To Believe is to Begin

Thank you Brooke Fraser for singing that line over and over so I'd pay attention to it...

Sometimes I get some really cool new insight from Scripture and I wish I were a pastor so I'd have someplace to preach about it. I think about what a good sermon my new thought (from God of course) would be, and then I remember that pastors have to preach EVERY Sunday, and then I don't want to be a pastor any more. But I still want to share my thought. So now I have a blog. Wonderful!

Ok, here's my mini-blog sermon on Luke 1. You can read it yourself- I will paraphrase in the Liz American Slang Version. We have Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were married and they really walked with the Lord the way you're supposed to. Unfortunately they had no kids and they were sort of old, so they were running out of hope they'd ever have any- short of a miracle. Zechariah worked at the church and it was his turn to lead the worship service. He had been praying for God to give them a kid. And then an angel shows up and announces to Zechariah that he will have a son, tells him how AWESOME he's going to be, and what his purpose in life is going to be.

And Zechariah responds, "How can I be sure of this?" and then states the physical limitations on them having a child.

I love the angel's response. He says, "Look man, I am GABRIEL. I'm an angel, and I've just come from HEAVEN- hello- where I hang out with GOD, and you are wanting something more certain than what I just TOLD YOU?! And furthermore, because a message straight from God didn't seem good enough for you to believe God will do it, you can be silent until your kid is born and you name him John."

Then there is Mary. She really followed God too. She loved Him and told Him she'd do anything He wanted. No matter what. And she meant it. She was going to marry this great guy Joseph and her family was all excited.

Then she got a visit from Gabriel as well. (He must've been making the rounds.) He tells her, "Mary, God really liked the fact that you love Him so much you said you'd do anything He wants. He has chosen you for this really big task- to be pregnant with God as a human!" And although shocked, Mary asks a clarifying question: "How will this be, since I'm a virgin?" I think that is a good question. Gabriel explains how it will happen in terms that probably seemed quite practical from a heavenly perspective, but still made no sense to poor Mary- because it was impossible.

And Mary says. "Ok I'll do it. Sign me up."

Now there is a lesson here about how we respond to what God tells us. We can doubt the word that was spoken because it doesn't make sense, or we can choose to believe it- even though it doesn't make sense.

Both Zechariah and Mary got a message from the same angel, straight from God, telling them to expect God to do impossible stuff. One responded with doubt and the other responded with faith. I don't think it's difficult to see which was which.

I'd like to say that I'm more like Mary. People who know me know I've been believing impossible stuff for a while. But unfortunately I STILL tend to respond like Zechariah. Humorously enough I had my own Zechariah experience. God told me something was going to happen, and it seemed ridiculous and I was tired of hearing ridiculous sounding things, so I told God, "Eh thanks, but I don't believe it." Then the hearing in my left ear went out at dinner while I had guests over. Then the loss of hearing turned into ringing. After the guests left I decided to pray with a friend about the cause of the mysterious ringing. I got no further than, "God why is my ear ringing?" Then He said, "I will TELL YOU why your ear is ringing. It's because you did not believe what I told you. So now, like Zechariah, your ear will ring until you believe."

You would think this would immediately convince me to believe God. OH NO... it took me 3 WHOLE DAYS to decide to believe Him. I am THAT stubborn. I'm not proud of it, but it's true. And even after I convinced myself to believe my ear continued to ring for 2 more months. It was quiet, not terribly annoying. Sort of like when a mosquito is hovering near your ear. I could go about my day and not have it drive me crazy. But every now and then I'd mute the t.v. to see if it was still there. And is was, quietly reminding me that God was serious about what He told me.

Thankfully after about 2 months it stopped. But now whenever God wants to get my attention my ear rings.

And now I listen.