A Change in Plans

 

How often have events disrupted your plans? How do you react to these disruptions? How many times have we made plans only to change them or have them changed for us? Other people or circumstances often force us to reconsider what we want to do. Sometimes we respond with irritation at a change in plans. Sometimes we just “go with the flow.” But there are those rare times when our plans are changed because God changes them for us. 

The narrative of the Baptist’s birth revolved around the miraculous. (Luke 1:57-66, 80)An elderly couple could not have children, yet an angel told the man, Zechariah, that his prayer had been answered. Although Zechariah was a holy man, he doubted the angel’s good news and was struck speechless. But the couple did conceive a son. When Mary visited the boy’s mother, Elizabeth, the Spirit filled the boy and he lept in her womb. Now, when the child was born, Zechariah regained his power of speech, and he praised God over and over. The Spirit would also lead the boy through his adolescence until his appearance as an adult. 

 Zechariah had plans that were radically altered when God got in the way. Zechariah praised God at the birth of his son. He also showed everyone who was really in charge by the miracle of his restored voice.

Notice the faith of the couple in the face of peer pressure. The name of the child was to reflect not just a favorite relative, but the identity of the clan itself. Male children would be given the name of an elder. In turn, the boy was expected to follow in the footsteps of that elder. When family and friends wanted to name the boy after his father, they wanted the boy continue the traditions of the priestly caste. By giving him a new name, Zechariah and Elizabeth defied convention and declared his identity and role would be different, outside family traditions and expectations. When speech was restored to Zechariah, he praised God to affirm his faith in the heavenly message he was given. In other words, Luke highlighted the movement of the Spirit over the traditional concerns of the immediate community. God, not humans, would guide events. 

How many times have our conventional interests blinded us to God’s presence in our lives and his working his plans through us? Plans can change. The will of God is constant. It is his Spirit that changes us  and alters our situations, for the glory of the Father. Like Zechariah, our answer to God’s intervention should be “Praise the Lord!” (adapted from Larry Broding's Word-Sunday.Com)