Treasure the Word of the Lord

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” 34 But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.

Luke 1: 26-35

8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.”

15 When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen Him, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

Luke 2:8-20

Mary was given an extreme Word from the Lord. Extreme is actually an understatement. No one would have believed her. In fact, the very saying of what had happened seemed like she was trying to cover up a sin. It was the most extreme word spoken in all eternity. It was a word that if she was wrong was totally blasphemy and entirely prideful. “You will mother the Son of God.” Nothing around her seemed to point that this was going to be true except the encounter. She didn’t come from a royal family. She didn’t consider herself favored with God. She didn’t see herself as someone God would choose for anything. But yet she had two encounters. One with Gabriel and one with the Holy Spirit. Those two encounters was what she had to base this word of the Lord on. Mary demonstrated how she navigated the extreme season of trust. She treasured the moments where God would again give her an encounter with a seed of the promise attached in that encounter. The shepherds seeing angels and hearing the declaration, certainly did not prove that extreme word over her. It was a supernatural experience don’t get me wrong, but the word certainly did not come to pass in full yet. But while everyone else was being amazed by the story of the angels, Mary was treasuring. She was placing the highest value she had on that seed that was being given to her. In that encounter, the word did not come to pass but a seed of it coming to pass was given. And that she treasured. Most people take wonder from an encounter with the Lord and they are amazed by his act! But those who have been called the deepest take nothing except to give the most valuable place in their heart to store the memory of it.