Monday, Day 9 - God and The Impossible

When God decided to come to earth, he prepared the way for his coming.

Yesterday we saw how God sent an Angel – do you remember the Angel’s name?  It was Gabriel – and Gabriel came to Zachariah to tell him that Zachariah and His wife were going to have a baby.

The problem was that for years, Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth had tried to have a baby but they were not able to have one.

But now God is telling him that his prayers have been heard, and they would have a son be born to them.

Luke 1:13
¹³  But the angel reassured him, "Don't fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John.

God even told them to name the son John.

I want you to remember that we sometimes think God doesn’t hear our prayers…but that would not be true.  He always hears our prayers even though we don’t always get what we want.  

When we pray to God he always knows we are asking him for help with something, so we should never be afraid to pray.

God had heard Zachariah and Elizabeth’s prayers, and he was going to give them a son, but Zachariah was having a difficult time believing it.  This is what happened:

Luke 1:18
¹⁸  Zachariah said to the angel, "Do you expect me to believe this? I'm an old man and my wife is an old woman."

When we say something can’t happen we often use the word “impossible”. 

Zachariah was saying to Gabriel, “there’s no way this could happen, it’s impossible!”

Now, Gabriel didn’t like that, and he let Zachariah know it: 

Luke 1:19-20
¹⁹  But the angel said, "I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news.
²⁰  But because you won't believe me, you'll be unable to say a word until the day of your son's birth. Every word I've spoken to you will come true on time—God's time."

You can tell that Gabriel was cross with him.

It’s sort of like your parents saying your full name _________________________________ (you can fill this in) and saying “That’s enough, stop that right now”. 

You can tell that they are rather upset and not happy with what is happening.

Gabriel was upset with Zachariah.

Zachariah wasn’t sent to his room, or told he was going to miss his dinner, or he would not be able to serve God in the temple; rather, he was told that he would not be able to speak!

And just like that, Zachariah discovered he couldn’t speak a word:

Luke 1:21-22
²¹  Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary.
²²  When he came out and couldn't speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people.

I think most of us would prefer to miss a meal, or be sent to our rooms than not be able to talk at all.

But, it really wasn’t a punishment, instead it was God showing Zachariah that he was wrong for thinking he couldn’t do what Zachariah thought was impossible; because in the end there is nothing impossible for God.

We often have difficult things happen in life.  We must learn to pray, and believe that God hears our prayers, and cares.  Here’s a page to color on that:

For Parents and Other Not Kids:

I posted some of this yesterday, so it’s partly a repeat here.

There are times when we go so long in hoping, praying, persevering, that we begin to believe that nothing is going to change.

When Zachariah entered into the Holy Place to burn the incense he was doing something that was quite privileged and special; but he was as we all are – a flawed person.

It’s important to remember that God still uses flawed people.

When Zachariah looked up and saw Gabriel he was afraid; but as soon as Gabriel told him what he was there for, he began to argue with him. 

We argue with God when the things in our minds have been there for a long while and we’re convinced they are truth.

Zachariah is a godly man, but he doesn’t believe THIS thing could ever happen.

And then Gabriel “lowers the boom” so to speak. 

WHY be silent?  Not talk?

A key ingredient in the work of the priest as he enters the temple to burn the incense is that he finishes his work by coming outside, standing in front of the people and “blessing” them. 

Numbers 6:22-27
²² The LORD said to Moses,
²³ Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
²⁴ "The LORD bless you and keep you;
²⁵ the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."'
²⁷ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."

It was a great privilege to go into the temple and offer the incense, and it was also a great privilege to go out of the temple and bless the people. 

It was as if the priest was saying to them:  “All is done, All is well…go in peace, God has heard our prayers.”

AND Zachariah couldn’t do it.

When Zachariah walked out of the Temple, everyone knew something had happened, but they didn’t know what.

Luke 1:21-22
²¹  Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.
²²  When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

Here’s what I love about the end of this story.  Even though Zachariah was somewhat humbled by all that happened, he went home and “did it”.

Luke 1:23-24
²³  When his time of service was completed, he returned home.
²⁴  After this his wife Elizabeth became...

God is not “angry” with us.

We aren’t perfect people and that is obvious to all of us; but it doesn’t mean we should give up and stop trying.

God isn’t after perfection…that won’t happen until the final transformation of our body, soul and spirit occurs at the end.

What God is after is willingness and a desire on our parts to faithfully try. 

He’ll take care of the rest.

Peace