Day 55 - Issue 23
Luke 1:63 NLT
He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.”
Working in conflict management, the one killer question for anyone caught up in a conflict is: “What do you want?” Most can only answer by way of retelling once more what they don’t want or describing what action they’d like the other person to take. Locating their preference is difficult, sometimes even painful. One reason for this is that once I state my preference, what if I have settled for too little? Or again, what if it weakens my position? Of course, if it’s truly what I want, all other questions become redundant.
Here we meet Zechariah again, now looking on a beautiful new-born son. The friends and relatives gathered for this naming ceremony cannot believe it when Elizabeth says “John”. It’s not a family name and this is a long-awaited child. Turning to Zechariah for clarification, he writes the name ‘John’. His obedience is assisted by the joy of having a long-standing prayer answered. He also found his voice again, and his first action is to praise God and to prophesy.
God is always interested in our wants and needs, but he is no slot machine whose winning numbers are the inevitable consequence of faithful prayer. God is dynamic and alive. He invites us to listen and to live in obedience. Unless we discern God’s voice we are left to be obedient to a well-meaning moral code and attempting to live what we define as a ‘Christian’ life. This is little different to most people across the planet, Christian or not – attempting to live to a moral code they affirm and living as productive citizens and net contributors to the good of society. If this summarises our Christian life, boy, are we in trouble!
God’s invitation is to live as Jesus leads. If we discern God’s voice and respond in obedience, then we may well find that the order of things is disturbed. Such disturbance creates a space for God to move. Advent presents a series of disturbances, the annunciation, Elizabeth’s pregnancy, a mute Zechariah. Out of these disturbances the Son of God will emerge to usher in God’s kingdom.
QUESTION: Where do you think what you want and what God wants for your life differ?
PRAYER: Lord, not my will but your will be done.
