# Be Ready - Thursday, 2025.12.11 ## Questions Is it okay to question God or His representative? Let's look at three Bible stories ### Abraham Negotiates with the Lord {Genesis 18} - Abraham humbled himself when he met the visitors and served them a feast - The Lord promised a son, Isaac via Sarah - Sarah laughed and was called out for her doubtful response - Abraham interceded for Sodom through six rounds of negotiation. In each of the rounds of negotiation, Abraham demonstrated humility - Despite Abraham's hard negotiation, Sodom was destroyed but Issac was born to Sarah as promised ### Zechariah & Gabriel {Luke 1.5-20} - Both Zechariah & Elizabeth were righteous & blameless WRT the law - Zechariah was "gripped with fear" when he saw the angel Gabriel - Gabriel promised a son, John via Elizabeth and provided instructions for John's rearing as well as his kingdom impact - Zechariah's response was: "How can I be sure of this?" and reminding Gabriel of the ages of Elizabeth and himself - It seems Zechariah didn't trust Gabriel's word - Result: Gabriel was not happy with Zechariah's response and made him mute until John's birth ### Mary & Gabriel {Luke 1.26-38} - Mary was full of God's grace - Mary was greatly troubled by Gabriel's greeting, but he told her to not be afraid - Gabriel promised a Son, Jesus via the Holy Spirit and prophesied about Jesus' kingdom impact - Mary asked, "How can this be since I am a virgin?" I suspect Mary's question was largely driven by the details - Gabriel responded to Mary's question with a somewhat vague thing about the power of God and being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit - To Gabriel's answer, Mary responded as best as any human could: “I am the Lord’s servant” and “May it happen to me according to your word.” ## So What? In my opinion, Mary's response to the whole angel encounter was the best and provides a model for questioning God - Demonstrate humility toward the messenger - Demonstrate an attitude of worship toward God - Accept God's word as final # Prove me wrong using only the Bible