Blog

Do you have a friend or family member that you know you can count on? When they say they are going to do something, you know they are going to do it.

Are you a person of your word?

However, sometimes when we are in a tight spot, we find ourselves trying to make a deal with God. We said we would do something and then we didn’t follow through and it bothered us.  Have you ever been there?  Don’t be too hard on yourself, we’ve all been there.

Today, we are going to look at two women who performed the will of God for their lives after they said they would do something, and they did it.

They made a vow – a personal promise to accomplish something and found the strength with his help to complete it.

The name of the first woman is Hannah.  She had no children and had become sick over the fact that she was barren.  After many bouts of despair and painful depression, she stopped looking to her husband to fix her problems and began looking at God with deep spiritual cries from her heart.  And, then she prayed a bold prayer and made a vow in First Samuel 1 which goes like this:   God if you bless me with a child, I will return him back to you for your service.  God heard her cry and gave a son.

Then came the day when she had to drop off her very young toddler at the temple to live with Samuel the High Priest.  He would become the parent.  She held her part of the deal and boy did God use him for His service.  Her dream hung in the balance and she turned to God when she did not have control over her future.  And then God blessed her with more children.

The second individual who had to dedicate her son to God is found in Luke 1:38 and her name is Mary – the mother of Jesus.  She was a woman who had made a vow to be a bride to a man by the name of Joseph and she was willing to jeopardize it – she was willing to lose Joseph.  The angel intervened and Joseph did marry her, and they raised Jesus.

Let’s look at her obedience after her broken vow to a man for the sake of saying yes to the Lord.

In Luke 1:38 she says:  “Behold I am a servant of the Lord, let it be unto me according to your word…and the angel departed from her.”

Let it be as you say, Lord.  At that moment, she loved God so much she wanted to please Him.

She obviously had been selected because of her trust in the message of the things of God as a child.  We don’t know much of her parents – but we do see a young maiden respond with an eager heart to say yes.  In the moment when the angel is there, do you think she considers how costly this was going to be?  She knew women who were pregnant outside of marriage risked being stoned.  And she said yes to God anyway – basically, she said yes I will carry out your purpose here on this earth.

She said – I want your will God and those words would become more difficult as her son grew up.

Mary was chosen by God for this remarkable role in his story. She must have had a heart of purity as a child that caught the attention of God.  Think about how Mary didn’t tell the angel to return after she checked with her parents or her friends.  We don’t hear her say that she has going to double-check if this request will work for her schedule, or her life, or her dreams.  No, she made a promise.  Mary had dreams.  She was about to get married.  She was willing to put her life on hold.

I love details and I wonder what happened to her after the angel departed. Did she have to contend with fear as she considered what could happen to her reputation – or the reputation of her family?

I wonder how many times she whispered to herself as Jesus grew, “Whatever you want from me, God, let it be.”  Can you imagine what would happen if we started saying those words to our God – let it be as you say.

Trusting God is probably one of the easiest or hardest things we will ever do – depending on the circumstance.  Our choices impact our trust and our trust impacts our choices.

Let’s think of these two amazing women we get to read about:  one asked for something of God with a vow to give something back to Him in return.

The other did not ask anything of Him, but rather God asked something of her.

They both held on with holy grit and God was glorified with their willingness to not let go of Him.

One of the greatest questions we could be asking God is:  What is your will for my life?

Jesus in his humanity performed the will of God.

In John 6:29 – Jesus spoke these words: “This is the will of God, that you believe in the one He has sent.”  He too followed hard after the will of God for his life and in doing so made a way for our will to be fulfilled before our Father as well.

He made a personal promise to His Father, and He fulfilled it all the way to the cross.  He didn’t quit when things were beyond uncomfortable.

Whether we make a vow to the Lord, or our obedience comes through the acceptance of God’s will for our lives, we can learn something from these women and their Savior.  If things are hard, let’s believe God is working out something greater than we can see.   Let’s not quit on God.