PASTORAL INSIGHT

THE JOY OF LONG AWAITED MIRACLE
Luke 1: 5ff.

OUR HISTORY
Everyone has a past,  an history- the story that can be told. Some aspects are pleasant,  others may not. Our past cannot be rewind and changed.  None of them can be erased. Alas! a miracle can overshadow the negative experiences. How?
      God spoke through Prophet Isaiah, "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.( Isaiah 43:18-19). God proves.that he cannot forget his own people. The story of the first Christmas contains the episode of God remembering to meet a need.

OUR NEEDS
God will usually not arise to no occasion nor meet his people without a point of need. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1). The story of Christmas presents a family that had a need.

  Luke wrote that "there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.  And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years." (Luke 1:5-8). The story ended in and with joy, God gave them a son.

    OUR GOD REMEMBERS
We are tempted by human nature to feel neglected and forsaken. The God we serve will remember his word, his promises and his people. God asked, 
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." (Isaiah 49:15 KJV). An example is this, "And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb."(Genesis 30:22)

OUR CONVICTION
The story of the birth of Jesus will be incomplete without a mention of the manifestation of long..awaited miracle- the birth of John the Baptist. Are there long awaited miracles, waiting wombs and age-long reproach?  God will meet you.divinely.

Merry Christmas.

Rev Dr Kehinde Babarinde
Conference President