Pastor's Corner: With obedience comes freedom
As I recently am reading through the events in Luke leading up to Jesus’ birth, I am struck by the amazing things that take place in both the spiritual and physical realms.
We see supernatural appearances by angels, supernatural pregnancies, supernatural fillings of the Holy Spirit and supernatural closing of mouths. And, we also see human fear and questioning, human perseverance and human choice.
Zechariah’s words and actions are a testimony displaying humanity empowered by hope in the coming of a Messiah. In Luke 1, we read that when an angel appears to Zechariah with news that he and his wife would soon be having a baby, and that their son would play a significant role in bringing the people back to the Lord, Zechariah is first afraid, then questions the validity of an elderly couple having a baby. And, with that one question, he is unable to utter a single word to tell anyone about what has just happened to him.
Moving to a few verses later in Luke 1, we see that the words from the angel’s message is true. Zechariah and Elizabeth give birth to a son. It is verses 62 to 64 that jumped out this week to me. When Zechariah, who could not speak, is asked what to name his newborn son, as soon as he writes the word “John” for all to see, his mouth is opened to speak. Actually, verse 64 says, “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.”
I believe that with obedience comes freedom. I think that Zechariah’s choice to obey what God supernaturally declared and made happen is what set his tongue free. Had he chose to do something different than what God made clear to him, he may have remained mute the rest of his life.
I can think of times in my life when my fear or doubt or even rebelliousness have kept me from experiencing the supernatural occurrences God had planned for me, merely because I have not trusted Him enough to walk in total obedience. When we look at Zechariah’s faith, we marvel at how God uses our human condition to bring about heavenly outcomes. We stand in awe of men like Zechariah, teenagers like Mary, and humans from all of history who show us the importance of believing and then obeying. Because they sense that God is doing something very, very different and good. Let’s believe that same thing in the days ahead.
Pastor Wynne Schott is co-pastor of the Cheboygan Church of the Nazarene.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Pastor's Corner: With obedience comes freedom
