PNG End of year celebration-Day 2: "Clear Sailing?"

The good thing about leading office devotions is that you learn more about what you learned before, because you say it out loud.  Even if nobody else thinks the lesson is significant, I feel so enriched.

The story of Elizabeth and Zachariah in Luke 1 has really captured my attention.  Because Elizabeth couldn’t have children, she was shamed by society.  Even though this couple did everything right, society would say God wasn’t pleased with them because He didn’t bless them with children.

I wonder what they thought.  Did they think God didn’t love them or approve of them?  The fact was that God considered them righteous.  Hundreds of years before, He knew He’d bless them with baby John (the Baptist.)  (Mal. 3:1) This couple faithfully walked with God all their lives, but didn’t experience a baby until they were old.

In naming the baby John, they went against the approval of society and family.  People assumed the baby would be named after the father.  They didn’t accept Elizabeth’s declaration of the name John, so they went to Zachariah.  He wrote down the name John...then miraculously was able to speak again.

Because this couple did what they knew in their hearts God wanted them to do, everyone around them was amazed and able to see God had a special purpose for this baby.  Just as people were wondering what that purpose was, the Holy Spirit gave the baby’s dad words of prophesy that told the people what that purpose was to be.  If the parents had caved into the approval of friends and family, no one would be prepared for the significant ministry of this new baby boy.

Somehow I fall into the thinking that if I do everything right, I’ll have “clear sailing” in life.  God will make circumstances fall into place that will make everything EASY.  However, as I read the Bible, I can’t find easy circumstances anywhere.  Every person I read about has obstacles to overcome.  It seems that in the midst of life’s struggles...the battles and the victories, that’s where God’s glory shines.

The lie: Because God loves me I’ll have “clear sailing” in life.

The truth: Because God loves me, I’ll never be alone in hard circumstances, and His plan for me is GOOD...it has always been for my good since the beginning of time.