Intro

In our passage today, Zechariah, the priest, longs for two things: to have a son and for the Messiah to come. The son represents for him and his wife, Elizabeth, the removal of shame, descendants, and inheritance. The Messiah represents God’s promises fulfilled.  In fact, all Jews are longing for Messiah to come. They are waiting for a spiritual reawakening.

Zechariah and Elizabeth are a good, faithful, God-fearing couple, but there is one thing that disappoints them: despite their faithfulness before God, they have not been able to have a son. They are blameless before God, but not blessed by Him (or so it seems). We feel the tension. They have God’s approval, yet their lives are seemingly marked by disapproval. Will this scene of their lives become their life story?  

Sometimes we wonder, “Is there anything we need to experience God’s blessing?” We have sought to be faithful, but we are disappointed – by our struggle to have children, by our children straying from relationship with God, by a lingering illness, by our marriage being less than we expected, by ongoing financial strain, and so on. What should be our perspective when life is less than we expected it to be?

Questions for Reflection:

• Are you awake to the grand story God is writing in history?
• Are you awake to the story He is writing in your personal life?
• Are you waiting patiently for Him to accomplish His purposes in your life and in history?
• Do you trust Him in your current scene?