Be It
Unto Me

In the mid-1990s, I was introduced into several unexpected experiences. I was asked to become technical director and overall producer for Christmas musicals by the church we attended. Though I had no experience with musicals, I accepted and this began several years of involvement with not only those productions but led into becoming a choir member which fostered a significant appreciation for Christian music. I listen to several dozen songs every month and have made it a habit to play these songs in the morning while I clean up. Many of my favorites are songs we sang as choir numbers and I find that I often have those lyrics on my mind through the day and sometimes when I’m awake at night.

In 1995, Claire Cloninger and Don Moen wrote, ‘Be It Unto Me’ which is drawn from Luke 1:38; the chorus of this is,

Be it unto me
According to Your word
According to Your promises
I can stand secure
Carve upon my heart
The truth that sets me free
According to Your word O′ Lord
Be it unto me ¹

Over the past several weeks that phrase, ‘Be it unto me, According to Your Word’ has been on my mind as I consider the ‘next’ of my life. I’ve entered the seventy-eighth year of that life and have learned not to presume upon what to give my energies and attention toward. I do not know nor do I want to read into Luke 1:26-38 too much of my experience but I do intend to draw from Mary’s example.

Mary was likely in her early teen years, living in the northern Galilee town of Nazareth; she was a ‘young girl’ which means she was also a virgin and was promised in marriage to the village carpenter, Joseph, but the actual marriage was in the future and premarital sexual activity was reason for death under the Mosaic Law. There was nothing remarkable about her life to this point—she was a devout follower of the LORD but had parents and was a normal girl. One day, the archangel Gabriel appears to her with the Word of the LORD that will dramatically change her life:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ²

‘In the sixth month’ is the reference to Gabriel’s appearance to Mary’s aunt Elizabeth that many months earlier to foretell the birth of he who would become John the Baptist. We have no indication that Mary knew of her aunt’s pregnancy and visits by archangels was not a common occurrence for anyone and the pronouncement is outside the realm of the natural so Mary asks that ‘How?’ question.

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
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. ³

What is the normal course of your life and how does the LORD speak into your life? You probably haven’t had someone quite as dramatic as Gabriel appear to speak to you but if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you do have both the Word of God to read and the Holy Spirit dwelling in you so you do have the voice of God.

If I were to sit with you at coffee this morning and ask you, “What is important Today,” how would you answer. More precisely, if the LORD were to ask that of you today, how would you respond? Let me suggest an answer that was my response when the Spirit asked me that question recently. ‘Being Faithful to God’s agenda for my life today’ is the important element for Today. Yes, the LORD is more important than anything else but my being in step, walking in His desires is the way I should be living out that relationship.

When I mention the Will of God, many of us likely think of a list of ‘thou shalts’ and ‘shalt nots,’ those details that define the overall character of our life. Or maybe we think of that list that our denomination or peers expect of us or even the moral code implied by the Law. But let’s consider a little deeper.

Disciples are to be servants of the LORD in the sense that we have been redeemed from sin by the sacrifice of Jesus and serving God ‘doing the will of God from the heart.’

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. ⁴

If you would prefer to take exception to these verses because of the specific relationship used in this example, here is the example of Jesus doing the Will of God from the heart:

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, 
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said,
‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, 
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” 
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, 
“Behold, I have come to do your will.” 
He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… 
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: 
I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” ⁵

‘According to Your Word O LORD be it unto me.’

Back to Mary and Gabriel—how would you respond to the LORD’s newness in your life, that unexpected moment when God reveals His purpose for your Today and maybe beyond? By accepting the LORD’s desire to be expressed through her, Mary’s entire life was redirected in ways she could have never imagined. Over the rest of her lifetime, she would look back to what God had spoken to her Today. We know ‘she pondered these things in her heart’ and she believed God would do the unexpected through her son Jesus. She even followed Him to the Cross and was among His disciples when the Holy Spirit was given. But it all comes back to this, ‘According to Your Word, O God, be it unto me’ response.

How about you? LORD that I would be responsive to You today, to have the desires of your heart impressed upon my heart. That I would not be so caught up in my moments that I lose sight of Your desire.

Maybe Today would be a good day to meditate upon your ‘Be it unto me.’