Have you ever made plans for how you want your life to turn out? You have these big dreams and hopes for your future. Or maybe you looked back at your life and wondered why things didn’t go according to your plan? It didn’t go the way you wanted.
2020 is a year that has wrecked all of our plans. Many of us are wrestling and struggling to make sense of it all. We may be asking where God’s plans fit in with this.
We’ll look at two women in the Christmas story. Their lives didn’t go according to their plan, but they were able to live out God’s plan for their lives.
First is Mary. She’s the’s mother of Jesus. Mary at this time is a teenage girl around 12-16 years old and she has made some plans for her life. She’s engaged and making plans for a wedding with Joseph. Her life is pretty mapped out. She’ll have kids, live in a nice part of town in a house with a white picket fence….okay…they did not have a white picket fence. But Mary’s plan is a typical plan for any young woman in those days.
Then you have Elizabeth, this is Mary’s relative. She’s older. She is maybe 50-60 years old. Her husband is a pastor and she’s wanted a family. She’s wanted kids and lots of them. But she’s been unable too. She’s let go of that dream and now she’s in retirement age. She’s planning for this last chapter in her life.
Then all of a sudden, both Mary and Elizabeth’s lives get radically changed. the Angel Gabriel visits them in Luke 1. He shares a new plan and dreams for both of them. It is an unbelievable and impossible plan.
Angel tells Mary this in Luke 1:35-37:
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[a] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
God’s plan for Mary, a young teenage girl, is to still marry Joseph and be a mother. However, her first child would be the Messiah, the Son of God. It would happen in the most unbelievable and impossible way…a virgin birth.
God’s plan for Elizabeth would be that she would still be in retirement, but instead of slowing down, she’ll be giving birth and raising a child. She would be a mother at the age of 60. Her long lost dreams of being a mother would come true. It is just the timing is very different from what she planned.
You see God’s plans and God’s timing doesn’t make sense. These women would not have planned their lives like this. But God’s plan was to bring two babies, two new life into the world through these women. One is older and one is younger. These women would not only be bringing new life but God was birthing something new for them personally. Mary has a new purpose and plan for her future. Elizabeth’s dream of being a mother is renewed.
2020 has been a painful and difficult year. All our hopes, dreams, and plans have been changed, altered, or taken away. This is a year where it feels we have felt more pain but than joy. We have felt more death than life. We feel like it’s a year that has been wasted. Mary and Elizabeth could probably relate. They were under Roman rule. The Jewish people were oppressed. They had little rights and freedom.
But in the midst of that, God was birthing something new. Christmas is a reminder that God loves to bring new life. He did with Mary and Elizabeth and he’s doing so now. He is birthing something new in 2020. He is bringing new hope even in this season. God still has a purpose and plan even when our plans don’t work out. God’s plans are good and he works in the most impossible way. It doesn’t always make sense. They don’t always line up with our plans and our ways. But his plans are always good. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, God is birthing something new for you this year. It may be a new perspective, adventure, a new relationship or to mend a broken relationship, the opportunity for your business, or rekindling an old dream and passion that God is saying is time now.
It may seem impossible and crazy and that’s sometimes how you know it is from God because only God can do it. I want to encourage you to draw closer to God even more than before. Have faith in Him and listen to Him. He’s speaking and wants to share with you his plans. We just need to listen. You don’t need to fully understand it but you need to fully trust and believe in God.
Don’t give up on God. He hasn’t given up on you. He’s not afraid of 2020. His plans haven’t changed because of this crisis. He’s not frustrated. God is birthing something new and he’s inviting you to be part of it. Stick close with God and the church so that you don’t miss it this Christmas season. I want you to be part of God’s plans. His plans are more than you can ever ask or imagine.
So to close, I want to end with Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel. It’s my hope and prayer for you. Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” You are God’s servant. May we trust in God’s promises and plans.
Leave a Reply