A Troubling Message

“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).

When the Lord entrusts an important task to you, perhaps you feel that you can’t possibly rise to the challenge. You think, “There has to be someone who will do better than me.” You become troubled because you feel unworthy, unprepared, and unqualified to carry the responsibility.

God told the angel Gabriel to go to the little town of Nazareth to deliver a message to a young girl. God sent an angel to a non-prestigious town to find not a princess nor a highly educated woman, but rather a simple young girl named Mary who loved the Lord.  

We talked about the character of Mary in our last devotion and how she was found faithful and honorable in God’s sight, but it’s hard to imagine how this girl who seemingly came from nothing would carry the greatest gift the Lord ever gave.

Did she feel unworthy of the responsibility? Was she afraid she would fail? Did she ever wonder if there was someone else who might handle the responsibility better than she could?

We often ask ourselves the same kinds of questions when the Lord asks something of us that we feel ill-equiped to manage. But we serve a God who picks the least likely to succeed. He looks at the one no one else would choose for a task and says, “You’re my soldier. You’re my chosen one.” He proves Himself mighty through the meek, the outcasts, the underrated, and the forgotten, because His purpose is not dependent on our strength but rather on His power.

His message is one for all people, and although it is often a troubling message to carry, the Lord has kingdom work for each one of us. You might feel that you’re not up for whatever it is that He’s laid on your heart, but your mission is important. You’re vital to Him. We don’t need to have all the details figured out. We need to simply be obedient and trust that His purpose will be fulfilled just as it should.