(Jgs 13: 2-7, 24-25A; Ps 71: 3-4, 5-6AB, 16-17; LK1: 5-25)
Several years ago, I attended an event for a well-known author friend of mine who was appearing at a local book store to read from her latest best-selling novel, answer her fans’ questions and sign copies of her works. As we briefly caught each other up on our lives near the end of the signing, I shared with her that I was shopping my first manuscript around. I had a few good leads and was in hopes that it might be published soon.
“Oh, it will be,” she said with the knowing enthusiasm of a seasoned pro. “I just know it!”
It was the kind of reassurance every writer wants to hear from someone so accomplished, but I couldn’t simply take her words at face value. I had to hear more. “Really? How do you know?” I pressed.
She smiled. “Because you are a good writer. You have a story to tell. You have an audience that wants to hear it and you have researched the right publisher to get your story to the masses. Why shouldn’t good things happen to you?”
My friend was so confident I would succeed that she signed her own book with advanced congratulations and went so far as to call me a “fellow author.” It was a sweet gesture, but I was unconvinced. In fact, I couldn’t even look at her inscription without feeling like a fraud.
A month later, my first publishing contract arrived in my mailbox.
Whenever I read annunciation stories in the Bible, I tend to picture these pronouncements as rather impressive events. Thanks to the illustrated editions of my youth and Cecil B. DeMille, I imagine when an ordinary mortal comes face-to-face with a messenger of God; there is no mistaking it for something else. I assume there is a lot of light, a white flowing robe, and an intimidating set of wings involved, so I am always a little surprised by the individual’s reaction, which typically borders on disbelief and fear. What’s there to be afraid of? Aren’t these supposed to be people of faith?
It’s then that I realize the figures in the Bible are really no different from the rest of us. No matter if the unexpected news comes with its own musical score or is in the reassuring words of an old friend, when it taps into your deepest desires, innermost feelings, secret dreams and biggest fears, it’s a little hard to wrap your brain around it. While I would like to believe I would take an angel’s pronouncement in stride the way Sampson’s mother did, experience tells me that I am really more of a Zechariah type – grilling Gabriel for specifics just like I grilled my friend.
So, how do you know all of this? Who told you? What did God say? I am going to need his exact words here. Why me? What did I do right so that I can keep doing that? Is this something that is going to happen in the near future or should I pencil it in for next year? About those other things I’ve been praying for…any chance those might happen? An angel would have to render me mute to get a word in edgewise!
The thing is you can ask all the questions in the world, but God doesn’t have a formula for how He works. It’s only when we are silent and accepting of his will that we can watch His power unfold, see His touch in our lives and know that He knows the depths of our emotions. We merely have to be still, watch and listen. It’s only then we will know.
