The chill of autumn is setting in but I am glad that the warmth of Your love never fades. May our time together bring about what is on Your heart tonight. Amen.
Luke 1:57-66 (<<click to read the passage)
My family takes great pride in our names. My grandfather (who was birthed in the middle of 17 children!) was given the name Thomas Swentzler Fowler. It is unique, to say the least. Some years later when his first son was born, he was given the same name and now there was a Sr. and a Jr. Twenty-five years later, I was born and – you guessed it – I was given the same name and twenty-nine years later I gave the name to my son. So, it was Sr., Jr., the III, and a IV. The picture for today is just the four of us on the day of Massey’s dedication to the Lord! (My granddad was Tom. My dad is Tom. I spell my name Thom, the first part of Thomas, and we gave my son the last part of our name and call him, Massey.)
Family tradition and pride in our family is of great value. I cherish my ancestry and I know my granddad would be proud of all three of his namesakes and what we have become.
After Elizabeth gave birth to a son, on his day of circumcision – a very important day observed by every devout Jew – his father Zechariah was still unable to speak due to his unbelief. Everyone just assumed that the newborn boy would take his father’s name – family lines and family names were important to the Jews, too. But Elizabeth exclaimed, “No indeed; instead he will be called John.” (Can’t you hear your mom talking that way?) And their response to her was, “None of your relatives is called by that name.”
At this point, Zechariah is consulted and when he asked for a writing tablet, he wrote…, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. At once Zacharias’ mouth was opened and his tongue freed” – and here is what I want to latch onto today – “and he began speaking, praising and blessing and thanking God.” (emphasis mine – all Scripture is taken from the AMP)
I love how this is translated! I write this way quite often for extra emphasis – putting an “and” in between every word.
Zechariah had nine months plus of being unable to speak. And now that God’s promise had come to fruition in a mighty way, it just all seemed to come out at once! There was no complaining or questioning or anger – not one of those descriptive words is negative on any front. Sure, Zechariah had played his part, but God – and God alone! – deserved the praising and the blessing and the thanking!
Lord Jesus, You are constantly at work in our lives. May we be quick to praise and bless and thank You for You – and You alone! – deserve it all! We are slow to do so many times in our lives but may it become a habit to give credit where credit is due! Amen.
Oct 15th, 2019, Tues, 6:31 pm
