Luke 1:18

New International Version (NIV)

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

For Meditation

When all hope has whittled, despair can dampen our faith by shutting down the memory of every possibility we had expected. At that point, it becomes difficult to bring ourselves to believe something positive can happen anymore. There is no reason to believe anymore. The worst has happened, and every possibility has flown away.

Poor Zechariah! He lived in such a condition when the angel Gabriel announced the good news of Elizabeth’s conception to him. His response tells it so well.

“How can I be sure of this” (Lk. 1:18)?

A faithful and righteous priest with excellent knowledge of Israel’s history, Zechariah could not have forgotten the example of Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 21:1-7). But that is what disappointment had done to the man’s faith. Abraham and Sarah lived in another era and under different circumstances. It could not be their experience. Break the response of the old priest down, and you will hear him tell Gabriel to cut that joke and stop his mockery. Does it resonate with you somehow?

Maybe that is where you are today. You have been so disappointed by people that you can’t believe anymore. You have shut yourself off from the sound of every possibility. It is because you don’t want to be hurt all over again. You have transposed your human experience to God, so you can’t believe His promises anymore. Sermons on God’s ability to surprise the faithful do not excite you anymore. You close up when others give their testimonies. Perhaps they are exaggerating because God doesn’t work that way again.

I pray you’ll remember that God is the God of impossibilities. As He told the virgin Mary, nothing is impossible for Him (1: 37). It does not matter what your circumstances are or what people have said. Neither does it matter what your body or mind tells you concerning what God has said. What matters is what He has promised. If you know whom you have believed, you can be confident in His ability to do just what He has said He would do (2 Tim. 1:12) or to do the humanly impossible.

Let this Christmas story of Zechariah and Elizabeth renew your hope, and may you not allow despair to close your heart to God and His promises. He is faithful and able, and His surprises reveal His glory like none other. He remains faithful, even in hopeless situations.