The God Storyनमुना

Let it be

Father God, what I know of You will only ever be a fraction of who You are. Jesus, open my mind to see You and understand the Scriptures. Spirit, move my heart from familiar to fascinated until it is ablaze with Your unfailing love.

Read: Psalm 104:24

Today I am reflecting on the moment God spoke to a young, unmarried woman through an angel. Four hundred years of anticipation finally come to an end as God announces that He is joining the cast of human characters in His own story…

Read: Luke 1:31-35,38

In the beginning, the Spirit hovered over the waters ready to bring life and order out of chaos. In this new beginning, the Spirit hovered over the womb of a woman, ready to seed a child with the power to restore life and order for all creation. In both moments all the Spirit needed was a word: God’s command ‘Let there be…’ and Mary’s consent ‘Let it be…’.

Mary’s permission unlocked the Spirit’s creative power.

Holy Spirit, are You hovering over me? Do You have plans, purposes, dreams, or something else You want to seed in my life? Today I echo Mary’s prayer: ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’

Pause and pray

At the heart of this story is a young unmarried woman facing an unexpected pregnancy. I pray for someone I know who is pregnant right now.

Lord, would You protect them and their child, lead them through the highs and lows of pregnancy, and help them discover something deeper about Your Father’s heart through their journey of parenthood?

Pause and pray

‘A seed of new creation is about to be planted by the Holy Spirit into the [womb] of a teenage girl. The God who rules over the cosmos is about to take on the form of a single cell… and connect himself to a young virgin’s womb via an umbilical cord… Mary’s womb has become the ultimate holy of holies.’*

Holy Spirit, I surrender to Your presence and power in me today. I may not have a role as pivotal as Mary’s in Your re-creation story, but I say ‘Let it be’ to all Your plans and purposes in me and through me. Come Holy Spirit!

Amen.

* Adam Cox and Alain Emerson, The God Story (London: SPCK, 2024), p. 119.