Amy C Walters

The Birth of Jesus Foretold – Luke 1:26-38

“Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who is said to be barren is in her sixth month.” When Mary is unsure of how God will accomplish his purposes in her, Elizabeth’s late-in-life pregnancy becomes a proof of God’s power.

In this story, an angel delivers some huge news to Mary–that she is going to be the mother of the Messiah. As Mary digests it all, she has one question: “How is this going to happen?” 

And the angel answers her in two parts. He promises the power and protection of the Holy Spirit, making this point that nothing is impossible with God.

But he also gives her a second part to his answer–a living illustration of God’s power at work to do the impossible. And the illustration he offers is Elizabeth, the woman whose story we heard before this, who was past the age of childbearing, and yet God enabled her to conceive and have this miracle child, John.

The angel says, “Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who is said to be barren is in her sixth month.”

So he’s saying, “Look, Mary, yes, this pregnancy is impossible, but God does the impossible. He’s done it for Elizabeth, your relative.”

Sometimes we need to see God’s work in another person’s life to trust it in our own.

But let’s stop and take a look at Elizabeth for a second here. When she was waiting all those decades for God to answer this prayer for a child, what are some of the things that she might have thought and felt as she’s waiting?

What are some of the things that you’ve thought and felt as you’re waiting for God to answer your prayer?

Maybe you feel frustration.

Maybe there’s anger there because you’re asking God for a good thing, and he’s not delivering that.

Maybe there’s confusion. “God, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t give me this good thing!”

Maybe you’re starting to give up hope.

It was not easy for Liz to wait those decades for God to give her a child. But when God did answer her, it was in a way that she could never have expected, that her son John would play a crucial role in pointing people to the Messiah. And that her story would be the encouragement that Mary needed when she was trying to digest some very heavy news.

See, God is using Elizabeth’s struggle to be an encouragement to Mary.

How do you think it helped Mary to know this about Elizabeth? To connect the dots and say, “Oh wow, yeah, Elizabeth has been waiting all this time, and now she’s pregnant and she’s going to have a baby, and there’s no way that this is possible. God must have done this. And if God could do the impossible for her, God can do the impossible for me.”

How do you think Liz might have felt knowing that her story was a help to Mary in her time of need?

Have you ever had a chance to share your story of struggle with someone and seen them be encouraged and uplifted through it? It’s an incredible feeling to know that God can use you and your story and your experience to help somebody else in their story.

And that leads us to our key truth for today, that God can redeem your struggle.

It may be a struggle like Elizabeth’s, where it’s been decades that you have been waiting for something. Or maybe your struggle is very different. Whatever it is, God can redeem it. And God can use it to be an encouragement to somebody else, to help somebody else in their struggle.

Your story can help somebody know they’re not alone.

Your story can help somebody feel heard and understood.

Your story can be an example and offer hope to somebody who thinks there’s no hope left.

Your story can break down walls for somebody who’s put up walls to protect themselves, and when they hear it, they let go of that struggle and that pain and those defenses, and they’re able to engage.