I Am The Lord’s Servant

I Am the Lord’s Servant

Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!”

Luke 1:28-30

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”

Luke 1:38

How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.

Luke 1:47-48

It’s hard to imagine how frightening it must have been for teenage Mary to see an angel and hear him speaking to her. No wonder she was “confused and disturbed.” It must have been even more frightening for her to process what the angel was telling her—that she was going to become pregnant even though she had never slept with a man. And yet Mary responded to the angel with submission. In a sense she said to God, “I’m yours. You can do anything you want with me.”

It requires faith to see the hard things in our lives as gifts of God’s grace—faith to rest in who God is and his love for us so we can be confident he is doing something good in and through our circumstances. It’s easy to label what we would consider “good things” in our lives as gifts from God, and we welcome them with gratitude. But Mary’s example shows us how to welcome those things we would not label as good, confident that God’s gifts sometimes come in perplexing and even painful packages. Somehow, in God’s mysterious ways, these things, too, are gifts of his grace toward us.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What do you think went through Mary’s mind when the angel was speaking to her?

What did Mary believe about God that caused her to respond with a song of praise?

Are there things you know God has asked you to do or endure that you find difficult to say yes to?