“But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John’” (Luke 1:13 NIV).
“But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus’” (Luke 1:30-31 NIV).
Sometimes, do you tune out during the Christmas story from the book of Luke because you’ve heard it a million times? Yeah, me too.
However, this Christmas, God revealed something new to me in Luke 1. The angel Gabriel said, “do not be afraid” to two people, Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) and Mary (mother of Jesus). They react in completely different ways. Zechariah doubts and does not believe God can do anything, but Mary willingly accepts God’s plan for her life.
Do you believe God can do anything? Let’s learn from the stories of when the angel of God appeared to Zechariah and Mary.
Zechariah’s story
Zechariah was a priest who was married to Elizabeth. They were childless and very old.
While Zechariah was offering incense in the temple, an angel of the Lord appeared to him. The angel said, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John” (Luke 1:13 NIV).
But Zechariah doubted God could do anything because he asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?” (Luke 1:18a NIV).
Since Zechariah did not believe God could do anything, he lost the ability to speak until their son was born. Read the entire story in Luke 1:5-23, 57-80.
Mary’s story
An angel from the Lord appeared to Mary, a virgin pledged to be married to Joseph. The angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus” (Luke 1:30-31 NIV).
Mary didn’t seem surprised that the Messiah was coming. But she wondered how she could become His mother. Scripture states, “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’” (Luke 1:34 NIV).
The angel didn’t rebuke Mary like he did Zechariah, which shows Mary did not doubt the angel’s words.
Mary believed God could do the impossible and trusted God’s plan for her life. The Bible says, “‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her” (Luke 1:38 NIV). Read the entire story in Luke 1:26-38, 46-56; Luke 2:1-22.
How to believe God can do anything
How do we believe God can do anything? There are two things to know.
Know God’s love
My childhood church experiences led me to believe God was a stern taskmaster, whose love I had to earn through following the rules and being a good girl.
I didn’t realize until age 49 that rules aren’t the most important thing. It’s all about loving God and having a relationship with Jesus.
God created us in His image so He would have a family. And He’s a loving father who cares about everything in our lives, including our suffering, struggles, and heartaches.
He loves us so much that He sent His only Son to earth as a baby, to die in our place to restore our relationship with Him after sin entered the world.
In fact, God is love. As the apostle John wrote, “God is love. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:8a,10).
When you love God with all your heart, you believe He can do anything and trust His plan for your life, even if it seems impossible.
Know God’s character
God is omnipotent, which means all-powerful, but He will do nothing that would be contradictory to His holiness or purposes.
Also, God is immutable. In other words, He is unchanging. This guarantees that God is absolutely reliable and trustworthy. He can do amazing things beyond our imagination.
The more time we spend with God, in prayer and studying His Word, the better we know His character and trust He can do the impossible.
Final words
God knows everything you are facing today. Are you like Zechariah, who doubted God could do the impossible, or like Mary, who trusted God and accepted His plan for her? Nothing will stop the plans of God.
Do you believe God can do anything?
