Luke 1:11-20 - Prayer in belief

Scripture:

 

Luke 1:11-20
11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

14 "You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

16 "And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

17 "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

 

18 Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years."

 

19 The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

20 "And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."
NASU

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Zacharias' unbelief reminds me of how easily we don't believe, even when the Lord may be clearly working to answer our prayers.  It's hard to get much more clear than having the angel Gabriel talk to you face to face in the temple of God!

 

You think about Zacharias being in the temple to offer incense (verses 9-11) and have to wonder, was he really in the right frame of mind?  Shouldn't he have been expecting the Lord's presence to be there?  Shouldn't he have been anticipating hearing from God in some way?  Shouldn't he have been expecting his prayer to be answered?

 

It seems that unanswered prayer had made him lose hope.  He and his wife had not been able to have children their whole married life (verse 7).  Now, when an angel tells him they will in answer to his prayer (verse 13), he doesn't believe (verse 18).

 

And yet God graciously provides another sign (verse 20).  Yes, it was in the form of a rebuke from Gabriel, but still, this is merciful as it gives Zacharias exactly what he needed.  He struggled to believe his prayer had been answered and this miraculous birth would take place, and so God provided another miracle as confirmation that He was working -- Zacharias would suddenly not be able to talk until the child was born.

 

 

Prayer:

 

Thank You Lord, for understanding my weakness and not giving up on me.  Help me to believe You will answer my prayers, even if the answer is not always what I would want. 

 

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.