TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.” Luke 1:68
Listen: Luke 1
TODAY’S MESSAGE
In the Old Testament, God visited his people on numerous occasions. In those visits he made promises to rescue, restore and redeem them. But 400 years after the close of God speaking in the Old Testament, the promises must have felt like they were a long way in the past.
Just before the birth of Christ, there lived a priest named Zechariah. Because he and his wife Elizabeth waited in infertility and were now very old, they likely wondered if God had forgotten them like (it seemed) he had forgotten his promises to Israel.
Much to their surprise, God gave them a son to be named John. A son who would prepare the way for God himself. When John was born, Zechariah praised God. His joy wasn’t only that he and Elizabeth had been given a son—but about what the birth of his son meant about God. It meant that God was going to visit them and that he remembered them.
As we read the story, we are drawn to praise God for the same thing. In the same way Zechariah praised God that he had come to be with his people, we can look back and praise God that he visits and remembers us too.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Grab your journal and use the Focus For This Season journal card. Take the time to complete the two sentences on the front of the card and list the three items for which you are grateful today. Then download this lock screen as a reminder.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
