Our personal prayers are often focused on one or two objectives. We need help. We need something to change. We need God to intervene in our lives. Sometimes, God answers those prayers in ways that assure us that He knows what we need, and He is working on a great plan to help us. Other times, according to His perfect timing, He answers prayer as He did with Zechariah and Elizabeth. They prayed for a baby for years. They believed. They were faithful to God’s call on their lives. Yet nothing happened! Then one day, an angel appeared.
The angel told Zechariah that God was ready to answer their prayer. They would have a son and he would be named John, Traditionally, the first male child was named after his father, so this was important information. You may remember from the story that Zechariah could hardly believe it. His doubt came with a cost. He was not allowed to speak from that moment on until the baby boy was born. The angel told Zechariah that John would be a blessing to many, and he would be filled with power from the Lord; filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. John would be like the revered prophet, Elijah, and he would go before the coming Messiah to help prepare the way, Of course, Zechariah did not know then that Elizabeth’s cousin Mary would receive a similar revelation in just three months’ time. God was setting the stage for something incredible; His plan of salvation for all human beings. A Light was coming into the world and baby John would help people to recognize it. Imagine how startling this information must have been to the old priest.
Elizabeth and Zechariah’s prayers for a baby opened the first chapter of God’s great plan, the birth of the Messiah. Believers then, and believers today, pray God will guide them, prepare their hearts and show them the way to see the Light. The Christmas story is just the beginning of all God has planned. His angels continue to lead us toward the brilliant star that will guide many hearts to Bethlehem.
As you put a shining star atop your Christmas tree, or perhaps an angel this year, may it cause you to think more intentionally about all that God has done. Like John the Baptist, may you continue to tell His story to those who still need to hear it, and may you yearn even more for that other baby who is still born anew in hearts around the world.
All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.
Martin Luther