I love this man because he was doing everything right even when nothing was going right for him. My theme this Christmas is hope and the verse that I am going to refer to often is in 1 Thess. 1:3.
Work produced by faith, labor prompted by love and endurance inspired by hope.
Now there was a priest named Zechariah and his wife Elisabeth..both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly...but they had no children.
Work produced by faith...Zechariah and Elizabeth. Doing all the right things but not getting the right rewards. They had no children because Elisabeth was barren AND now there was no hope because they were both well along in years.
I like that they are still faith full even in their disappointment. That in the unwrapping of the spectacular gift of all gifts, God chose to spill his wonder over on this faithful little old family. I must say that of all the Christmas stories, this one says more about the character of God then the Wise men or shepherds, Angels or even Mary and Joseph.
He gets chosen by lottery to go into the temple of the Lord to burn incense..he meets Gabriel one of the three named angels of the Bible...but we will go into that a little later.
Today...work produced by faith. Hope in the hopeless, faithful in disappointment...trusting anyway. Hope is colored by disappointment...they walk together those seeming antonyms. God knows...and in the expanse of human history He sees your faithfulness...don't loose heart...not yet.
1 comment:
You know I had never really put much into Zechariah's story before ...before now! What good insight. I never quite thought of this before - but it gives rise within to consider hope in a new determined way! So is hope and faithfulness "joined at the hip"? I guess so as my mind jumps to the verse 'Faith is the essence of things unseen, the substance of things hoped for.' Work produced by faith - I like that!
Thanks - I think this story takes on a new favorite for me! -Sharon
Post a Comment