How Can This Be?!

[Ebn Barbara]

The virgin Mary asked this question when the angel Gabriel told her that she will be with child and give birth to Jesus..
And the Holy Spirit made me meditate on this question and let it be our topic today.. So let us meditate together.

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’ … ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus’… Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God… For with God nothing will be impossible.’ Then Mary said, ‘Behold the Maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her. Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! … Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.’ And Mary said: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.’ (Luke 1:26-48).

When the angel told the virgin Mary that she will conceive a child and give birth to Jesus, her reaction was logical and natural, as she acknowledged the fact that pregnancy requires a relation with a man, this is why she asked the angel: How can this be, since I do not know a man?...
And the angel’s reply was categorical and clear: The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God…
And in a clearer way, it is as if the angel wanted to assure Mary that it did not depend on her, that she did not have a practical role to perform, rather it was the role of God, and he also added saying: For with God nothing will be impossible.
And Mary said: Behold the Maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.
Since the beginning we see clearly Mary’s humbleness: I am the maidservant of the Lord, that is His servant.. then we see her simple and clear faith: Let it be to me according to your word..
We also see in this passage the Holy Spirit’s clear work.. thus, what man was unable to do, especially the big and impossible matters, only the Holy Spirit was able to do..
The word of God continues to confirm this interpretation, as when Elizabeth saw Mary she said to her: Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord..
The word confirms further what we previously mentioned about Mary’s humbleness, as she said: And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.
What is the message that the Lord wants to give us through this passage?
Beloved: I don’t want our minds to be full of information, and spiritual truths and be fruitless, because this will not bring a change in our life and behavior..
All of us as real believers in the Lord Jesus, suffer from many problems on different levels, even if they differ from person to person..
Don’t we all ask Mary’s question to the angel: How can this be? Over and over again to the Lord or to ourselves when we face difficulties, problems, bondages, and repetitive sins? Or when we face dangerous situations or difficult matters that threaten our life? Or when we need healing or to meet a big financial need? Or when we try so many times to correct ourselves? Or to succeed in our ministry or any other matters?
Since many years you are suffering from a hard and difficult bondage: anxiety, fear, terrifying thoughts and a pessimistic view of life, sadness, failure, frustration, the incapability to be happy and enjoy life, difficult sins, bad habits, jealousy, envy, low self-esteem, feelings of rejection… you can add to this list the specific thing that you are suffering from… and you’ve tried many times to get free from these difficult things, without any success.. and you are crying out loud: how can I be delivered from this bondage?
Or how can this be?

May be are you suffering from a complicated sickness, and the doctors cannot find the right treatment for it, or you need a job, a house, a car, but your financial situation is difficult, or you need to get married and you’ve tried without success but now you are getting older.. and you cry out: how can I find a solution to this problem?
Or how can this be?

For all these reasons the Lord gave us this meditation today..
And for these reasons I told you that the aim of this meditation is not to fill your mind with information or spiritual truths that would not be fruitful..
Because the word of God taught us that: “… the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”
(2 Corinthians 3:6).

What are the keys to the solution?
The same keys mentioned by the word of God in the passage we are studying!!!
Or how can this be?!

The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God…
The work of God.. the Holy Spirit.. the power of the Highest.. and for this reason that Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God, that is in a meditative way, it is a direct work by the hand of God..

What is my role?
“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:27).

An important and basic point..
It must be for you 100% impossible to realize these things, for them to be possible with God..
In other words, when you completely give up all your efforts relying on your own strength, self-righteousness, merit, understanding or human wisdom.. because, otherwise you don’t open the way for God to intervene..
Because what is only impossible with you.. becomes possible with God..
The Apostle Paul realized this truth, for he has gone through those sufferings, and this is written in the letter to the Romans, as after a bitter fight with the weakness of his body to submit to the will of God, he cried out saying:
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).

And the answer comes in the same letter:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2).
The Spirit of Life.. the Holy Spirit is the solution.. the power of the Highest is the solution.. only the work of God alone..

Beloved: the reason is clear, the flesh with its attempts and efforts cannot please God:
“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8).
Do not try.. do not waste your time.. do not trouble yourself.. do not allow Satan to exhaust you with unending battles.. the flesh cannot please God and cannot submit to Him!!!

Again.. the same question.. what is my role?
And the categorical answer: the role that Mary had.. that the word of God transmitted to us:
1- The complete conviction that the work is God’s, and giving up counting on your own strength to realize things and find solutions, declaring your pressing need for the Holy Spirit, for a new and true relationship with Him, to be filled with His fruits and gifts, and submitting everything to Him.
2- To humble ourselves under the hand of God.
3- The simple faith.

Where do we find these keys in the passage we are studying:
1- The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God… For with God nothing will be impossible.
2- And Mary said: Behold the Maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.
3- Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Is this possible? Did it happen to believers before us?
Let us now meditate on the story of Abraham and Sarah, see how they changed, and learn a precious lesson from them, so our faith will rise, and we acknowledge that nothing is impossible with God:
“Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ … So He said, ‘I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘after I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I did not laugh’…” (Genesis 17:15 – 18:15).
Both together.. laughed in the beginning when they heard God’s promise that He will give them a son in their old age..
Abraham was a hundred years old and his body was dead.. and Sarah was ninety years old and had passed the age of childbearing..
According to human logic.. this is impossible!!!

But the Lord answered them, like the angel answered Mary: Is anything too hard for the Lord?
And the Lord fulfilled His promise.. and Isaac was born.. and the Lord accomplished His great plan through him, just as the word tells us..
And what is written in the letter to the Hebrews is wonderful:
“By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude…” (Hebrews 11:11-12).
How splendid is this expression: Sarah herself.

Beloved: there are no details in the word of God that have fallen by inadvertence.. rather there is a purpose for the Holy Spirit to mention it..
The Holy Spirit intended to mention the word “herself” after the word “Sarah” in order to tell us:
Sarah who did not believe in the promise of God, and laughed to what He said to her.. she herself believed and received strength to conceive in her old age and after her body was dead, because she judged Him faithful and able to fulfill His promises..

And what is important to me today is that you can put your own name instead of Sarah’s, and say:
Samir himself who lived for so long battling with sadness and despair.. believed and received strength to be joyful and enjoy life..
Mounir himself who lived for so long in fear and anxiety.. believed and received strength to enjoy peace and security..
Fadi himself who lived for so long in slavery to difficult sins and bondages.. believed and received strength to live in holiness and freedom from all these bondages…

Do you lack the strength? Do you lack the wisdom? Never mind.. for His name is the Spirit of Power and Love and Discernment:
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Do you lack faith? And you find it difficult for you to have it, and you realize that you need faith to get all the things that you need, but you don’t find it within yourself, and you realize that without faith you cannot please God.. never mind.. for His name is the Spirit of Faith:
“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13).

Cry out to the Holy Spirit today, and say to Him:
“… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit’, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6).
Ask Him to fill you with a new outpouring, with faith.. with streams of living water, with His gifts and His fruits…
Humble yourself under His hand and say to Him just as Mary did to the angel: Behold the Maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.

Do not give up.. even if you’ve tried several times and have failed.. even if you applied this meditation and things were late to be fulfilled.. keep up your efforts and take courage it is the only and true way, and even if Satan attacks you keep up your effots and rely on the Holy Spirit and He will deliver you from all your sufferings..

To the Lord be all glory!!!