Waiting, Hoping, Trusting

The Main Characters

One of the things I really look forward to every Christmas season is the annual nativity play with the kids in church. Of course there are the main characters, Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, but then you add in a few shepherds, wise men, angels, the inn keeper, maybe even a donkey and a star if extra roles are needed! It brings such joy to watch this production.

What is interesting is that I have never been to any Christmas play or presentation that features three other important characters – Jesus’ Uncle Zechariah, Aunt Elizabeth, or cousin John the Baptist!

However, Luke, when writing his gospel narrative, led by the Spirit, saw it to be of great importance to historically set the context of how Jesus’ birth was preceded. It was written to show how God was fulfilling His promises and working out His plan to prepare the way for the coming of Christ.

Waiting in Trials

Luke begins by telling us these things took place while Herod the Great was King of Judea. This isn’t an incidental detail. It tells us much more than simply who was on the throne at the time. God’s people were living in dark, evil days under the reign of a notoriously cruel king. O, how they needed the Light of the World to break into the darkness of their nation. 

It had been 400 years since God had last spoken to His people through the prophet Malachi. From that time on, the time between the end of the Old Testament and beginning of the New Testament, there had just been silence.    

400 years of silence is a long time. It’s a long time to wait. To hope. To trust. To still believe that God would keep His promises, fulfill the longing of their hearts, and bring the redemption of His people.

Perhaps, at the beginning of this Advent season, this is the place you find yourself in also.  

Waiting, hoping, and trusting that God will work and answer prayer. But all you seem to know is delay, disappointment, uncertainty, and discouragement. 

Take heart today, dear friend, as we are reminded through God’s Word that He most surely is working all things out for His glory and the good of His people, for He is the faithful, covenant-keeping God who hears the cry of our hearts. He sees. He knows. He is able.

Hoping for Answers

Let’s look at Zechariah’s back story for a moment before we get to his song of praise. Luke tells us that Zechariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth were righteous people who served and loved God faithfully and obeyed all His commandments. They were old, and they had not been able to have a child. They had known trials, disappointment, and heartache, but they still continued to live devoted to the Lord.

I like to imagine that one way they found daily hope was in simply speaking their names. Zechariah means “God remembers,” and Elizabeth means “God is my oath” or “God’s promise.” Even though it may not have felt true at times, Zechariah and Elizabeth were reminded of God’s sure character. They were not forgotten by God. He is faithful to all His promises. He is in every single detail of our lives, and He often is at work in ways we cannot even imagine.

It was no random coincidence that Zechariah was chosen to go into the temple to burn incense. There were thousands of priests, but God had ordained that Zechariah would be the one that particular day because he had an appointment with an angel! What a terrifying experience but what an amazing promise spoken to him from God’s messenger. Zechariah was not to be afraid. He was assured that his prayer had been heard. 

It is suggested that the prayer Gabriel is referring to would have been Zechariah’s desire and longing for God to come and bring redemption for His people through the coming of the Messiah, for He would break into the silence and lighten their darkness.     

Only God can see the big picture. In His faithfulness, He had heard and remembered Zechariah’s prayers over all the years. In His perfect timing, He was about to do for Zechariah and Elizabeth what seemed humanly impossible. They would have a son called John who would have a very special ministry – ‘to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.’ (1:17)

This is our God. He hears our prayers. He remembers us. He is never late. His timing and His ways are perfect. He keeps His promises. He knows the end from the beginning. He is worthy of our trust.

Trusting for Provision

I don’t know about you, but I can identify with Zechariah when he doubts and questions Gabriel. Zecharaiah wanted to know how he can be sure and how could God work all of this out because he and Elizabeth are old! Our sinful, independent hearts want to know the how, the why, and the when. Walking by faith is hard, so we need to grow in our depth of trust. Thankfully, God is so merciful with us. But we also must take God at His word believing He will do what He says.       

Gabriel tells Zechariah he will be silent, unable to speak, until all these things take place.

In the context of a 400 year silence for God’s people, Zechariah has his own personal 9 months of silence as he processes all God had told him and waits to see what God will do. I wonder if during that time, Zechariah recalled and echoed in his heart the words of King David in Psalm 62:1 (ESV), “For God alone my soul waits in silence: from him comes my salvation.”      

And so, just as God had said, Elizabeth, in her old age, became pregnant and gave birth to their son, John. Zechariah was able to speak again, and his first words were a declaration of praise and blessing to Almighty God (1:68).

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and has redeemed his people.”

This is a beautiful picture of answered prayers, longings realized, and promises fulfilled.   

Though this is one story of God’s faithfulness on display, we see this characteristic of God all through history. God continues to show His people that He is committed to working out the great plan of salvation He had set in place before the beginning of time. Zechariah praises Him for all He has done and rejoices for what God is about to do.

Let us, too, worship while we wait upon our faithful God this advent season, praising Him for His loving kindness towards us, and trusting as he continues to fulfill His good purposes for us, His people.

Be blessed,