Monday Devotional: Faith Before Sight

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-38

Title: Believing God's Impossible Promises

Focus Verse: "And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her." - Luke 1:38

Devotional:

Sarah stared at the ultrasound screen, her heart pounding. After years of infertility treatments and countless disappointments, the doctor had just delivered news she'd almost stopped hoping for. But instead of joy, doubt crept in. "Are you sure?" she whispered. "Could there be a mistake?"

Like Sarah, we often struggle to believe good news when it seems too wonderful to be true. Yet Mary, a teenage girl in first-century Palestine, shows us a different response. When the angel Gabriel announced she would bear the Messiah—despite being a virgin—Mary didn't demand proof or question the impossibility. She simply said, "Let it be to me according to your word."

Mary's faith wasn't based on understanding how God would fulfill His promise, but on trusting that He would. She believed before she saw, trusted before she understood, and surrendered before she had all the answers.

This kind of faith still challenges us today. When God whispers promises over broken relationships, financial struggles, or health concerns, our natural response is often like Thomas—"Unless I see, I will not believe." But Mary teaches us that true faith says "yes" to God's word even when circumstances seem impossible.

What promise from God are you struggling to believe today? Like Mary, we're invited to trust that God's word is reliable, even when His timeline and methods remain mysterious.