I was reading in Luke 1 this morning and was reading the story of Zechariah. This is a story that I always forget about because often in the gospels, I tend to gloss over the early parts to get to the meat of the ministry of Jesus. But the book starts with Zechariah, who is a priest and he and his wife are very old and have no children. One day while serving in the temple, the angel Gabriel comes to Zechariah in a vision;
“Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! For God has heard your prayers, and your wife, Elizabeth will bear you a son! And you are to name him John.” – Luke 1:12
The angel Gabriel, then goes on to him the great things that his son will do and that he is leading the way for the Lord to come. Zechariah is a priest, he knows the the stories of Abraham who was a given a son in very old age who would do great things. He knows that God kept his promise to Abraham. Zechariah knows that throughout the scriptures, God keeps his promises no matter how incredible or difficult to believe. Yet he answers Gabriel with:
“How can I know this will happen? I’m an old man now and my wife is also well along in years.” – Luke 1:19
He answers with disbelief and questioning.
God came through for Zechariah and his wife. They had a son who would go on to become John the Baptist and lead the way for Jesus.
As I was reading this passage, it hit me that we so often find God’s promises to us so hard to believe, despite knowing the fact that He keeps everyone of his promises. He has never let us down. I can look back in my life and see so many times that God has kept his promises to me, perhaps not in the way I expected, but in a way that was better than I ever thought was possible. Yet we continue to doubt that he will every time we face a challenge. We trust our intellect and experience rather than God.
He has never let us down. His power is not confined to the narrow constricts of human perspective or bound by human limitations. We should trust Him completely!
Exceptional Christian 