1/5/2026

Day 5

 Mary’s Yes

Luke 1:26–38 (NLT)

“May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38, NLT).

With these words, a teenage girl from Nazareth surrendered her reputation, her future, and her very body to the incomprehensible plan of God. Mary’s “yes” was not passive resignation or quiet fatalism. It was active, courageous cooperation with divine purpose—offered in full awareness that obedience would cost her deeply.

Luke tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with a message that shattered every expectation she had for her life (Luke 1:26–33). She was engaged to Joseph, preparing for a normal, hidden existence—marriage, children, obscurity. Instead, heaven interrupted her ordinary story with an impossible promise: she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of the Most High.

Mary immediately understood the danger. In her culture, pregnancy outside of marriage was not a private inconvenience—it was a public scandal. At worst, it could result in death by stoning; at best, it meant lifelong shame, rejection, and whispered accusations. Saying yes to God meant risking everything she had: her engagement, her standing, her safety, and her dreams.

Yet Mary’s response reveals the posture of her heart. She does not argue, bargain, or demand proof. She asks only one question: “But how can this happen? I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34). This is not the question of unbelief, like Zechariah’s earlier doubt (Luke 1:18). It is the question of faith seeking understanding. When the angel explains that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and that “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37), Mary’s decision is immediate.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” she says. “May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38).

The word translated servant is doulē, a female slave. Mary identifies herself as one who belongs entirely to God, with no claim to her own rights or outcomes. This is surrender in its truest form: yielding not only circumstances, but control; not only plans, but identity. She offers her body as the dwelling place of the Incarnation itself. No surrender in Scripture is more literal, more costly, or more holy.

And yet—notice this carefully—God asked. The Almighty did not override Mary’s will. He invited her cooperation. The salvation of the world waited on a human yes. This reveals a profound truth of the Kingdom: God chooses to work through surrendered hearts. His purposes advance not through coercion, but through willing obedience.

Mary said yes without seeing the full road ahead. She could not see Bethlehem’s manger, Egypt’s exile, or Calvary’s cross. She did not know Simeon’s prophecy would pierce her soul (Luke 2:35). She said yes in the dark. True surrender rarely comes with explanations or timelines. God does not give us the whole map—He asks for trust.

Mary’s surrender bore fruit that has blessed all nations for all time (Luke 1:46–55). Through her obedience, the Word became flesh. Through her yes, salvation entered the world.

What might God be asking to birth through your surrender? What promise feels impossible, costly, or misunderstood? Like Mary, you may not be given answers—only an invitation. The question before you is simple and severe: will you say, “Let it be to me according to Your word”?

Will you pay the price of being misunderstood? 

Many will judge what they cannot discern. 

""I" am learning to let God explain for me or not have an explanation at all."