Stress Test Devotional May 18
May 18, 2024
LUKE 1:18-20, 57-64 | 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” 19 The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed.
64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.
Speech pathology is a great profession. To help people regain their speech, whether inhibited by handicaps or silenced by accidents or harmed by diseases, is a special task. God practices a little speech pathology on Zechariah in our passage. Mute for five months he bursts forth when God looses his tongue. Five months is a long time to be silent. But when Zechariah does speak it is to share a testimony of truth and faith and praise. Mute because he doubted that God could give him and Elizabeth a child in their dotage, he was ecstatic to be wrong. Zechariah’s song has been remembered through the ages.
Will our testimony also echo through time? Sometimes we too are mute not by divine design but by a deliberate unbelief.
Do you think the Good News is really good news for everyone?
Are you more likely to back off in fear or shyness or break out in song?
If you are largely silent about your faith what pathology underlies your reluctance? What is the cure?
