December 20th - Zechariah

Remember how we talked about God’s timing yesterday? Well God’s timing is sometimes way more than we expect. It took hundreds of years before the miracle of Christ’s birth happened. That isn’t to say there weren’t miracles happening before then, people just didn’t always write them down or recognize that there were miracles.

Well one day it says in Luke 1:6-8 and 11-17 there was a Man named Zechariah, whose name means “God Remembers,” but he was feeling like God had forgotten him. His wife’s name was Elizabeth, which means “God’s promise.” They both loved God and had righteous hearts. They wanted to always believe that God would have given them a child. But they were old and was not given that opportunity. But one day Zachariah’s name had been drawn to go to the temple and offer incense in the temple. It was a special day and it only happened once a year. This day was called the Day of Atonement, which meant to come to the temple to remember that it is God who we need the most, not all the other stuff in our lives to make us be better people. This opportunity for Zachariah was a once in a lifetime opportunity because a priest

might never get asked to do the ceremony and once you had done it you wouldn’t ever be asked again. So, this was a pretty special day for him, and Zachariah wanted to make sure he would be worthy of his assignment and do it well. He went to the temple and while he was in there an angel named Gabriel came and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby boy and they should name him John and that he would be like the prophet Elijah, and he would turn heart of people to their fathers which means they will remember the covenant and their fathers had with God.

Zachariah didn’t believe it, so the angel said because he didn’t believe God could do this that he would not be able to speak until it actually happened. So, he came out of the temple not being able to speak. But sure enough, God always does what He says he is going to do, and Elizabeth and Zachariah did have a son. God always keeps his promises.

Are there sometimes when you don’t think that God is listening or cares about you? There are surely days that you may feel that way. There are many in the Bible that have felt that way. But if you you read in the scriptures, you will see that God is always there with His unconditional, unchanging, uncontainable, unending, and unfailing love in unexpected ways. He helps you to learn and grow through challenging experiences and expects you to start relying on Him and His Son to make things right. That is why God sent His Son, to make all things right again. To show that there is more than this life and there are so many opportunities to grow and come closer to God and His Son.

This Christmas season sing some songs of happiness to remind yourself that God always keeps His promises, and He wants you to be happy and rely on the gift of Jesus. Remember night does turn into day and winter finally does become spring. There is a waiting time, but it usually is for the purpose of our growing and learning to love God and His children.