| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 1 |
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The angel told Zacharias that now a son was about to born to him, and he should have joy and gladness. It makes great joy in any true home when a child is born. In this case the joy was unusual, since the birth of John was the token of the speedy coming of the long-promised Messiah. It was like the rising of the morning star which heralds the approach of the day. Not only would the parents rejoice, but many would mingle in the rejoicing. Every child should seek to be a joy to parents, not only in its infancy, but always. Children hold in their hands the happiness of their parents. It is in their power, too, to give them great grief and sorrow. Many children do indeed break the hearts of their parents. Many do it by their bad conduct, their wrong actions. Then there are many children who make great joy for their parents. They do it by their gratitude and love, and by lives that are full of beauty and honor, of which their parents cannot be anything but proud. All children should seek to live in this way. Then it should be the aim, too, to live so that others shall have occasion to rejoice over their birth, because they are blessing in the world.
The angel said further that John should be great in the sight of the Lord. There are people who are great in their own eyes or in the eyes of their friends, who in God’s sight are very small. It is well to have people’s approval of us and our work, but it is incalculably better to have God’s approval. We should strive always to be and to do what Christ would have us to be and to do. It is well to ask ourselves quiet often what God thinks of us. We like to please men; let us seek to please God.
Zacharias asked for a sign to prove to him that this astonishing thing should be fulfilled. His request was granted, and the sign given to him was that he should be dumb until the child was born. God wants us to believe His promises without a shadow of doubt, no matter how strange they may be. We should trust God implicitly. Unquestioning faith is not presumptuous; it honors God and brings fullest blessing.
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