Welcome to Jill Hamming, a friend of mine from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and a regular participant on this web page. She will share her reflections on the readings from Luke 1-2.
SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:57-62
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Elizabeth was old when she gave birth to John. If she had all the physical changes that come with getting older it must have been quite a challenge for her to carry and deliver this baby! Yet her joy is great! She loves this child. In their culture not having children was a great shame on a woman. More than that, Elizabeth and Zechariah probably longed for children as most couples do. God has been merciful to them as well as carrying out His plan.
In John being born to someone who ‘could not’ bear a child; Zechariah being unable to talk for approx 10 months and the baby being given an unfamiliar name; God is really bringing John to the worlds’ attention. All the people around them could see, hear and remember. They saw that God’s anointing/appointing was on John right from the start. Which would have been reassuring later as he carried out the ‘unusual’ work God gave him to do.
Zechariah’s tongue is loosened and he is immediately praising God. He must have been overjoyed to have a son. But of course, as a godly man, he is praising God that God was letting him see and participate in the coming of the Messiah.
John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. This is what we can do too. Help prepare the way for Jesus to come into people’s lives. Pray and love and care for those who don’t know Him.
PRAYER:
Thank-you God that You brought joy to Elizabeth and Zechariah, that You rewarded their faithfulness to You, that they participated so personally in Jesus’ coming to earth. Give us an urgency Lord to be godly, like them. Push us to pray and love and care for those who don’t know You. We love You Lord. Amen.
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
1. As a Christ-follower, I can relate to the journey that Zechariah is on. While God had a unique calling for Zechariah (to be father to the prophet John who would prepare the way for the Messiah, humanly impossible since they were past child-bearing age), God was asking Zechariah to be used for His mission, but he was doubtful. I am like Zechariah, in that God has also asked me to be used by Him, yet I hold back, I doubt what God can do in/through me. It has been a slow process (and I’m still learning it) that God is able to do so much more in/through me, if I am willing.
2. Like Zechariah, I have doubted God. Like Zechariah I have seen God do things in, around, through and despite me. Like Zechariah I have burst into praise after the fact, after seeing God do things that I thought were impossible.
3. The Lord is still looking for workers, people willing to be used by Him for His mission to restore His world, to be world-changers. And many of us, like Zechariah, are holding back, doubting what the Lord can do through us, missing out on what He can do through us.
4. Thankfully the Lord does not stop working, even if we hold back. Now is the time to burst into praise, to name the things that the Lord is doing, and to join with Him in doing them. He is working out His mission in Port Perry, whether we see it or not. But His Spirit is urging us to see it, to name it, and to join Him in it.
PRAYER:
Lord, forgive me for doubting what You can do, what You are doing. Help me to join You in living out Your mission in my life. Thank You for Your patience with me, and for doing many miraculous things here in Port Perry. Amen.