Luke Chapter 1

Whoa, I didn't realize the first chapter was 80 verses long! We may take two weeks on this one, since we got a late start anyway.

I love that in this book, we have the story of Jesus' life that was investigated fully and compiled in an orderly and complete fashion. And as Luke put it, his investigations were so that we could be certain of the things we have been taught about Jesus. Luke is saying, "I've checked out his story, and I'm convinced of it's truth." I'm excited to get into it.

What first interested me as I started reading about Zechariah and Elizabeth was the description of both of them. In one sentence, the author summed up their character. You also see this in the books of Kings: each king is described as either "doing good", or "doing evil in the eyes of God." It reminds me that people are watching our lives... if a biographer had to sum you up in one sentence, what would he say?

But here's the other thing I noticed: even though this couple was blameless (and who can make that claim easily?), their one big prayer request hadn't been answered. The thing that would bring them joy, recognition and security was withheld from them. How many years did they have to say "Even though God hasn't given us this one thing we ask of Him, we still believe He is good and loves us tremendously"? How many people scoffed at this ("You wholeheartedly serve this God, and He doesn't even give you a child, the one thing you ask Him for? Fools.")? How many people thought that it was because of some hidden sin that they didn't have children? Did they think they weren't quite good enough, or didn't deserve a child?

When you have years and years of asking God and not receiving, your mind can go a little crazy with trying to understand why. Can you relate? What lessons can you take from Zechariah and Elizabeth's example? How should we wait for God, and what should we believe about Him?