It’s Who You Know
In late December 2019, a coworker confided, “I have a good feeling about 2020. It’s going to be a great year.” I remember the way she smiled, eyes bright with hope. I couldn’t help but feel hopeful along with her.
You know what they say about hindsight.
I didn’t have a good feeling about 2024. I didn’t have time to think about it at all, actually. I greeted the new year by sleeping on a recliner in a pediatric hospital room and waking up to my infant daughter’s cries as nurses came to check her vital signs. There were no feelings of hope for the coming year; this month only had room for exhaustion and anxiety as my kids were in and out of medical facilities with one illness after another. I prayed for healing and for peace in the midst of the storm, but honestly, it felt like my prayers got stuck on the ceiling and God was silent.
I didn’t feel hopeful this month. But I still had hope. Let me explain:
My coworker’s feeling about 2020 being a great year didn’t pan out because feelings don’t always speak truthfully (Jeremiah 17:9). And my feelings of exhaustion and anxiety this month don’t have the last word, either. “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Though there are many feelings associated with the coming of a new year, we can’t use them as teachers of truth or as prophets to signal what’s ahead. Only God speaks truth, and only God knows what’s ahead. Thankfully, He has shared enough of His character and heart with us that we can trust Him with whatever the future brings, regardless of our feelings about it. The Christmas story we recently celebrated bears this out.
In December, Pastor Austin commented that Mary didn’t know ahead of time that she would give birth in a stable. It made me wonder, what else did Mary NOT know about her future as the mother of the Messiah? When she said to the angel, “Let it be to me according to your word,” (Luke 1:38), what was she actually saying “yes” to?
While we don’t have every detail of what was going on in her mind at the time she accepted her role as the mother of Jesus, we do have a recording in Luke 1:26-55 of the angel’s proclamation to her and of her responses both in the moment and later at her cousin’s house. Based on this recording, here are a few things Mary didn’t know:
· How her family and community would react to the news of her unwed pregnancy.
· Whether or not Joseph would stand by her or leave her to face motherhood alone.
· How it would feel to travel about 90 miles away from home at the end of her pregnancy.
· Whether or not she would die in childbirth.
· That her baby’s first bed would be a livestock feeding trough.
· That strangers would travel from far and near to worship her baby.
· That her family’s presence in Bethlehem would result in the slaughter of all the baby boys there.
· That she would have to flee to Egypt under the threat of her son’s death.
And here are a few things Mary did know:
· God remembers His people.
· God is mighty, holy, merciful, and just.
· God keeps His word, to the smallest detail, through all generations.
The by-no-means-exhaustive list of things Mary didn’t know is much longer than the list of things she did know. From the moment the angel appeared to her, Mary’s life went from what was likely an average, predictable, lower-class trajectory to a completely unprecedented journey steeped in mystery. It seems reasonable to expect that there was trepidation along the way. In fact, it seems reasonable to expect that she experienced a range of feelings like fear of Joseph’s reaction to the news of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, misery in her late-pregnancy journey, elation at her son’s birth, wonder as strangers worshiped her baby, terror at Herod’s death threats, and grief at the news of the deaths of the other baby boys. But God, knowing all her emotions, still allowed her to play this pivotal role in accomplishing His soaring purposes for the world. He even gave her special insight into His character that helped her move through her journey in the confidence of what she knew about Him rather than what she felt about her circumstances.
In what we call the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1:46-55, she praised God for His attention to the humble, His holiness, mercy, mighty deeds, justice, and faithfulness through the generations. In other words, regardless of how she felt about her circumstances, she trusted that God would remember her, have mercy on her, work powerfully on her behalf, act fairly and tenderly toward her, and never forsake her. She knew her life was in the hands of a good God, and that good God was more powerful than any feeling or fear she had in the face of an uncertain future. Her good God carried her through even witnessing the crucifixion of her firstborn son. And her good God surprised her when that same son returned to her, alive, a few days later.
Mary’s son is still alive in Heaven, interceding for us before God (Romans 8:34). And because He is alive, there is hope at the start of every new year, however we feel about it. I may feel like my hospital-room prayers went unheard, but I know that God’s Word says they have been lifted to God by the Holy Spirit, with “groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). I may feel alone in my exhaustion and anxiety, but I know that God “will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11).
The same good God who authored Mary’s story has authored all His plans for me and for you. He cares for us and works through us even when we are weak. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Whether the peace of God holds your heart or whether it feels like He is silent, we can trust our limited selves to the care of our limitless God. Let it settle like a weighted blanket on your soul: It’s not our feelings or knowledge of the future that will carry us through; it’s the faithful character of our good God.
Scripture for meditation:
Luke 1:46-55