Sometimes, we give up with our prayers when God doesn’t answer them on our timetables. This daily devotional looks at Zechariah’s response to prayers on which he had probably given up.
Nuggets
- Heaven knew what Zechariah had prayed, and he was getting for which he had prayed.
- Gabriel tells Zechariah that John would be an honor to them and showed how John was supposed to live.
- Zechariah didn’t understand and had to understand before he could believe.
- When Zechariah headed to home to Elizabeth, I bet he couldn’t wait to see her with the good news.
Devotions in the Life of Jesus series
God Answers Prayers
We are told to bring our petitions to God. We expect Him to answer our prayers. But sometimes God doesn’t answer them when or how we asked.
Zechariah found himself in a pickle when Gabriel showed up one day to tell him that God was answering his old prayer. Let’s see what happened.
Let's Put It into Context
“An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified and overcome with fear” (Lk. 1: 11-12 CSB)
We’ve looked at Zechariah and Elizabeth before. First off, we have to deal with the dude’s name.
The different translations have two different spellings for this dude’s name. One spelling is Zacharias (NASB, NKJV, KJV). The other spelling is Zechariah (NIV, NLT, ESV, CSB, CEV, GNT, HCSB).
- Both Zechariah and Elizabeth were considered blameless.
- Zechariah had to consecrate himself in order to perform his duties.
- Zechariah doubted Gabriel.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Have you ever realized that most angelic encounters scare the wadding out of us? I don’t know if it is the suddenness of the encounter, the unexpectedness of it, or the frightening “physical” appearance of the angels.
The outcome is still the same. The humans are described as frightened.
God Is in the Business of Answering Prayers
“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth’” (Lk. 1: 13-14 CSB)
The first words out of Gabriel’s mouth — after addressing Zechariah’s fear — was that Zechariah’s prayers were being answered. Heaven knew what he had prayed, and he was getting for which he had prayed.
Why did Heaven know? Parker wrote that “human life is intended to be the realization of a heavenly plan.”
Resource
We don’t just stumble through life from one decision to the next. There is a plan for our lives. This plan is based on what God has seen regarding the decisions we are going to make.
But don’t we start to question that plan when we don’t feel God is working in our lives? The Jews had – in their minds – real reason to question what God was doing in their lives.
The reason was God hadn’t been doing for 400 years. He had been silent.
God’s silence is not a sign that He is not working. He is silent because He is working things out.
I wonder, though, if Zechariah had grown silent, too. Well, think about it. If he had prayed for a baby that morning, he wouldn’t be scoffing at the angel’s message. He would be jumping for joy.
Elizabeth was past the childbearing years. No, we don’t know how long it had been since that sunset. We do know that “… both of them were well along in years” (Lk. 1: 7 CSB).
Ooo, baby. How many times do we feel like we have to badger God with our petition to make sure He hears it and knows we are sincere? Then when we are past the sunset for our circumstances, we bite on ourselves when we think about how we dropped that petition.
We have to remember to whom Gabriel was talking – Zechariah and, by extension, Elizabeth. Both were blameless. Zechariah’s name meant the Lord remembers, and Elizabeth’s meant God of the oath or covenant.
God is in the business of answering prayers. That is how He rewards the blameless.
Gabriel knew that. Maybe that is one of the reasons he starts out trying to put Zechariah at ease and reassure him that God has good things in store for his family.
God Answers Prayers about Our Character
“For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people” (Lk. 1: 15-17 CSB)
In Luke 1: 14, Gabriel tells Zechariah that John would be an honor to them. The next couple of verses showed how John was supposed to live. Foote detailed why he was going to be a joy to then. [Note: the headings are Foote’s words.]
Resource
His Eminence in Wisdom and Piety
John was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit from the start. Even while he was in Elizabeth’s womb, God’s Spirit would be with him.
But that wasn’t the only reason John was going to be “… great in the sight of the Lord …” (Lk. 1: 15 CSB). John was going to live the life God had called him to live. He was going to be obedient. He was going to serve God in the way in which he was called.
His Unworldliness
John was to be a Nazarite. Numbers 6 details what that means.
To read Bible Hub’s Numbers 6, click the button below.
Are we all to be Nazarites? I don’t think so. Jesus wasn’t (Luke 7: 33-35).
However, we all are to focus on God rather than this world. We are to focus on eternity rather than this temporary home.
During the Lord’s Supper, Jesus told us we were to be in the world but not of the world. We have to choose to imitate Jesus.
Glossary
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
His Spiritual-Mindedness
I am sure John the Baptist wasn’t perfect. He was, however, spiritually minded. Spiritually minded means to have our thoughts and affections, our hearts and minds, changed by the Holy Spirit of God.
