Luke
1:5-7 (ESV) In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named
Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of
Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God,
walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But
they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in
years.
NOTE: There is a
certain kindness in how God approaches this. In one case, we see the miracle of
a childless couple, old, somehow miraculously having a child. That is special
and significant in the many miracles of Jesus' coming. But because Zechariah and
Elizabeth are old, they won't live to see John living in the desert and having
his head cut off to please a spoiled daughter and an evil wife. They are spared
some of the pain of childbirth, that is, seeing your children grow up in an
evil world. The pain of childbirth is not just the physical pain the woman
experiences, but the emotional pains that are part of raising children. Yes,
there are many joys, but with those joys come heartaches and worries and the
inability to fix all the things that go wrong. Life is hard and joyful at the
same time. So what is the lesson to us? We are reminded of the need to trust
God and give him our children. They have free wills, They will choose poorly at
times -- do we actually think they could be different than us? We can't force
their decisions. That is difficult. But we need to give our worries and cares
to God. He sees them. He knows how he will use them. We need to trust God.
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