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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.
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