Reflecting on God's Favour

Image: Aaron Burden CC0 1.0

Have you ever prayed for God's favour for yourself, others or a particular situation? I have. What is it that you imagine God's favour might look like in your life? A healthy bank balance, answered prayers, great relationships, a problem free existence? I will admit that these are the types of things I'm hoping for  when I pray for God's favour. 

This week while preparing for my Sunday message I was looking at Luke 1 and the exchange between Mary and the angel Gabriel and was struck by this...

Luke 1:28-29  28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.

• Mary was favoured by God. She was chosen to give birth to the Son of the Most High. That is some honour!
• But Mary was greatly troubled by the greeting.  It makes me wonder what she had known or observed about God's work in herself or those around her.
• The honour and favour bestowed upon Mary did not equate to a trouble free life. In fact it added whole bunch of complications to her life and relationships. Starting with having to tell her fiance that she was pregnant and ultimately ending with seeing her son crucified.These things look quite different to those things I imagine come as the result of God's favour. 

It is very human of us to want to find take the easy road and to try and find ways of avoiding trouble and challenge in our lives. It's tempting think that following God will make life easier but it's not actually true and sometimes (perhaps even often), like for Mary, being favoured by God can add new layers of complexity, challenge, suffering and sacrifice. 

I choose to draw encouragement from this. The life of a disciple is not easy. In the words of Jesus "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33b

Em