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TRUTH-2: GOD’S SPIRIT CONTROLS THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MY LIFE
Next God explains to us that these ordinary people were also old and almost looked down upon by most of society. In Israel, almost the greatest visible blessing possible for most people would be having a son. Even daughters were better then than not having any children.
The word God used for Elizabeth’s childless condition was harsh: it was the word “barren”.
Barrenness is a condition as well as a feeling.
Barren sounds like how it felt: windswept, empty, lifeless, and deserted.
To be barren, childless, and without a son meant that your family name ended, the family line stopped, and there was no future.
Application: God is in charge of your circumstances. You can be hopelessly headed towards nothing, as far as the world can see things: and still be living a significant life, useful to God.
WHAT DID ZACHARIAS & ELIZABETH KNOW ABOUT GOD?
Think about what they knew.
That is my first step as I study. Examining just what they could have known about God. Here is just one thing that Zacharias would have surely known. It was one of the greatest statements in the Old Testament about how to be famous in God’s sight. Jeremiah wrote these words in the book of the Old Testament which has more words than any other book of the Bible. It is the longest message from God. Tucked inside the longest book (by words) of the Bible is this amazing truth: Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NKJV) Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these, I delight,” says the Lord.
Application: God used this couple because they sought to know God personally. Think back to what we saw earlier. Of all the tens of thousands of priests living and working in the Temple, surrounding Christ’s birth: how many do we know by name? How many do we know their wife’s name? How many do we know their child’s name? So why are these two lifted above the crowd?