67 His father Zechariah was filled
with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the
house of his servant David
 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long go)

 Luke 1:67-70 (NIV)
If you had been silent for nine months, what  would your first words be? Zechariah had been unable to talk through his wife’s  entire pregnancy. Yesterday, we saw that when he showed his neighbors that he  would stick with God’s plan, he was able to talk again. Now, we start to see  what he wanted say after being silent so long. He first praised and then  prophesied God’s plan.

 After being silent for nine months the first  thought on Zechariah’s lips was, “Praise be to the Lord.” We would all like to  think that would be the first words out of our mouths after a long period of  silence, but even after short periods of silence what is the first thing you
say? Are your first words when you awake in the morning, “Praise God!” What do  you say when you have been sitting silently in church listening to the pastor?  “Where are eating?” “I need to go the bathroom.” No, I am sure everyone reading  this does immediately praise God. What we say first is an indication of what we  thought about during our time of silence. Zechariah was probably thinking about how great God is. 

He obviously spent time with God, because next he told the people God’s plan. The birth of Zechariah’s son was one part God’s bigger plan to bring salvation to the world. During his silence, Zechariah had  time to sit and listen to God unfold his plan. He did not have to do this. He could have spent his time watching Elizabeth and keeping track of everything she
did wrong, so when he could talk to again he would have a long list of criticism. There are probably other things he could have done during his silence. Whatever our situation, we can decide on what to meditate. We can spend our time listening to God and meditating on His word. We then could be blessed with the honor of sharing God’s plan with others.

I pray that my thoughts line up with the word of God. I pray that those thoughts are reflected in my words. In all we do, let’s meditate on God and His word, so that the first words that come from our mouths praise Him and agree with His plans.

Tomorrow's reading is Luke 1:71-73.


 



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