Ask Like Mary
God the Father craves our curiosity. How He longs to speak to us with love, and tell us of the wonderful things He does for us!
I ask you to imagine that you planned a gift for your beloved spouse: you are going to take them to the city for the day, to see the Opera! You know they love the opera.
On their birthday, you tell them about it first thing in the morning. But instead of receiving the gift with joy, they look at you skeptically, and immediately begin to tell you all the problems with your plan.
“How will we eat dinner? There’s no guarantee we can find a table anywhere. Did you make a reservation? How are you going to pay for this? What, are we going to drive in traffic for several hours? The whole day will be over before it even starts!”
Deflated, all the joy of your gift flees from you. Although you know everything will go well: you have planned, and re-planned, and made back-up plans, you feel that nothing will be enough to satisfy your beloved. The picnic basket you packed, just in case of emergencies, and the back-up plan of just sitting together, listening to music and laughing on a day out, flees. For you, it is enough to sit with your beloved. But for them, apparently, the gift of the other does not outweigh the unknowns.
This is how we pierce the heart of the Father, when we doubt the plans He has for us.
When Zachariah demanded how the Lord intended to give him a child, he doubted. He could not see the gift because of all the potential problems that would arise. Rather than being contented to abide alone with the Lord in the midst of the temple’s sanctuary, to meditate on the gift, and the love of the giver, He began demanding the answers to all the potential problems. Zachariah believed in God, but not in His love for him.
Let us return to the story of the gift. Imagine, again, that you told your beloved spouse about your plans to go to the opera and spend the day in the city. Wide-eyed, they look at you with great love. “How did you manage that?” they ask, captivated by your love. “How will we get there? The city is hours away!” They do not doubt that you have made provision, they simply cannot imagine how you managed it.
Pleased to demonstrate the lengths you will go for the sake of your beloved, you grin, and tell them, “I hired us a private plane for the day. It’s a friend of a friend, and he gave us a discount. We’re going to town in style!” They laugh, astonished. They can’t wait, and they ask no more questions, because they know that, if you can solve this problem, then you can handle anything the day throws at you, and they have nothing to fear.
This is how Mary responded to the gift! She did not doubt, but naturally, she wondered. How would the Lord accomplish this seemingly insurmountable feat? And, more importantly, what would this reveal about God, and the love He had for her?
How are we asking the Lord?
How beautiful to have the faith that He will respond, like Zachariah; but more than that, how beautiful to trust that His response will demonstrate love, like Mary! In the grand scheme of things, we usually trust that everything will work out, and God does everything for good, but when it comes to our own lives, we doubt Him. We doubt His love for us, and expect that He will be careless with what He gives us. We expect Him to make promises that He cannot fulfill, and demand more of us that we can possibly give.
No matter what, if we ask believing that He will answer, He will give an answer. But if we do not trust His love, He will chastise in giving the answer, because He knows that no answer will truly satisfy. But if we trust, as Mary did, and look to Him with childlike expectation, He is able to pour out with love everything He wants to give, because no matter what He gives, He is already enough!
Oh, Mary, teach us to ask the Lord as you did! Teach us to expect that the answers to our questions will demonstrate more love for us, not less. Help us imitate the trust that you had, and to avoid the limited belief of Zachariah. Help me, Mary, to love like you did.
Amen.