Advent Day 4

"And Zechariah said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.' And the angel answered him, 'I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.' And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute."

    ~Luke 1:18-22

After basking in the glory of God's promise, we are grounded by a relatable response to the divine. Zechariah doubts. What the angel says doesn't make sense; the laws of nature make it impossible.

Zechariah saw the promise with human eyes; he relied on an earthly vision which was dependent on his capabilities. An earthly vision means only what is conceivable is real and only what we can produce is possible. If something is outside human ability, it's outside reality. Gabriel, however, was casting a heavenly vision. A vision without limit. A vision which proclaims, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

We can sympathize with Zechariah's doubt (how often do we pray for the impossible only to doubt it when it arrives?), but Gabriel doesn't engage with it. At times God gives us explanations, but other times He asks us to trust. Sometimes we receive the promise, the blessing, the truth but we have to allow the mystery to rest in Him. The how is in His majesty, and we can't wait on the details before we say yes to Him. He tells us who He is, and we have to listen. Sometimes that's all the knowledge we get, but even when it doesn't feel like it, that's enough. 

Gabriel reminds Zechariah who sent him--reminds him that God Himself sent an angel from heaven to speak specifically to Zechariah--and promises that his words will come true at their appointed time. The promise didn't change because Zechariah doubted. 

God didn't withhold Zechariah's blessing, but He also didn't bring it to fruition that very moment. The blessing was never instantaneous, but if it had been, Zechariah's heart was not prepared to receive it.

Zechariah had to wait for the appointed time.

This almost feels cruel to me. After years and years of waiting, wishing, and hoping for a child, Zechariah had resigned himself to not having one. And now--when he'd accepted his childlessness--God reawakened Zechariah's waiting season. 

Waiting is part of our design, but it's hard. We might believe God will fulfill our desire, but we often become hopeless or discouraged over time. Many blessings come from waiting but so do many struggles and temptations. But far from being cruel, God welcomes Zechariah back into anticipation of the blessing to come. 

In seasons of waiting, we get most discouraged because we do not know if we'll ever receive what we are waiting for, but Zechariah is invited into a new kind of waiting. He is waiting for a promise now. And that affirmation changes the waiting season. Yes, God reminds Zechariah what he is waiting for--what is as of yet unfulfilled--but He also renews Zechariah's hope. In the midst of his doubt, Zechariah has a chance to become more active in his waiting, preparing for what is to come. Believing once again in the hope he had given up on so long ago. Hope is dangerous--with it come spiritual attacks and the fear of being disappointed--but our souls are renewed when we rest in God and the hope that He gives us. 

God wants us to hope, and that's just as evident in the people waiting outside the temple as it is with Zechariah inside it. As mentioned in the previous post, these people have not seen God move in 400 years, and the only way they see it now is by perceiving God's presence in Zechariah's life. The effects of God's presence are evident even when He is not, and while we need to be open and prayerful to recognize His movements wherever they are, sometimes the best way to see God is to look outward. When we have no hope, we need to see the lives of our friends, our family, our church, our communities and see how God is moving in their lives. We need to die to the insecurity, resentment, and jealousy that come from comparison and instead be encouraged by an active and loving God who is working in the lives around us, knowing He must also be working in our lives even when we are not tuned to it. In seasons where God feels distant and silent, we can know His character and be blessed by sharing in our loved ones' joy. 

This truth also convicts us not to hide our faith. We cannot boast about our faithfulness, but we must boast about His. We are called to proclaim with truth and earnestness for the glory of God that others might be encouraged no matter the season they are walking through.

Like Zechariah, we are to anticipate the blessing to come. And as we do, we are to be active in the waiting. We are to proclaim. Zechariah's lips were silenced, but ours are not. Let us continue in the Advent season by declaring God's character and blessing in our lives so that the lives of everyone around us may rejoice all the more in Him.