How do you respond to the Lord's calling?

Luke 1:38  “ ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered.  ‘May it be to me as you have said.’  Then the angel left her.”

The verse above is Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel upon learning that the Holy Spirit would conceive in her a son who would be the long-awaited Messiah.  Notice there is no expression of doubt, question, or hesitation.  She simply says, “may it be as you have said.” 

Contrast this with another angel revelation told in Luke 1.  An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah to tell him that his wife Elizabeth would become pregnant with a son who would be a prophet paving the way for the Messiah.  Zechariah was a priest, and he and his wife had devoted themselves to holiness and obedience to the Lord throughout their lives.  Although he was more “qualified” than Mary to respond to the Lord’s calling, Zechariah expressed doubts in what the angel was telling him would happen.  After all, he and Elizabeth had waited many years for a child.  Now they were well past typical child-bearing age.  They had resigned themselves to the fact that they would have no children.  What the angel was suggesting to him made no sense.  He expressed doubt in his ability to perform in line with what the angel was proclaiming.

Therein lies the problem.  Zechariah was focused on his ability to perform.  He interpreted what the angel said as being a plan that God wanted Zechariah to carry out in his own strength and power.  The plan, in Zechariah’s mind, was dependent on his own human ability to pull it off.  Mary, on the other hand, should have had much deeper concerns and doubts about the plan Gabriel was suggesting to her.  At least Zechariah and Elizabeth were married.  How on earth was Mary to become pregnant as an engaged virgin?  Was Gabriel suggesting that she commit a major sin violation in order to become pregnant and fulfill the prophecy?  All of these doubts and questions could rightfully have been swirling around in her mind.  But did she utter one word of doubt or question?  No.  She simply responded, “may it be as you have said.”

May we all have the ability to focus on what God can (and will) do, not on what we can do, in responding to His call.