Tuesday, June 2, 2009

John The Baptist - It's a Miracle!

Luke 1:23-25 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. "The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

I must say, that while driving on the road, there is one thing that irritates me to no end: the lack of the appreciative hand wave. If I have taken the time to slow down to let someone in, or moved over to another lane to allow room to merge - is it so much to ask for a simple hand gesture of thanks? A wave of the hand to acknowledge the fact that I had done something nice? Not a parade in my honor, not a rolled down window and shout of thanks, not even a gracious horn honk - just a wave in my general direction. And yet, I rarely get it. It certainly makes me think twice whenever I decide to show generosity on the pavement - yet I still do.

In these verses, we are told that Elizabeth up and disappears for the first 5 months of her pregnancy. Now this is not exactly the right way to understand it. As soon as Zechariah was 'with' her, and she found out she was pregnant -she didn't run away - she secluded herself to spend these days in prayer to God. She was thanking Him for the awesome miracle that He had blessed her with. A woman in these days had a lot of weight placed on the fact that they could give their husbands a child. Not only did God bless Elizabeth with a baby, but this baby would be great in the sight of the Lord. She took the next five months to spend time with the Lord giving Him all the thanks for this miracle.

Today, thank yous seem so far and few between with one another, I can't imagine how few 'thank you's actually make it to God. Our Biblical examples show that not only was the length of the thank you inspiring - but the immediacy as well. Elizabeth didn't wait until John was born - she began praising God and thanking Him as soon as she found out she was pregnant. Is there anything - simple or miraculous - that we should be thanking God for right now?

8 comments:

Greg C said...

Oh yes. There are so many things but like most people I seem to be "too busy" to take time out and thank God. I love this story because it not only shows true love for God it shows ture faith. Could we have faith like this?

debrah said...

I know that I don't even recognize nevermind acknowledge all the wonderful things that the Lord does for me each and every day. How many times He protects, provides,blesses, counsels, comforts, shields, guides, intervenes, has mercy. Thank you for this post...and I pray that my heart will truly be attuned to my Lord and Savior and that I will offer up sincere gratitude and praise.

Kay Martin said...

LIving the grateul life.

God's girl said...

So true. More kindness would be a good thing these days! I get irritated and saddened as well by it.
Good post!!
Much love,
Angela

Sharon said...

Amennnnnn, I so agree with you, but I will just keep on keeping on with my waves and hopefully someone else will see and learn.
I continue always to praise and thank my Lord everyday!
Great post!!
I pray all is well your way, Have a beautiful day my friend :)

Pinkshoelady said...

Hey Girl,
I loved this post.
My husband posted a gratitude poster on my fridge for us to write what we are grateful to God for...it has proved to be both a blessing and enlightening.
Thanks for the post!
Pamela

Unknown said...

Appreciate what you had to say. Thank God that Elizabeth didn't wait for MOSES to be born (You may want to make the correction there). Nor did she wait for JOHN to be born. She thanked God right away and we should too.
Dr. Sabrina D. Black
www.globalprojects.org
www.abundantlifecounseling.webs.com

Dorothy Champagne said...

oops - thanks for catching that! :)