Background Scripture: Luke 1:5-25

Devotional Reading: Psalms 66:1-4, 16-20

A superficial look at the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth may lead us to conclude that it really doesn’t have much to do with us and the life we live today. We don’t expect that anything so wonderful might take place with us.

Actually, Zechariah and Elizabeth might have thought pretty much the same thing. Luke says, “… they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (1:6).

But, in the eyes of their contemporaries, there was a cloud hanging over this pious couple: For all their righteousness, “they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years” (1:7). Childlessness was regarded as a reproach from God. In their younger years, we may assume they both had prayed fervently and trustfully for a son. But as the years rolled on, their prayers probably became perfunctory, a pious form with little or no expectation that God either heard or would answer them.

Do not be afraid

So, when an angelic messenger appeared to Zechariah, he “was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him” (1:12). The “fear” was not fright, but a sense of awesome wonder that many of us feel when we experience in some way the holy presence. It was both a prayer he could not help praying and one which he no longer believed could be answered.

So, the angel says, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard …” (1:13). Contrary to all they had come to believe and expect, the angel says, “your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John” (1:13).

Zechariah finds the message hard to believe: “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years?” (1:18). Perhaps we have prayed similarly: “Lord, I don’t see any way out of this crisis before me”?

So, the angel’s reply was not only for Zechariah, but for us: “I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time” (1:19,20). Their prayer is being answered within the context of God’s purpose and timing – their son will announce the coming of God’s awaited Messiah.

Often, our greatest problem is our expectation of what prayer is and does. For many people, prayer is a kind of divine mail-order business: We make our desires known and God fills the order. Prayer is thought successful only when we get what we ordered. Instead, I believe prayer is more a loving, saving friendship with God in which we may experience many signs and wonders, although not always, or even often, specifically what we ask for and in our timeframe.

With Emerson, therefore, I believe that “… all prayers are always answered.”

Practice the presence

Harry Emerson Fosdick calls prayer a “habitual attitude, and not simply an occasional act,” a practice of prayer that is “necessary to make God not merely an idea held in the mind, but a Presence recognized in the life,” and Brother Lawrence regarded prayer as “practicing the presence of God.” So, the test of prayer is not a tally of all the things you have persuaded God to do or give, but a growing awareness of His will and grace in your life. And the results are always far more than and beyond what we ask.

That is not to imply we should give up taking our needs and requests to God, but that we do so acknowledging we do not know, as God does, what is best for us. I am thankful to God that He has not always granted that for which I have asked. But, because this is a friendship and not a court of law, I do not hesitate to share with God my desires. My prayers, and yours, are heard and answered.