Luke 1:21 “Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Years ago, there was a popular TV program called “Touched by An Angel.” Each week people stuck in various predicaments would find themselves involved in a divine encounter. But many times, they only realized what had happened after all was said and done and the angel had left. Zechariah, on the other hand, saw the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel identified himself and informed Zechariah exactly why he (Gabriel) was there and what was to happen.
Luke tells us that Zechariah was a very devout man. Luke was a physician and I have always thought that he would have made a good neurologist. Neurologists are detail people who get every bit of a patient’s history, even tiny details that other doctors might miss so that they can reach a diagnosis. That was Luke. Luke interviewed who knows how many people to make certain that he was getting his facts exactly correct. So, we can trust Luke when he describes Zechariah and Elizabeth and the angelic encounter. It wasn’t that Zechariah didn’t want to believe; Elizabeth and he desperately wanted a child. But they had been married for at least thirty years, and had been unable to get pregnant. At this point, Zechariah’s faith was growing pretty dim. Zechariah’s sagging faith cost him more than nine months during which he was unable to speak.
Once Zechariah got home and told Elizabeth, she must have believed him. And Elizabeth got pregnant! Incredible! Why did Elizabeth remain in seclusion for five months? Elizabeth was an elderly mother; elderly mothers are more likely to have complications of pregnancy such as miscarriages than younger mothers. Elizabeth wanted to make sure that the pregnancy was safe; she probably allowed her maid servants to do things around the house that she would normally have done just to avoid stressing herself and causing any problem. By the time Mary came to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth had been pregnant for at least seven months. Fetal movement generally begins at 16 – 20 weeks, so every time Elizabeth’s baby moved, she was praising God, even when the baby was kicking her diaphragm or her bladder.
Perhaps God has promised to do some big thing for you, but you don’t see that promise coming true. You have watched and waited and prayed, but you still don’t see any answer on the horizon. Take heart! Learn from Zechariah and Elizabeth that God is a God of the impossible and that He rewards faith. But remember, God will act in His way and in His timing. Many times, God intervenes in our lives, and we are like the people on that TV show. We only realize that God has done something after He has already acted. And also be prepared for God to work differently than you expected. By the time Elizabeth got pregnant, it’s likely that Zechariah and she were simply praying for God to give them grace to accept their barren state; they had given up praying for a child long ago.
PRAYER: Father, today many of us are struggling with sagging faith. Our hopes and dreams appear to have died, and we aren’t even sure how to pray anymore. Increase our faith! Help us to look around us and see that your hand of provision is already working in our situation. And help us to remember that you can do “abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to your power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20) We are looking to you! We are waiting for you! In the matchless Name of your Son our Savior Jesus. Amen.
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