Scripture: Luke
1:18-23
Zacharias
said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an
old man and my wife is advanced in years." The angel answered
and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I
have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. "And
behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things
take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in
their proper time." The people were waiting for Zacharias, and
were wondering at his delay in the temple. But when he came out, he
was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the
temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. When
the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.
Insights: The fifth and sixth
points this past Sunday were very short in explanation. The fifth point was do not doubt the proclamations of God. There are consequences to our disobedience
and refusal to believe God and His plans.
Now, I am not even going to presume I know what those consequences are
in my or your life, but for Zacharias, it was his silence for at least nine
months. I also will not presume that it
is always easy to trust God and His plan.
We face all kinds of difficult things in this world (loss of loved ones,
diseases, relationship difficulties, addictions, etc.) and sometimes it is very
hard to trust the Lord. I promise you,
however, if you will, then your life will be better for it in the end. When you do trust and have an encounter with
the Lord, the sixth point comes into play, which is when God works, others will notice.
The Lord does not always cause the painful events or challenges to occur
in our lives, but He will use those events to bring Himself glory. As we obediently follow after God’s plans,
others will notice how our lives are lived out differently from the rest of the
world. They will recognize our peace and
comfort in the midst of the situation and they will start asking questions. They will wonder what you have that they do
not and if you are mindful of what is going on around you, it will open up
doors for your to share Jesus with them.
Questions:
- Have
you recently doubted the power and plan of God?
- In
what ways are others noticing God’s activity in your life?
Prayer: Father, I know
Your plans are perfect, but I do not always understand them. Increase my faith to hold on tight to Your
love and Your will. As I trust, let my
life point to You and allow others to notice Your activity in my life. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment