²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David, ³³ and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.”

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

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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 unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.  (Luke 1:26-38)

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“How will this be?”  We, like Mary, may ask this question when our limited human understanding cannot comprehend God’s unlimited power. We are grounded by gravity on this earth and think in terms of the physical instead of the spiritual. Having a child as a virgin was inconceivable during Mary’s time. It would be a miracle. If this occurred today, however, many people would, more than likely, reason that it was a conception of scientific achievement, controlled by man, and not a miracle of God. The question in our time might be phrased in a different way: “How will this be done by scientific methods?”  

 ¹To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: ² A time to be born, And a time to die…”  (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

Why that time period for “the holy one to be born (who) will be called the Son of God?”  It was God’s selected time for His purpose to be fulfilled. God’s perfect timing.  To the One who sees and foresees what we cannot, the child to be named Jesus was conceived and born at exactly the right time in the right place to the right person in human history.

Whatever plans God has for you and for me, we must trust as the right timing in the right place with purposeful planning through Godly intervention. Our response should be like Mary’s: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”

(Sharon G. Tate 12/04/16) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word