Our whole being is to be focused on God. John wasn’t a part-time itinerate preacher.
John was totally committed to God. He made his decision to follow God – and he followed through.
His Usefulness
John was useful to God because he was willing to be used by God – whatever that meant. If it meant funky clothes and different nutritional choices, he was in. If it meant he traveled from place to place, he had his staff ready to move to the next place.
How could John do this? He chose to follow God’s call and the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Because John followed God’s lead, his ministry was a success.
No, John’s success was not based on numbers. His mission statement didn’t say anything about his penetration into the country of Israel.
John’s success was based on his willingness and obedience in following God’s will. He knew what that will was through prayer and spending time with God.
When We Question Answers to Prayers
“‘How can I know this?’ Zechariah asked the angel. ‘For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.’ The angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and tell you this good news. Now listen. You will become silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time’” (Lk. 1: 18-20 CSB)
Oh, Zech. Don’t you want your prayer answered? You must not have, since you talked back.
Okay, since Zechariah was a priest, we are going to assume he knew his Scriptures. He would have read Daniel. He would have seen Gabriel identified by name in Daniel.
But no. Zechariah didn’t understand. He had to understand before he could believe.
Well, we know how that ended for Zechariah. He couldn’t talk for around forty weeks.
Sometimes, we question the punishment of Zechariah losing his ability to speak. We shouldn’t.
Just as it isn’t up to us to say what is a sin and what isn’t, it isn’t up to us to say what the punishment should be. That is above our pay grades.
Goodwin reminded us that the punishment was also a sign. Just think if Zechariah would have come out of the Holy of Holies and said “Hey, I just saw an angel.”
After 400 years of silence? His fellow worshipers would have wondered if Zechariah had a screw loose.
God will use our sin and its punishment to witness to others. Goodwin wrote, “So it may often be, in the merciful providence of God, that the bitter draughts of His displeasure are tonics for the soul’s health.”
Resource
News for Elizabeth
“Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them. Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He was making signs to them and remained speechless. When the days of his ministry were completed, he went back home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. She said, ‘The Lord has done this for me. He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people’” (Lk. 1: 21-25 CSB)
We don’t know how many days it took for Zechariah to finish his rotation. Finish he does and heads home to Elizabeth.
I bet God had been working on Zechariah while he was finishing his rotation. So, when he headed to home to Elizabeth, I bet he couldn’t wait to see her with the good news.
Grosart painted this picture for us. He wrote, “I can conceive the rapid gladness with which Zacharias, when his office for the week was fulfilled, sped up Olivet and across the rolling plain towards Bethlehem, and up to the hill-country of Judaea, with the strange and wondrous message that a twenty or thirty years’ old prayer was about to be answered in God’s gift of a son to them.”
Resource
If Elizabeth questioned the news, we don’t know. If she jumped for joy, we don’t know. What we do know is that she went into seclusion as was custom.
Making the Connections
John wasn’t the first – or the last – baby to be foretold. Stier reminds us that the births of Isaac, Samson, and Samuel had already been foretold. In a couple of months, Gabriel would be back to deliver the message to Mary.
Resource
I guess the age was the sticking point with Zechariah. But he may have been asking – really – “Why did You wait so long?”
When God had a message for His people, many times He sent Gabriel as delivery angel. Godet made a good point. He wrote, “When we speak to any one, it is naturally with a view to be understood. When heaven communicates with earth, it is obliged to borrow the language of earth. According to the name given him, Gabriel is the mighty servant of God, employed to promote His work here below.”
Resource
Parker reminded us of something else we probably didn’t realize we already knew. John was supposed to stand out. He wasn’t supposed to hide.
Resource
How Do We Apply This?
At the beginning of the devotion, we said that there is a heavenly plan for us. Parker said we should “inquire what it is, accept it with all thankfulness or submission, as the case may be, and live in God.”
Resource
We have to accept that plan. We can’t pray and only expect our answers on our timetable.
God will answer our prayers on His timetable – if they are in His Will – and especially if they expand His kingdom. He will hear and answer every true prayer.
That should impact how we pray.
- We should pray knowing nothing is impossible for God – even if it transcends the laws of nature.
- We should pray that whatever we are praying for should be in His Will and for His glory.
- We should be content with whatever answer He gives us.
Praying to God the right way should bring contentment and wisdom. Thanking Him and rejoicing when He answers our prayers should be our response every time.
God. You are Sovereign God, but we think we can order You around with our prayers. Help us to gratefully accept Your answers – whenever You give them to us. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.
Pingback: The Prophecy of the Virgin Birth – Seeking God with Elaine
You made some decent points there. I did a search on the issue and found most persons will consent with your blog. Oralla Shurlock Purington