Faith v. fear

January 4, 2008

The life of Jesus. Read Today: Gabriel announces John's Birth Luke 1:1-25

Luke 1:12 Webster
12 And when Zacharias saw [him], he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.


Our English is so imprecise at times. The Greek for troubled here means greatly agitated. Now I can be troubled that I did not get something right on my job, but that means that I just learn from it and go on. If I am deeply agitated, that means I think something serious has happened. Why was Zacharias so worried? All it was that appeared to him was an angel, right?

No angel had appeared in Israel for a long time, a few centuries in fact. And no prophets had come forth either. This meant something big was going to happen and he was in the middle of it. Now he could have just taken what was said and gone with it, but he was operating in the fear mode and that is never a good thing. In fact, the angel had to stop Zacharias from talking so that he would not ruin God's plan.

When the supernatural happens around you, do not operate in fear, operate in faith.


Read for tomorrow:

Mary visits Elizabeth, John’s mother Luke 1:39-56