What Would You Say?

Over the past few weeks I have been reading and thinking about Luke chapter 1. There are two verses that have caused me to pause and spend some time thinking about how I would have responded if I was approached with the same message. Here is the message, “Your wife Elizabeth (who is too old to have children) will conceive and bear a son.” This message was given to Zachariah by the angel Gabriel. Now what is important is Zachariah’s response, “How can I know this, for I am an old man, and my wife is along in years” (Luke 1:18). Zachariah and Elizabeth had been praying for a son for years, but obviously Zachariah had come to the place where he believed it to be impossible. So instead of praising God, his response was to question the message from God. Now I am not blaming him; I may have done the same thing. I hope not, I mean it was a message that came directly from God and it was an answer to prayer. But he questioned.
Now listen to Elizabeth’s response to the same message, “The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor on me” (vs 25). Her response was to praise God and give honor and praise to Him. Her reaction was to acknowledge that this only happened because of God. Two completely different responses.
What I have realized is that these two responses are exactly the way we respond to God today. We either question God, or we submit to him and praise him. You may be asking how we do this. Well, how about this truth from God to us: the only way to God is through the forgives of our sin offered to us by the death of Jesus on the cross as the full payment for our sin. Our response to that truth is either we question it by saying, “Really, that is the only way?” or “Let me try and figure this out on my own.” Or, we immediately say yes to his payment for our sin and praise and glorify him for his forgiveness, grace and mercy.
How have you responded to God? How will you respond to him? We all need to. He has given us an opportunity for forgiveness and new life; he is waiting for our response.

-Pastor Tim