Can you even imagine this scene? An angel appeared to young Mary, telling her that she had found favor with God, that she would become pregnant miraculously and give birth to Jesus, the Savior of the world. How frightening and overwhelming that message must have been! One of the first things the angel said to Mary was “Do not be afraid.”
Like Mary, we can choose to respond to life’s challenges with faith or with fear. Mary chose faith. “I am the Lord’s servant,” she said. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Faith or fear. We can’t live with both. We have to choose. Either we have faith that God will see us through whatever we are facing, or we live with a constant fear of what might go wrong.
I’ve been taking a look back on the many times that God has brought us through huge challenges and difficult circumstances. I have seen Him work miracles in my life and the lives of those close to me. Total miraculous healing, an unexpected check in the mail exactly when you need it, a better door opened when one painfully closes. Things that we prayed for to happen that didn’t, only to be blessed with things we could never have imagined.
God has been faithful. Through it all.
So why do we still feel afraid? The Bible reassures us hundreds of times. “Do not fear.” “Fear not.” “Do not be afraid.”
Part of this story in Luke just jumped out at me. The last thing the angel said to Mary was “For no word from God will ever fail.” Maybe today he would have said “God’s got you.”
God’s got you and God’s got me. On days when the fear creeps in, and we all have days where the fear creeps in, we just have to remember his faithfulness in the past and hold fast to his promises for the future.
And hear the angel Gabriel’s whisper in your ear, “Do not be afraid…no word from God will ever fail.”
Leah by the Lake 