When I search the scriptures of Luke, the first chapter, I see my reflection.
Gabriel reveals news, marvelous news, to an old Zacharias:
...the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John."
...he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
The promise of a Spirit-filled babe in belly is a beautiful thing. A miraculous thing.
But Zacharias in a ripe age, replies like the woman who types this would...
"How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years."
This angel, Gabriel, who stands in the presence of our very God who was sent to speak to Zacharias and bring him these glad tidings, answers....
"You will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time."
There, in that verse above, is where I pass the mirror.
Zacharias was without words because he didn't believe The Word.
And perhaps this wasn't meant as a punishment - but as protection. For a person who doesn't believe that their God can and will do what He says He will do - that is a dangerous tongue to have speaking, (or even dangerous fingers to have writing) on His behalf.
For what good is a woman merely filled with her own words? What good is a woman counting on her own spirit to guide her? What good is a woman who hears only from her heart? Not good at all, actually...
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.... Proverbs 28:26 says.
And isn't this so contrary to what the world would have us say? "Follow your heart!!! The answers are there!!! Vie for your own voice, woman!!! You are the source of your power." Is that not what our culture tells us?
Sweet friends, if I were to follow my heart - I would be following folly. I would be following merely flesh. And I'd be faint....in feeling, and in effectiveness.
To believe in the Word spoken over you, of you....this takes great faith. Faith that I can't find on my own - but faith that is revealed and given by the Spirit alone. Catch that. Belief in truth does not come from the depths of one's own heart....one's own spirit...one's own power. Rather, it is given as a gift and placed their in love by Grace. By The Spirit. Not your spirit.
And this is good. If it were all me - I'd be so puffed with pride and arrogance that my feet would never hit the ground.
But isn't this where he has us? Grounded. Going. Giving. Sharing. Telling. Shouting. Showing?
Indeed.
Oh Father. Help me to believe in Your words spoken over me. Help me to believe that You not only speak - but that you fulfill what's been spoken. Whether it be babes in wombs, or wild men in wildernesses, or floods under arks, or kings on thrones, or simply the wildest most seemingly impossible prophecy...when it's of You - let me believe it....
Because I want the words that slip down my tongue to only be dangerous to the Enemy - and only victorious for You.
