Perfect Timing

Lk 1:5-25

In the days of Herod, King of Judea,
there was a priest named Zechariah
of the priestly division of Abijah;
his wife was from the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth.
Both were righteous in the eyes of God,
observing all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren
and both were advanced in years.

Once when he was serving as priest
in his division's turn before God,
according to the practice of the priestly service,
he was chosen by lot
to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.
Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside
at the hour of the incense offering,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
standing at the right of the altar of incense.
Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall name him John.
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb,
and he will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of fathers toward children
and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,
to prepare a people fit for the Lord."

Then 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 said to him in reply,
"I am Gabriel, who stand before God.
I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.
But now you will be speechless and unable to talk
until the day these things take place,
because you did not believe my words,
which will be fulfilled at their proper time."
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah
and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them,
and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.
He was gesturing to them but remained mute.

Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home.

After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived,
and she went into seclusion for five months, saying,
"So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit
to take away my disgrace before others."

 

I know this is a long verse but its such a beautiful story I couldn't take only a part of it. And yet, the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah is only a part of an even more beautiful story, the story of Jesus. I can relate to this verse so much, because like Elizabeth, I am unable to have children. Although, in her time, I think it was a much more difficult thing because it "disgraced" a woman. I can imagine that they spent years praying and wishing and hoping for a child, and to them, their prayers went unanswered for all those years. And I imagine that after so many years had passed they grieved and accepted it and learned to move on. So we can understand the shock for Zechariah when the angel came in, in my words it would have gone something like "um...well, i wasn't even praying for that. I mean, it's a nice gesture but that was like 200 prayers ago, maybe could I get something more suited to my age...maybe a nice lake home?" Ok, we shouldn't make fun of Zechariah, but haven't we all found ourselves in his position at some point? I find so often its easy to want God's blessings but ONLY on our time or our schedule. When the blessings come differently than we had planned or pictured, we have a hard time seeing them as blessings. But His timing is always going to be better than ours. Zechariah and Elizabeth could have been blessed with a baby way back when they were praying for one, and it would have been just fine, just like the life they planned. But they would have missed out on being a part of history - giving birth to one of the most amazing men to walk the planet! I'm sure it wasn't the nice quiet retirement they were planning on, and I'm sure it took a lot of sacrifice from both of them, but I'm also quite sure they would both say it was worth it.
What blessings have you received lately that were "out of place" or the "timing wasn't right?"
Our perfect God doesn't do anything randomly and He doesn't make mistakes. His timing is always perfect.

Father, please give me faith and open my eyes to see the blessings you've given me, whatever shapes and sizes and whenever they come along. Help me to see the difficult things you're asking me to do as blessings that will bring a greater joy and a greater good. Amen.