant without artificial insemination or anything of the sort, it’s talking about God’s solution to the whole problem of human sin. The devil doesn’t mind our feeling guilty; that’s a tool he loves to use to make us feel miserable. What he doesn’t want us to understand is that God has provided a solution for our guilt, and that is what the angel is talking about here. He wasn’t just telling Mary she would be pregnant, he was telling her she would bear the Son of God. In a sense, he was announcing John 3:16, that is, the whole Gospel. From the human perspective, it’s not only impossible, it’s beyond imagination. That’s why Paul keeps talking about God’s plan of salvation as a “mystery,” in Ephesians and elsewhere. We could never have dreamed it up! If we are going to walk in all that God desires and has planned for us, we need to remember that indeed, nothing is impossible for Him.

This is certainly pertinent for me, as it is really for every believer. I just pray that my response will be more like Mary than like Zechariah! I am just as prone as anyone to limit my expectations to my experiences, even though I have more reason than most not to do so. I have seen God work in marvelous and unexpected ways more times than I could count, yet I still don’t expect Him to do the unexpected! (English is a strange language, but I don’t know that any language could have expressed that any better.) I need to ask and allow Him to remove the brakes, the limitations on my faith, so that I will be totally available to Him for whatever He wants to do through me. After all, it certainly won’t be on the class of what He did through Mary!

Father, I do ask You to remove all limitations from my faith, in every aspect and on every level. Help me not set up things in my own mind that You’ve got to do before I’ll believe it’s you. Rather, help me be so submitted to You that the devil will find no hooks in me, but will be frustrated at every turn. Work Your will in and through me, displaying Your strength in my weakness, so that Your plans may be brought to fruition for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!