Will You Trust Him?

April 2

Chapter 1 covers a lot of ground from Dr. Luke’s careful investigation into Jesus’ background, to his relative John’s birth after his father was struck speechless while serving in the Temple, and finally to Zechariah’s prophecy regarding his son.

Luke was a Gentile physician, likely from Troas. His Gentile background is why he, under the Holy Spirit’s direction, wrote about the inclusion of Gentiles in God’s grand salvation plan. Unlike Matthew, who spoke of the Magi and people of privilege, Luke presents the common people. For instance, tomorrow, we’ll read the familiar story of the angels’ announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. Later, when we reach Luke’s second book, The Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, we’ll see his meticulous detail throughout, and particularly with the spread of the Gospel beyond the Jewish people to include Samaritans and Gentiles.

But let’s focus now on two things from this chapter. Elizabeth was beyond childbearing years, yet she and Zechariah had no children. Because the Jewish culture took passages like Genesis 1:28 (“be fruitful and multiply”) and Psalm 127:3 (“children are a heritage from the Lord”) seriously, it followed in their minds (yet not Scripture) that having no children was a mark of divine judgment. Think of the grief and shame that Zechariah and Elizabeth bore for so long! But, God was not done, and soon—despite the limits of her postmenopausal body—Elizabeth miraculously conceived and gave birth to a son.

The second thing is that Mary, Elizabeth’s relative, became pregnant without knowing a man. The CSB quotes Mary as saying that she had not had sexual relations with a man. Even though Mary was a young woman in her teens, she knew where children came from. She knew that, though she and Joseph were betrothed, they had not consummated their relationship. That would come later—when they were married, and after Jesus was born. (Matthew 1:25)

Think of the many questions this must have raised in Mary’s heart. Yet Mary didn’t set about trying to figure out how God would orchestrate His plans; she trusted Him to do according to His Word. “May it happen to me as You have said.” (Luke 1:38) This is the whole essence of faith—that what God decrees, God Himself will carry out. What He looks for in us is courage and obedience to walk the path that He sets before us—whatever it may be.

Notice also how Zechariah responded in Luke 1:18, “How can I know this?” as compared to Mary’s response, “How can this be?” The questions might sound the same, but they are very different. From a place of trust, Mary seeks to mentally understand how God will do what He has spoken—and she’s just a young teenager. From a place of doubt, Zechariah wants proof that God can be trusted to do it—and he was an old priest. For this skeptical response, God gave him a sort of spiritual “timeout” where he could not utter a word for almost a year, plenty of time to consider his response to the angel Gabriel’s message.

Application

In Elizabeth and Mary, God once again demonstrated how He could miraculously bring things into existence from nothing, just as He had done in creation.

Recognizing that God was doing something new, (Isaiah 43:19) both Elizabeth and Mary submitted their wills to God’s. How about you? Has God called you to do something that you don’t understand? When we search the Scriptures, we find that He rarely gives all of the details and consequences. God asked the saints of old to trust Him, often without any proof up front. (Hebrews 11:1) He asks us to do the same. Will you?

Will you join Mary in surrendering to God’s will and simply respond, “May it happen to me as you have said?”

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman