7But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
Childlessness in this culture was considered a curse of sorts. When a family has many children it was able to accomplish more. It was seen as a blessing to have an abundant family. Without children a couple could become purposeless and lose hope for the future. Think about it from a discipleship point of view for a moment. Children are the central focus of a person's’ ability to teach and guide in how to live, based on the things you have learned in life. It would be easy to conceive the thoughts that God withholding children as a rebuke to not allow that person to pass on the things he has learned. Furthermore a childless couple as they would inevitably grow old would have no one to care for them when they could not do the work themselves. Again finding themselves outside of the blessing of God.
Therefore it is an even more telling tribute to this couple Elizabeth and Zechariah that they lived in a righteous way before the Lord, trusting in Him even when their circumstances seemed otherwise.
application
I need to believe God and not be swayed by my circumstances. I am a blessed man with many, many reasons to be grateful for all the Lord has done for us. Today I will seek to magnify in my heart the sense of God’s goodness to me and my family.
No comments:
Post a Comment