Accepting the Trial
“And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” (Luke 1:29-33)
Now, this is like a bomb going off. Do you see? Can you consider what it meant for this young woman to nod her head to this? She did. And she suffered for it the rest of her life! A reproach hung over her that was undeserved—the rest of her life. It nearly wrecked her relationship with her future husband. It was an awful trial for this young woman to have to face this.
When God chooses His trials to give to each of us, He knows what He’s doing. I used to think that: Oh, here’s a trial, can I make it? Will I fail? That’s before I realized how carefully God measures them out. Every trial He measures to you and me—we can’t handle it by ourselves. If we go at it that way, we’ll fail all right; we’ll come short in some way. He measures them out with the provision that you and I get ahold of His grace through that trial. But He weighs it out so each trial is one that the Lord knows we can only go through with His grace.
In other words, a trial is one way of God’s votes of confidence in you and me. The Lord knew that Mary, by His grace and help, could go through this. A lot of people couldn’t. He designed this for her. He sent His angel with this trial to her. And it was a sore trial. Do you remember the proverbist who said that “a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1)? For this to happen to Mary in this way, outside of human experience, was going to completely take away her good name. And it did. How can you explain such a thing? Who would believe you? The man that she was planning to marry; he loved her and she loved him; he thought that the obvious had happened, too. In his mind he was deeply disappointed in her. He was a kind man, the Bible says, “not willing to make her a public example,” (which he could of done), so he was minded “to put her away privily,” (Matthew 1:19) that is, secretly. And he would’ve done it, too, except for one thing. The One who gave Mary this trial stepped into the picture. He appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth. Joseph picked up his side of this trial.
All in all, by human reasoning, it doesn’t look like an auspicious way for the Son of God to come into the world, does it? With such a reproach hanging over it; a reproach that was thrown at Him all His life. In the midst of one of the spiritual discussions in which He was telling others the truth and they were resisting it, they threw back this taunt in His face, “We be not one born of fornication.” (John 8:41) This was a trial. This ranks up there in the major ones.
Let’s look at how this sister reacted to this: “Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” (Luke 1:34) I am pure; I am a virgin.
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) Here we see the wonderful love and mercy of the Lord: “And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.” (Luke 1:36) Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord knows exactly how much we can bear and just what we need to help us and support us at every step. This may have proved too much for Mary’s strength, her trust in God, her long suffering—and the Lord had put with it another miraculous thing to stand by it. And that was that her cousin Elisabeth had conceived and was six months with child. At that time, pretty soon, what do we find? Mary visiting Elisabeth and Elisabeth testifying to this.
See, amid all, what we don’t have mentioned in the Bible: the rejection, the shame, the ridicule, the envy of others that was finally brought about: “Mary’s always been such a good girl, but see now….” All of those things that go with human life. She went over here and found her cousin, and it was just like the Lord had told her. And her cousin received her and believed the story she had to tell, and, indeed, she said the babe in her womb leaped for joy when she first heard her voice. All of these were what sustained this sister and helped her in this trial.
But there was more: “For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” (Luke 1:37-38)
Oh, there’s depths in this! She didn’t just say, “Lord, you sent this angel and I guess I don’t have anything to say about it, I am just stuck.” She didn’t just go on and doubt in her heart and say, “Well I guess we’ll see if this will come true.” No, she accepted what the Lord had given her. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord.”
Now a handmaid’s position in life is a very humble position. Handmaids are those people—they’re not the cleaning lady; they’re not the cook—they’re the folks that are around to do whatever the mistress says to do. The handmaid gets pretty intimately involved. It’s not that she does great, big tasks all the time; it’s the little things—I’m here; I’m ready for service; I’m at hand. The handmaid of the Lord. This speaks volumes about how this young woman walked with God. “Lord, I’m yours; I belong to you, my job is to just stay around you and do whatever you ask me to do at any given time.”
What a calling to be a handmaiden! Little things, little errands, relatively unimportant things that the mistress could easily do for herself if she desired to. “Lord, I’m your handmaid. You don’t have to have me.” But God has handmaids, and Mary was one of them.
“Mary, I am calling on you to do this.”
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord.”
Oh, it’s a beautiful picture, isn’t it? Are you ready for service? Can God just tap you on the shoulder and tell you, “I want you to do this today”? Are you the Lord’s handmaid? Mary was.
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38)
“Lord, I accept the trial. I accept the reproach of the trial. I accept the consequences of doing what You want me to do. I am Yours; I belong to You, Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy will.”
Let’s look a little farther, to the second chapter of Luke: “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. ” (Luke 2:25-35)
It was so, wasn’t it? Do you see this same young woman, now getting older steadily? She was a mother many times over—Jesus had brothers and sisters. She had a many-pierced heart. Long before it ever came to His public ministry, the prophecy of Simeon came true. This was a trial that went on and on and on and on. It was her part to be blessed among woman and it was her part to be tried among woman. Great blessings—great trials. Do you want the blessing? The trials have to be there, too.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
God has something that He wants you and me to come to in our hearts—to where we’re willing to say, “Lord, I accept the trials that You have for me. Behold the handmaid of the Lord! I want what You’ve got for me!”