Be Still When Mysteries Arise (Advent 3, 2017)

How good are you with incomplete information?  When someone tells you only what you need to know—nothing more—and to accept that “nothing more” is all you’re getting?  Are you able to Be Still in such an instance or does your mind ramp up, releasing your inner Sherlock Holmes to unlock whatever mysteries exist so they’re no longer mysteries?

Continuing our look into Still Christmas (Advent Devotionals for 2017) and exploring how to Be Still and know that He is God, we can see that sometimes God gives incomplete information and asks us to be cool with it.

Sometimes more information is too much information.

 

Like Zechariah, Mary’s mind must have been spinning.  She’s being told something that is not only way out in left field, it’s never entered her mind as even a possibility. 

For Zechariah, the angel’s proclamation was fulfilling a dream long unrealized, but still a realistic dream during his and Elizabeth’s normal child-bearing years.  It would have been completely normal had they been younger. 

Mary, however, is being asked to believe beyond the outlier and off the bell-shaped curve.  She’s being asked to trust in totally uncharted territory. 

A total mystery.

Not asking, “How can I be sure?” like Zechariah, Mary just wants to know the obvious:

Luke 1:34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel tells her enough to satisfy a need-to-know, but beyond that, to trust that God still does the miraculous.  Basically, “Mary, you couldn’t understand even if I were to tell you.  I’m asking you to simply trust that you have enough information and let the miraculous remain mysterious.”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.”

Mary’s response is powerful:  Luke 1:38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

 * * *

Be Still, Mary.  I know you must have a million questions.  Don’t be afraid.  I AM your peace.

Be Still.  Believe that I AM a God of love and mercy.  You trust Me and I’m glorified by your faith.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I specialize in the miraculous and supernatural. Matthew 19:26 “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I AM about to reveal what has been among great mysteries in ages past.  When the time has come, it will involve the Messiah, the Christ Child you will bear, Mary.  “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 3:6)

Questions for Reflection: 

1. When was the last time you were content to let God blow your mind?
2. If God has never presented you with a mystery that defies explanation, why might that be? 
3. When we insist on plumbing details of the miraculous in order to know all mysteries, what does that do to the size of the God we worship?  Moreover what does it mean for human pride? 
4. What character traits are developed in the stillness of incomplete information?

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Still Christmas, Advent 2017 Devotionals began December 3, 2017 and are archived from that date.