Written by Liliana Henriquez, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Colombia
In the world of immediacy, like the one we are living in now, we love that everything happens quickly and without waiting. But if this happened, we would skip the transformation process. And God is more interested in the process than the end result.
Today I’d like to invite you to review the story of Zechariah in Luke 1:5-25. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth "Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly" (vs. 6 NIV). They were a couple that served God faithfully. One day, when Zechariah was in the sanctuary offering incense to God as part of his work as a priest, an angel appeared to him and said:
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” (vs. 13-18 NIV)
The angel lets us know something that Zechariah's heart yearned for and surely his wife's as well: to have a child. How do we know that? Because the angel told him that his prayer had been heard and that Elizabeth would have a son.
Have a son at this age? – Zechariah and Elizabeth might have wondered.
We might think that Zechariah's prayer was a prayer answered out of time. But despite the fact that it seems that the answer came delayed in time, Solomon reminds us that God "made everything beautiful in his time" (Eccl. 3:11a).
The surprise of that promise for Zechariah was so great that the angel left him speechless. What could have happened during that time? How did Zechariah experience that time of silence? The Bible does not recount the specific time during which Zechariah was unable to speak, but it does say what he did after John's birth: “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God” (Luke 1:64).
In my personal opinion, I believe that the time Zechariah spent in silence processing the fulfillment of a promise helped him get to know God more and have a closer relationship with Him. Otherwise, Zechariah would not have blessed God after he could speak.
As I read the story of Zechariah, I learn how powerful it is to persevere in prayer, to continue fulfilling the ministry God has given us, even when there are still unanswered prayers, and to wait quietly with the firm confidence that He will be glorified in our lives, at the right time.
If today your story is similar to Zechariah’s, I invite you not to lose heart in prayer, to remain firm in the ways of the Lord and to remember this great promise: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Ps. 46.10).
Trust God, He has already heard your prayer.
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