Following God's Ways

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Luke 1: 57-66

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷ When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Not only was John the Baptist a "Miracle Baby", born of a mother called "barren" for so song, but receiving the name John, instead of his father's name, Zechariah, was a second sign that this was no ordinary baby, but one destined for a unique mission in life;  And so it was; John the Baptist. chosen by God to prepare the way for his Son, Jesus.  It all makes sense to us now, but at the time, all was not so evident.

So often in our lives we are confronted with the unusual, the unorthodox, and find ourselves making choices we never expected.  Following God's plan often takes us to places we never expected or doing things we never thought possible.Walking with God often takes us down unique paths created just for us; we can balk and claim, "this is not for me", or "it's too hard", or like Mary, Zechariah, John and so many others, we can follow the call, break with tradition, and make our unique contribution to the building of God's kingdom. May we learn from this passage to be open to God's plan, even though it seems so strange and impossible to us. God's ways are not our ways.  

Bro. Rene