The Answer

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

THE ANSWER

Luke 1:11-20

11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 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 from birth.   16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." 18 Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." 19 The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

NIV

Now to the conversation between the angel and Zechariah. We should not be surprised that an angel met with Zechariah because he was in the house of the Lord. True, it might be a startling and even fearsome experience to meet an angel of the Lord, but are we not meeting with the living God when we enter the sanctuary at church? In Fact, are we not also living with the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us, and yet we are not startled nor are we gripped with fear, although maybe we should be, instead of being so casual about being in the house of the Lord. The angel told Zechariah to be afraid, and that his prayer had been heard. Surely, he had been praying about having a son, but Elizabeth had been barren their whole marriage. Zechariah has no heir, and, in their culture, it would be considered shameful not to have an heir, much less any children at all, and now they are well advanced in years. But the good news is the Lord heard his prayer and sent Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, to deliver the answer. What a powerful way to answer a prayer, and here we stand in the sanctuary of God, praying for the sick and those in need, maybe just out of routine, and not expecting an angel of the Lord to deliver God’s answer. In fact, sometimes it seems we wait days, months, and even years to see an answer to our prayers. We do not know how long Zechariah prayed, or when he started to pray about having an heir, but the fact is, that God sent an angel to deliver the answer. However, this was also the exact time that God wanted Zechariah to have a son and God told him what his son’s name should be. Yet, with all that spectacular type of answer, an angel of the Lord appearing before him, Zechariah was still looking at the physical instead of seeing the power of God at work, and Zechariah was a priest. We would think that if anyone would believe without questioning God, it would be a minister of the Lord, one who is supposed to lead the people in spiritual matters. Because he looked at the physical instead of just believing, especially under the awesome way in which God delivered the answer to his prayer, the angel used the physical to prove God’s power to give him an heir. Let us not wait to be inflicted with some physical problem because we question God’s ability to bring the answer to fruition and do it exactly at the right time. There is no question, God answers prayer. Let us not get caught up in that idea his answer could be no, maybe, wait, or you have to prove you are worthy of my answer. Jesus has told us to ask anything in his name and he would do it. We just need to believe, and have faith in God.