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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am
an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the
presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good
news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this
happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their
appointed time.”
Luke
1:18-20
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
In yesterday’s devotion, we examined Zechariah’s encounter with the angel
Gabriel while he was performing his priest duties inside the Holy of Holies. During
that encounter, Zechariah learned that his prayers were going to be answered
and that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to be blessed with a son even
though they were both very old. Zechariah was to name his son John.
If it had ended there, then Zechariah wouldn’t have gotten himself in
trouble with the Lord but he decided to open his mouth and question God’s plan
by asking if Elizabeth conceiving could really happen since both she and he
were “well along in years.” That expression of doubt led to a quandary as the
angel removed Zechariah’s ability to speak but not without an accompanying
proposition. For Zechariah would not be mute forever but only until his son was
be born and advance to the time and place where he would be named.
This occurrence, getting into a quandary but then receiving a proposition
which dictates an end to that dilemma, is not something that should be foreign
to any of us. I think we all have experienced it at one time or another.
For me, I can go all the way back to when I was a kid and the times when
I tested my parents by the way I behaved. I knew the things I wasn’t supposed
to do but yet at times, did them anyways. This would lead to some form of
discipline, typically being grounded. It might go something like this:
My parents would tell me not to do something. I wouldn’t listen and would
do it anyways. My parents would find out and would place a penalty on me, such
as getting grounded and unable to go out for two weeks. If I was good and
obedient over those two weeks, then I would be restored to good favor and my
freedom would be restored. And so, my punishment wouldn’t last forever but only
until I had paid the prescribed price.
Go back many years before Zechariah and examine the lives of his
ancestors, the Old Testament Israelites, and you will find other examples of
times when the people got themselves into a quandary with God but knew the
hardship wouldn’t last forever.
Take the Israelites who had been delivered from the clutches of the
Egyptians for example. They journeyed for forty days through the wilderness
under the leadership of Moses, allowing God to guide them to the Promised Land
of Canaan. Once there and on the brink of entering the land, the people got
cold feet after spies sent to do advance scouting came back with news that
there would be challenges ahead in fighting the people who already inhabited
the territories they could try and claim. The people failed to trust God’s
promise to give them the land and so He sent them back into the wilderness one
year for every day they had spent getting there in the first place. The
Israelites got themselves into a quandary but it wasn’t without an associated
proposition from God for after the forty years, they would be allowed to return
and enter the Promised Land, this time under the leadership of Joshua. And as
we know through the scriptures, this indeed happened.
Fast forward from that point in Old Testament history and you will find
the Israelites in trouble with God again, this time directly violating His
command to not worship false gods and idols. The Israelites chose to be
unfaithful to God and chase after the gods the pagans worshiped, disrespecting
and disregarding Him along the way. And so God, who refuses to be mocked, sent
His judgment down on His people which included the destruction of their Canaan
homeland and an exile to Babylon which would span seventy years. Such was the
quandary of that generation of Israelites. They had abandoned God and so God
let them see what it would feel like to be sent away and abandoned.
But the punishment was not without a finishing point. For a proposition
was given that the people of Israel would be allowed to return to their
homeland to rebuild their homes, lives, and relationship with God after the
seventy years had ended. And that’s exactly what happened as the Persians
overthrew the Babylonians after which the Persian king allowed the Israelites
to return back to Judah and Jerusalem.
You see, God’s word is trying to convey an important message to us today.
Whenever we sin and end up in a quandary because of it, God, who still ever
loves us and is merciful, provides a proposition that allows us to move from
our quandary to a resolution and restitution of our relationship with Him. Yes,
we need to be corrected and disciplined for the sins we commit but we
experience this punishment from a God who is also compassionate and caring, a
God who loved us so much that He desired to make a way for us to escape the
most severe quandary we could ever be in, one that we all are in.
For we are all sinners and destined for doom and annihilation as a
result. None of us can stand before God and be found innocent enough to deserve
His pardon. This is our quandary and without an intercessor, none of us would
have hope. So God provided us a proposition, one that would provide us a means
to get out of our quandary and back into His favor, not just for the moment but
eternally. He did this by sending His only Son, Jesus, to earth to take away
the sins of the world. Yes, this precious little baby we are soon to have a
birth celebration for would grow up to be brutally crucified and hung on a
cross to bear the price for sinfulness we deserved. His subsequent resurrection
three days later, conquering death and the tomb, paved the way for other to
follow if they would just place their full faith, belief, and trust in Him as
Savior.
Jesus was the ultimate resolution to the quandary of sin and that
resolution comes as a result of people accepting God’s proposition.
Where do you stand in relation to this today? Are you still mired in your
quandary or have you chosen to receive God’s proposition, placing your hope in
Jesus as Savior?
The truth of the matter is that there is really no third option. We’re
either delivered by our quandary through Jesus, the only way to the Father
(John 14:6), or we’re not and destined for destruction.
Do yourself a favor and resolve your relationship with God through Jesus
if you haven’t done so already. You’ll never regret escaping your quandary and experiencing
His deliverance.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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