Friday, January 27, 2023

 

Friday, January 27, 2023


Psalm 68:1-20

Genesis 17

Luke 1:57-66


Observance: John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, teacher (d. 407)


Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.


What other event in all of God’s creation epitomises the human experience better than the spoken word? It appears, and as soon as it is heard, it is gone. A breath on the wind, sometimes delivered with more and better preparation than other times. Words have been breathed that have led entire generations of men to kill their brothers. At other times, they have turned down swords and cannons and saved many. They can send us into spirals of depression, and raise us to dizzying heights beyond even the capacity of our natural dopamine receptors.


God used His ability to speak to create the universe, and then call it good, and bless it. The enemy has the ability to speak, and has used it to confuse us about what God says.


Zechariah’s story is one of those places where the Old Testament gradually blends into the New. He is in the model of Abraham: he trusts God, both because of his faith and past experience. But God keeps pushing him, daring him to trust that God will perform even bigger and better miracles in his life. Elizabeth has no problem with a miracle birth, but Zechariah can’t believe something this amazing would happen to him.


So his mouth was trapped shut by the angel of the Lord. And once the miraculous birth of John the Baptist had happened (and his father had obeyed God by naming him John), Zechariah spoke: praising God.


May we continue to learn the power of our words. May God send His angels to protect us from speaking ill. May God increase the influence of His Spirit within us, so that the power of our words is wielded for God’s glory. And may all that is done be in praise of God.

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