Luke 1:60–64 (ESV) — 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called
John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is
called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he
wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His
name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately
his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.
NOTE: Zechariah had
communicated his story to Elizabeth. She knew he was to be called John.
Interestingly, the relatives and husband had more control over the naming of
children than today. Anyway, Zechariah writes and confirms the name is John,
and his muteness is immediately gone. It must have been very hard to not say
anything for nine months. It is one of many miracles that confirms God is doing
something special at this time in history. It is a small story, and a small
crowd of family witness it. But it is only one of hundreds of miracles
performed before individuals and crowds in the following years. God uses
miracles as place markers in history. Miracles are an intervention of God into
history. I rather agree that most of the time, God does not interfere with
history which is why we have so much difficulty believing in miracles. There
have only been a few periods of history where miracles were prominent, the
Exodus period, the time of Elijah and Elisha, and the beginning of the church
age. For the most part, while miracles still do happen, they are rare, even in
scripture. But one thing we do know from Romans 8:28, we know that in all
things, God works for the good of those who love him and are called according
to his purpose. He may not use miracles, but he quietly works to bring good out
of the situations of our life.
PRAYER: Thank you
Lord that you are still working in life to bring good out of evil. I do pray
that we would trust in your goodness and your power--that you can turn the
wiles of evil persons into good things.
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