Luke 1:13,25–But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John….25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”Just like Zechariah, Elizabeth was dealing with her own inner turmoil even though she was declared righteous and blameless.  She lived with the “reproach” or disgrace of being barren, which could have been seen as cursed by God in those times.  Both Zechariah and Elizabeth had a good reputation of godliness and probably did not sense any hostility from others.  Yet there can be a something we personally deal with, that makes us feellike we are a disgrace to God and other people. 

Aside from what people have said or not, it is how we think we look towards people “out there” in the world, or our circle of friends, or family.  This creates turmoil, because such frustration is not always from sin, but from the providence of God’s will in our life.  Which we have to learn to live with, and find contentment in God while enduring how we perceive things He has permitted…

But what was great, is that though God waited a long time to bless both Zechariah and Elizabeth, what they had yearned for came!  Zechariah could live without the groaning he had from before, while Elizabeth could do without the reproach she lived with for so long.   The blessing of a desire fulfilled can bring peace and rest to a groaning soul, and restore the feeling of affirmation from God, when you have endured a reproach of some kind.  

The truth is that we could be praying for something so long, that we learn to live with the burden or reproach of it.  That the “sting” of what we think we need for validation or approval from people, is something God shows us that we don’t need, at least at the time we think we do, if ever!  Sometimes God allows us to live with the reproach we may secretly feel, that we learn the difference between what Christ has taken on for us, and what we have defined ourselves by.  

I challenge you to examine whether or not you have allowed how you think of yourself, to make you feel less important or “disgraced” to God and others?  If so, allow Christ to bear your reproaches, forgive and accept yourself for them, that you experience life more abundantly in this world. (Romans 15:3)

In His Love, Ld