Today is
my 4th day without a voice.
No, this is not a political statement, I mean I am not able to verbalize
my thoughts. I was fighting a cold,
stressed my vocal chords and wound up with laryngitis. The first day without my
voice was funny. People, my children
especially, would laugh at my voice; I would laugh at my lack of voice. My husband joked that this was an early
Christmas gift to him. By day two,
annoyance with not being able to communicate set in. By day three, I realized that I had to make
the best of the situation. I have always
been a “glass half full” kind of gal, and for those of you familiar with Living
Your Strengths or the NY Times Best Seller, StrengthFinders my third
top strength is “Positivity.” So, I
started to pray about how I could put this muteness to good use. I researched figures presented in the bible
as mute and learned that most of those people were struck mute due to lack of
faith. Not really the uplifting message
I was looking for. But as I delved
deeper into The Word, this is what I discovered.
Picture
Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, wife to Elizabeth. When the angel Gabriel foretold of
Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Zechariah was doubtful.
He was struck dumb due to his disbelief and his speech was not returned until
the prophecy was fulfilled.
Now
this, along with the myriad other individuals in the bible who were also struck
dumb due to lack of faith made me start to wonder if God was trying to tell me
something. I read the Gospel account
further and learned that once John was born, on the 8th day when he
was to be circumcised and named, Elizabeth said “He is going to be called John” (Luke 1:60).
This surprised everyone because none of their relatives had this
name. When Zechariah, still mute, was
asked what name he wanted to give is son, he requested a tablet and wrote, “John
is his name” (Luke 1:63). Immediately
Zechariah’s voice was restored and he began to speak, praising God. His first words were not about himself or his
son. Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, said
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.”
(Luke 1:68) He first wanted to give glory to God. Zechariah did not praise God for ending his
muteness or for giving him a child in his old age. He praised God for sending a Savior and for
keeping his promises to Israel. Zechariah
realized that God had not done this to make Zechariah and Elizabeth happy, but
to keep His covenant with Israel. Here
is the rest of The Canticle of Zechariah:
“Blessed be the
Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has visited
and brought redemption to his people.
He has raised up a
horn for our salvation
within the house of
David his servant,
even as he promised
through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:
salvation from our
enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to
our fathers
and to be mindful
of his holy covenant
and of the oath he
swore to Abraham our father,
and to grant us
that,
rescued from the
hand of enemies,
without fear we
might worship him
in holiness and
righteousness
before him all our
days.
And you, child,
will be called prophet of the Most
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give his people
knowledge of salvation
through the
forgiveness of their sins,
because of the
tender mercy of our God
by which the daybreak from on high will visit us
to shine on those
who sit in darkness and death’s shadow,
to
guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:72-77).
So, what
did this scripture passage help me to learn about my present situation? While we praise God for the things he has
done for us, I was reminded that it is not about us. He does these things for us to bring glory to
Him and so that we might believe in Him.
When my voice is restored I know that my first words will be of praise
to God. Not thanking him for the return
of my voice, or the opportunity for me to never take my voice for granted
again, but for the gentle nudge from God for me to seek Him in The Word and
thus, as always, become closer to God and getting to know Him better.
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