June 6th

June 6th -- Luke 1:1-25 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201:1-25&version=NLT)

God sent an angel to tell Zechariah that his wife, Elizabeth, was going to have a son who would do incredible work for God. Now, this is an ANGEL telling him. This isn't just some guy who showed up. Even if the angel looked like a person, Zechariah should have known it was an angel, as only one person was allowed in the sanctuary of the Lord at a time, so nobody would have entered. Basically, I'm saying Zechariah's doubt cannot be attributed to not thinking the angel was, well, an angel. If he knew that the angel was in fact an angel, why did he doubt? Well, he was old, as was his wife  - for them to have children should have been impossible. Yet, Elizabeth still became pregnant and gave birth to a son, as the angel had said. Until that time, though, Zechariah is mute,`(possibly also deaf) as punishment for doubting/questioning God. God is able to do all things- including the "impossible". We need to ensure we do not doubt that. Often I think that because our problems feel so overwhelming to us, we assume any solution is impossible. However, we need to realize there is no impossible solution with God. So, we don't often get an angel dropping in to let us know God said ____ or ______. However, we do have God's many promises to us in the Bible.  One of these is that He has a future for us that will prosper us, not harm us (Jeremiah 29:11) - thinking escape from our bad circumstances just shows doubt to God. It's sometimes like we think that unless we have a clear sign, we are allowed to doubt, because for all we know He won't come through on it. WRONG. We have all the signs we need, all in the Bible. So the next time you need an "impossible" solution, remind yourself we are loved and cared for impossibly by and "impossible" God and trust Him instead to work all our circumstances into what will be best for us.

That's all! God bless! Shalom!