Peculiar Power and Blessing

-

Scripture
 
Luke 1:66 All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

Observation

The birth of John the Baptist foreshadowed the advent of something unusual. It was as if the first act was unfolding, people could sense it, because so much had transpired surrounding John’s conception and birth. They pondered the situation, the same as Mary pondered her circumstances. It brought them to a place of thinking and wondering about outcomes. Obviously this child was to be something different, or unique.

The pronouncement that “the hand of the Lord was with him” has been interpreted in many ways. It’s John Wesley who declared that this was “the peculiar power and blessing of God.” John was marked from infancy, to be someone destined to do great work for God. It was the prediction of supernatural events and a great career in service to God. John would not be an ordinary child for the grace of God was already visibly present in his life. So much so, that the people acknowledged the peculiar power and presence of God.

Application

It’s easy to take babies and little children for granted and not think too much about who they will become in adulthood. However, every great leader of this world has begun their life as a dependent infant. God has a way of working, pouring out his prevenient grace, even on the life of an infant. This was true for John the Baptist, and also for Jesus. The people of the first century were invited to observe the ways in which God was working and await the results. The parents of these boys carried with them the heavy weight of responsibility in guiding the young lives but providing space for God to be at work. They recognized the peculiar power and blessing upon their lives.

Adults have a unique responsibility to serve as gentle guides for unfolding young lives. We don’t have to all be parents. We may be grandparents, aunts, uncles, or loving members of a church community, but we should recognize the hand of God at work in the lives of children. Who knows who or what some of these children will become? We do know that the hand of God is peculiarly at work in the lives of little ones and we must never become a stumbling block to their faith.

Christmas reminds of the innocence and potential, all wrapped up in the life of a baby. May we treat every new life as if the hand of the Lord were upon them. Together with God may we imagine what this child might become. And as a community of faith may we pour ourselves into guiding children into all that they might become in Christ Jesus. This is the peculiar power and blessing of God, revealed through new birth.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the precious young lives that I have the privilege of encountering. Please help me to be a force which helps to guide and direct them toward you. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a ti...
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her ...
Read more

On Grief and A Flute Player

-
Scripture: Matt. 9:23 When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, Matt. 9:24 he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Matt. 9:25 But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. Matt. 9:26 And the report of this spread throughout that district. Observation: This is a simple story which we have heard or read numerous times. Jesus heals the little girl and the people rejoice. But at the moment in which he arrives at the home he encounters the professional mourners. These are the flute players, the ones who have come to make a great noise about the child’s death. It is the flute player that testifies to the fact that she is truly dead. Also, flutes were generally employed when it came to the death of a child. The whole community would therefore understand that it is a child who has died in this home. The flute player is doing the job they have ...
Read more