Faith Big Enough For Questions - Day Two: "How Can This Be?"

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.” — Rainer Maria Rilke

“Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be?’” — Luke 1:34

In Luke 1, Mary receives astonishing news.

She will have a child.

Not just any child.

The angel tells her that this child “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.”

Mary responds with a question:

“How can this be?”

I've always appreciated that.

She doesn't simply nod and pretend everything makes sense.

She asks the obvious question.

How?

And here's what I find significant:

The angel doesn't scold her.

Mary's question isn't treated as faithlessness.

It becomes part of the conversation.

Eventually Mary says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.”

But notice the order.

The question comes before the yes.

Sometimes we imagine faith means understanding everything before we move forward.

But Mary doesn't understand everything.

She receives enough to take the next step.

I think that's much closer to how faith actually works.

I still don't understand plenty of things.

I don't completely understand how prayer works.

I don't understand why some people experience healing, and others don't.

I don't understand exactly what happens after we die.

I don't understand every passage of Scripture.  

Some of it doesn't seem to make any sense at all. 

I certainly don't understand God.

And maybe that's okay.

If I could completely understand God, God wouldn't be much of a God.

There is a difference between mystery and nonsense.

Faith doesn't require us to stop thinking, asking, studying, or wrestling.

But eventually every faith reaches the edge of what can be explained.

Mary reaches that edge.

“How can this be?”

Then she decides to trust.

Not because every question has been answered.

But because she believes the One calling her can be trusted.

Maybe that's what faith looks like more often than we realize.

Not:

Now I understand everything.

But:

I understand enough to take the next step.

We don't need complete certainty to move forward.

Sometimes we just need enough light for the next few feet of the road.

Faith doesn't require having every answer before saying yes. Sometimes faith is saying yes while some questions remain unanswered.

Prayer

God of mystery, I want to understand. I want answers, explanations, and certainty. Give me wisdom to keep asking and learning, but also give me humility to recognize the limits of what I can know. When I cannot see the whole road ahead, give me enough faith to take the next step. Amen.

Reflection Questions

1. What part of faith do you most wish you understood better?
2. Where might you be waiting for certainty before taking a faithful step?
3. What would it look like to say, “I don't understand everything, but I trust enough to move forward”?