Guest Post: Mary's Obedience

Olivia Tracey
Aug 12
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

I've been following Olivia on her blog The Remnant for 6 to 7 months and have gotten to know her a bit over email. I asked her if she wanted to exchange a post and she agreed. Hope you enjoy Mary's Obedience by Olivia Tracey. You can read my post published on The Remnant, here.

It can be challenging to obey God, even when we know His ways are perfect. Our doubts and fears can take control, causing us to hesitate before obeying or even prevent us from obeying at all. There’s an example in Luke of a remarkable girl’s swift obedience to God in difficult circumstances.

Mary's Situation

Mary was likely a teenager when she became the mother of the Messiah. She, too, had been waiting and praying for this Saviour whose coming had been prophesied for centuries. The last thing she expected was that He would be miraculously conceived by God inside of her!

Mary was also from the snubbed town of Nazareth. We see how little this small town was liked in John 1:46 when one of Jesus’ future disciples asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

On top of that, Mary was engaged to Joseph, a carpenter. Of course, it would look like she had cheated on him, much to the shame of herself, her family, and even Joseph. The punishment for such a crime, according to Jewish law, was death. Therefore, Joseph was going to “divorce” her.

Here was this teen girl with her whole life ahead of her. To have an angel come to her with the news that she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit with the long-awaited Saviour of her people, knowing the difficult position that would put her in? What a situation to be in!

Willingness to Obey

Mary could have easily made excuses or simply said “no” to the angel Gabriel when he told her the news. She could have rolled off a long list of reasons why it was not a good time or why she was not the right person. Yet, we never see her doubting God or making excuses. She instead asked God for clarity and understanding of His will as she accepted it.

She submitted every fear, objection, and excuse to Him and whole-heartedly obeyed the will of God. In Luke 2:46-55, she even sings a joyful song praising the Lord. She set aside her fears and the possibilities of losing her fiancée and being misunderstood, doubted, and killed. Mary decided to walk in God’s will, no matter how inconvenient it was for her. She trusted that God was with her and that He would work everything out.

Conclusion

Are we as happy to do God’s will as Mary was, even when it is inconvenient? We likely won’t go through what she did, but we can still be quick to obey without hesitation.

Do we ask God to give us clarity and understanding when questions and doubts fill our minds? Do we set aside our worries and trust that God will work everything together for our good (Romans 8:28) and that His plans for us are amazing (Jeremiah 29:11)?

Are we still willing to obey God when we get something different than what we expected?

I pray that our answer to all these questions will be a confident yes. Ask Him today to help you obey whole-heartedly and without fear or doubt, even when it is inconvenient or challenging.

Let’s do it together.

Olivia Tracey is a 17-year-old homeschool graduate from Toronto, Ontario, who loves Jesus, music, and writing. She has been a bookworm ever since she started reading at age three. Olivia enjoys writing fiction with realistic characters as well as encouraging and challenging devotionals. She is passionate for others to know and experience the real Jesus in a vivid way. You can follow her on her devotional blog, The Remnant (remnantblog.wixsite.com/blog).

Hope you enjoyed this wonderful post by Olivia Tracey. Don't forget to check out her blog, The Remnant, and I'll see you next week for another blog post!