The other day, lyrics I heard on the radio on my drive into work kept replaying in my mind:

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

And this child that you delivered will soon deliver you?

I wondered what exactly Mary did know. We know that when Gabriel made his announcement to her, she was puzzled. She asked, “How can this be?” and the angel answered her. Her question was one of curiosity, not a lack of faith. She wasn’t struck mute like her cousin-in-law Zacharias with his question full of doubt.

Undoubtedly, Mary could have guessed this would mean being misunderstood and judged. But probably never could she have known it would mean ultimately having her heart shattered. She may not have fully understood who her baby was until He had risen from the grave. Mary didn’t understand but she didn’t need to have all the answers. She trusted God anyway. Trusted what she knew of Him and His character. And she followed Him.

Gabriel reminded her, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Immediately, she responded, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:37-38)

She had faith. Faith that takes God at His Word. Oswald Chambers writes, “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain  of what we do not see.”

Certainly, Mary was human with a sin nature like all of us. She’s not to be worshipped. Yet we can learn much from her unhesitating obedience and willingness to do whatever God asked of her. There’s a reason God chose her out of all the women in the world to bear His only son.