The Next Right Thing

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Devotional for Wednesday, December 4th

Today’s Bible Reading: Luke 1:5-25

God loves to begin stories with the unlikeliest of people taking center stage. Whether it's a shepherd boy (David), a cowardly man (Gideon), or an immigrant woman (Ruth), God loves calling on people who the world overlooks. In the Christmas story, he chooses an unlikely couple to start things off.

Zechariah and Elizabeth have faced disappointment in life. The years have passed them by, and now, old and gray, they are still childless. Despite this, they haven't given up on following God. They committed their lives to "observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly." (v. 6)

Zechariah was a priest, and one day he was chosen to go into the temple and burn incense. This wasn't a common occurrence. A priest got to do this maybe once in his lifetime. When Zechariah enters the temple, he sees a magnificent sight. The angel Gabriel! Gabriel informs Zechariah that he and Elizabeth will soon have a baby boy named John. John will prepare the way for Jesus.

Zechariah can hardly believe this and wants some kind of sign from the angel. (And Gabriel obliges by taking away his voice!) We might find it funny that Zechariah needed a sign from Gabriel. Isn't this frightening angel proof enough? But after so many disappointments, I can't blame Zechariah for being skeptical of something that sounds too good to be true.

The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth reminds me of two things. The first is that God's timing is a real thing. When God doesn't answer a prayer, some people, to make you feel better, may say, "Well, maybe it's not a 'no.' Maybe it's a 'not yet.'" That can be annoying to hear, and in most cases, doesn't do anything to make you feel better. But in Zechariah and Elizabeth's case, it was true. They were the first "domino" in God's Christmas story. The dominoes took awhile to set up, but once he pushed that first one over, it was a marvel to see.

The second is that our faithfulness matters. Despite Zechariah and Elizabeth's disappointment, they continued to get up every morning. They kept taking their next step toward God. This is not easy, and something I admire about them. The people we come face to face with every day are fighting battles we know nothing about. For some, gathering the courage to greet another day is a victory in itself.

As Anna sings in Frozen 2 (which I haven't seen yet but listened to the soundtrack!):

I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath
This next step
This next choice is one that I can make

So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do the next right thing


It's one reason to be kind to everyone, especially during this season.

Questions to Ponder:

Why do you think God chooses unlikely people to work through?

Are you facing any disappointment right now? How can you do the "next right thing" despite not knowing what the future holds?

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