Zachariah was the father of John the Baptist. Mary was the mother of Jesus. Both were promised what seemed impossible scenarios and both questioned God.
Zechariah was told that he was going to be a father which seems pretty ordinary except for the fact that both he and his wife were super old!
Mary was told that she was going to be a mother which seems pretty ordinary except for the fact that she was still a virgin.
Zechariah responded by asking, “How can I be sure of this?”
Mary responded by asking, “How will this be?”
Zechariah wanted assurance of God’s promise while Mary questioned how God would fulfill his promise. Unlike Zechariah, Mary wasn’t unsure of God’s promise or the fact that he would make it a reality. In fact, she was blessed because she was sure!
Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her! Luke 1:45
As crazy as it sounded, Mary believed God was going to honor his promise to her and she was able to enter immediately into an expectant mindset. Right away, she asks how. How will this be. How will God make this promise happen. She immediately starts wondering and thinking about how God will fulfill his promise because she is expecting him to.
God loves to promise crazy things because the crazier they are, the harder it is for us to take credit for them and the more glory he gets! So the next time God promises something that you have a hard time believing, don’t be like Zechariah. You don’t need God to reassure you of his promise once he’s told you. Instead be like Mary. Believe God will honor his promise. Don’t question the promise itself. Instead, start looking for how God is going to fulfill that promise. Start living expectantly, fully believing God is going to fulfill that promise.
If a promise comes from God, you can be sure it will happen. You may not know how it will happen but you can be sure that it will happen and be blessed in believing that the Lord will fulfill his promises to you!