Christmas Morning: Son Rise on a New Dayಮಾದರಿ

Have you ever watched your favorite team play a game they are losing badly? Ever turn off the TV or leave the stands early because the game seems out of hand? As Dandy Don would say, sometimes the outcome is so clear we “turn out the lights, (because) the party’s over.”

For Zechariah and Elizabeth, when it came to having children, they thought that the party was over! Advanced in age and barren from the start, they had given up hope of having a son or daughter. For years, they had asked the Lord for a child, but for years they still remained alone.

When the angel Gabriel appears and informs Zechariah that NOW their prayers will be answered, Zechariah balks at the thought. He had given up hope. He had left the stands early. He had turned off the TV. Though he loved his wife and longed for a child, he assumed the situation was just out of hand.

But God had heard their prayers, and after a long delay, He had granted them their wish! However, because of Zechariah’s unbelief, God silenced him until his son was born.

What a fitting object lesson!

Though God had spoken to His people Israel for many years through prophets, because of their unbelief, the centuries before Jesus’ birth were prophet-less. Zechariah’s inability to speak during Elizabeth’s pregnancy and the lack of prophetic utterance from Malachi to Matthew (400 years) were both caused by the unbelief of the people.

As with all things, though, God would use this silence for His glory. Like a play that flashes its lights to quiet the crowd before the overture begins, so the Lord used the silence to make His prophetic return through John the Baptist that much more noticeable!

What have you prayed for previously, yet given up hope? Thinking it is not in the cards, have you moved on, assuming God’s silence means He is indifferent or unable?

Perhaps the silence is merely a setup for the breakthrough that is to come …

Certainly God DOES answer our prayers, though not always as we hope. Sometimes He answers by granting the child to the childless. Other times He answers by comforting the barren. But He does answer the prayers of His children. Don’t leave the game early. With God all things are possible, so in faith, make your requests known to Him today.