God Has Remembered

There are some hilarious episodes in the Bible, and one of my favorite is about Zechariah the father of John the Baptist.

This bloke was a priest. As the story goes, they cast lots and it fell on him to burn incense in the sanctuary of God. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a great honor!  But the good Lord decreed that this was not enough blessing and wanted to give him even more. So as Zechariah was doing his job in the sanctuary He had the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared before him announcing some super good news:

God is gracious to you! For I have come to tell you that your prayer for a child, a prayer you don’t even pray anymore, has been answered! Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to name him John!...Lk 1:12-13, TPT

When Gabriel was done speaking, this was how Zechariah answered:

How do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is too old to give me a child. What sign can you give me to prove this will happen?...Lk 1:18, TPT

I can’t help laughing every time I read this. It is clear that he had forgotten what he had prayed and had long since stopped praying about it. Not only did he have not any sense of regret of his lack of faith and perseverance, he had the audacity to ask for a sign! I think even Gabriel was taken by surprise at such response.

Zechariah might have forgotten about what he had prayed, but God had not.

I wonder how often we are like Zechariah. But take heart, God remembers. More often than not, He still wants to bless us – more than we want to believe. So don’t be surprised if out of the blue your long-ago forgotten prayer got answered. Make no mistake then, it is the Lord.

Let’s have one last dig at Zechariah. Do you know what his name means? Zechariah means “God has remembered”!

The Lord sure has a sense of humor.