Day Three: Luke 1:26-56

Today’s scripture is Luke 1:26-56; and is broken into two sections. 

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

For 9 months or more, Zechariah had been silent. The last words that came out of his mouth were words of doubt- “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” And for months, those words of doubt have lingered. At the end of this silent journey, Zechariah has learned to trust in God’s promises. God makes good on his word. 

The Lord’s promises were not only reserved for 2,000 years ago. God wants you to trust in his words as well.

What promise might God want to give you now?

Spend time in silence now receiving that promise from God’s spirit that is with you and in you today.

The Scripture continues…

His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us    in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies    and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our ancestors   and to remember his holy covenant,   the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,   and to enable us to serve him without fear    in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High  for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation  through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,  by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

Take this moment now, and receive that light that dispels the darkness and guides our paths. This light which is a tender mercy from God directing us to a place of peace. As you prepare to go into the day, pray that God would use you to prepare the way for Christ’s mercy and grace to flow into this world, into the people you will meet, into the needs of our world.