Why Me?

 December 21, 2024

Tonight I want to add to yesterday’s musings. 

“Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” —Luke 1:38 

As I thought about God choosing Mary and Bethlehem, I got to thinking how often I have felt unimportant and inadequate. As you may know, I’ve begun a partnership with Standing Stone Ministries, coming alongside pastors in need, whether it be crisis or just loneliness. I’ve often thought, “What do I have to offer? I’m not a great teacher of theology or Biblical history. I’m not a great counselor. I was a pastor of a mid-sized church in a small-sized village. I haven’t had a breadth of experience; I’m pretty ordinary and unexceptional, etc. etc.” 

I wonder if Mary felt the same way—“Why me?” But God chooses the unlikely, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians:

“For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

—I Corinthians 1:26-29 

God isn’t bothered if you don’t have a special talent, he’s not deterred by your shortcomings or failures. Mary’s response to Gabriel’s message was, “Let it be according to your word.” In other words, “Not my will, but thine be done.” 

Here’s what is significant about Mary’s attitude: I wonder whether Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane wasn’t something he had heard his mother pray over and over as he was growing up. Mary herself was inconsequential; her trust in the Lord and willingness to yield to his will was of great consequence. She became the model for his submission to the Father; submission that led to our salvation.

Bethlehem itself was nothing. But God chose unlikely ordinary people to travel to an unlikely and ordinary place to accomplish something so extraordinary that the world would never be the same. So be your ordinary self, but be ready to say with Mary and with Jesus, “Not my will, but thine be done.” It could lead to someone’s salvation.

Love, 

Beepa