Are you willing to step up to the plate?

Have you ever felt completely unprepared for something?  Maybe it was a class you did not prepare for, or a presentation at work that needed more attention but you just ran out of time.  Has there been a situation where you boss asked you to take on a project and in the back of your brain you are thinking..."why me, you should have asked__________ they would be perfect."  Yet, for some strange reason you boss gives the project to you and you accept with great uncertainty.  Mary is one of those people to me who was not afraid to step out on faith even though she was afraid.

When it came to God choosing a mother for his son, he chose a young teenage girl who was poor.  My Bible commentary says that "Mary was young, poor, female - all the characteristics that to the people of her day, would make her seem unusable by God for any major task."(NLT Study Bible)  In her day money, status and possessions were everything and in most people's eyes Mary was just a poor girl would would end up a servant or wife to some worker.  Yet, God chose her to be the mother of His son.

I love how Mary was not afraid to be afraid when the Angel spoke to her.  However, I wish I could have seen her face when she was told she found favor with God.  Think about that, she out of all the women in the world found favor with God not only to be visited by an angel but chosen for a task that would be very hard, emotional and challenging.  What was her response?  "Mary responded, I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true." (Luke 1:38 NLT)  Here we have a young teenage girl who just spoke to an Angel and is willing to step out of faith and claim what she has been told by God.  This makes me think that Mary was not just a faithful believer but she has a relationship with the Lord.  Without a strong background of faith and devotion to God I don't think she would have given the same response.  I would love to know what her parents were like?  The type of godly examples and teachers they must have been.  Parents have such influence on the spiritual lives of their children and it is apparent that Mary's had a very positive influence on her.

My study Bible also says this: "God chose Mary for one of the most important acts of obedience he has ever demanded of anyone. God's favor does not bring instant success or fame.  His blessing on Mary, the honor of being the mother of the Messiah, would lead to much pain: her peers would ridicule her; her fiance would come close to leaving her; her son would be rejected and murdered.  But through her son would come the world's only hope, and this is why Mary has been praised by countless generations."  As I read that I thought I am so glad that young girl did not know all that was ahead, for surely it would have made her flee the task.  Instead she took the task the Lord gave her trusting that he would walk with her and equip her for every step.  As we look at the life of Christ we know that the Lord did just that, he was with Mary and she was always cared for.  She raised a son who would  sacrifice everything for our salvation.

I love how my Bible sums up this section with the reality that even though we may feel unworthy, unequipped, the wrong choice, not enough education, bad with people or what ever other excuse you might think of when God asks you to step up.  We don't need to limit God's choices and put him in a box, instead we need to be willing to blindly step out on faith to what we are called to do.  The road may be rough, there may be times you think you are drowning but remember the a promise the Lord has made to us in Deuteronomy 31:6.

So be strong and courageous! 

Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. 

For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. 

He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

You see we are all called to different spiritual tasks throughout our lives but it is our choice whether we are willing to be like young Mary in this story and step up to the plate no matter what may lie ahead.