Jennifer Blacklock Blog

“After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, ‘Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.’”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Elizabeth thought the thing she and her husband had been praying for- a baby- was long past possible. All her friends and relatives her age had had their babies and raised them to adulthood. Some had even already had grandchildren. Meanwhile she’d felt alone, like an outcast. She’d experienced the reproach common in her time for a woman unable to bear children.

And then they got their miracle.

There’s something to take note of in seeing that God actually waited until it would be a miracle. He could’ve done what He was going to do at anytime. He could’ve sent the angel and given them baby John before they were “advanced in years” (Luke 1:18), but instead He waited until it would be a miracle. Then when it finally happened, His people gave Him credit and glory. If He had given Zacharias and Elizabeth their baby when they had first asked, this opportunity, “many will rejoice at his birth”, would’ve been missed.

So in God’s good and perfect timing, they received the answer to their payers for a child, they got their miracle. And we see Elizabeth’s reaction to her miraculous pregnancy: she says, “the Lord has done this for me”.

She said it. Spoke it, out loud; she acknowleged that this great thing that was happening was God’s doing. Our testimonies are for God’s glory, and if we fail to acknowledge what He’s done and doing- out loud- we’re missing an opportunity to give Him glory and robbing others of that chance as well. “And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” (Luke 1:58)
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Zacharias, John’s father, unable to speak throughout the pregnancy because of His questioning of the miraculous promise, is finally freed from his muteness when he writes that the baby’s name is John, as the angel had instructed; “and immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭64‬-‭66‬, emphasis mine). Zacharias’s use of speech caused an amazed reverence for God in all who heard.

Psalm 90:16-17 says “Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”

Notice the motivation- establish the work of our hands… “so we can do whatever we want”? “so people will think we’re amazing”? No- the reason Moses, who wrote this psalm, asks of God that He establish the work of their hands was so the God’s work and God’s power would be made known to the people.

When we share what God has done in our lives, be it something as huge as freedom from slavery for your people as was Moses’s case or an infertile old couple conceiving like Zacharias and Elizabeth- or something much smaller and seemingly unimportant to the course of history- it gives Glory to Him.

It’s so important for us to recognize and give proper credit to God when we see Him do some work in our lives- overcoming a temptation, a friend’s marriage being restored after we interceded for them in prayer, receiving a promotion at work, having a door finally opened to move, having inexplainable peace after loss or in the face of difficulty, seeing the beginnings of forgiveness and reconciliation in relatives you’ve been praying for or in your own life. Perhaps it’s something that would seem tiny to other people- reading the Bible for the first time in months or years, going to church after you swore in hurt that you never would, making a friend, spending less time with someone you know is a bad influence, going in to work when you don’t want to, calling someone, forgiving someone. No work is too small! If you know God has done it, praise Him for it! We don’t have to broadcast it everywhere we go (although maybe God is calling some of us to that), but we do need to say it somewhere. When we share these things that God is doing, it grows the faith of His people and has the potential to instill the wonderful fear of God even in an unbeliever! It may lead someone who’s lost to say “I want God in front of me, leading me”.

We don’t need to wait until a work is “complete” before testifying. Won’t there always be something unfinished in our lives? Some of the work God is doing in our lives won’t even be complete in this life. Elizabeth said “the Lord has done this for me” when she was pregnant; she didn’t wait until she had the baby or until he grew up to be the incredible prophet he would become.

Our testimonies glorify God. God makes impossible seeming situations possible so He’ll be glorified all the more.

What work has God done in your life? What’s He doing around you that you can see and point out? I encourage you to share His work with someone today.

“Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!”