What Would You Do With a Miracle?

Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer

Have you ever prayed for something so long that when it finally showed up you didn’t believe it?

A Jewish priest in 1st-century Judea did. Zechariah prayed for years that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child.

This man knew the miraculous stories of barren women giving birth to such giants of faith as Isaac and Samuel. But they had lived decades earlier, not in the modern times of the Roman Empire, and so far, no tiny fingers had ever grasped his own.

Maybe he just quit praying. Or quit believing. Or maybe he figured that God’s answer was “no.”

And maybe that had something to do with his reaction when an angel stepped up and took his breath away with news that Elizabeth was going to have a baby after all.

I wonder what I would say to an angel with a message like that – if I could get the words out. If I didn’t pass out. Hopefully I wouldn’t say what Zechariah said: “How can I be sure of this?” (Luke 1:18 NIV)

The sudden and inexplicable appearance of an unusual figure telling me about something no one knew but God would, I hope, make a believer out of me.

But for whatever reason, Zechariah doubted, and because of that doubt he ended up speechless.

A few months later the same angel told a teenage girl that she would bear the Messiah for whom Israel waited. This girl, Mary, said what the more experienced and well-versed priest should have said: “All right. Whatever the Lord wants.”

Young Mary had a question, yes, but it wasn’t one of faith, it was a point of understanding. She knew how children were conceived and she knew she was still a virgin. So when the angel explained, Mary said, “So be it.”

I want to be like Mary. I want to say, “All right, God,” when He sends an unbelievable event my way. I don’t want to recite every reasonable obstacle to my faith and say, “I don’t know about this, God.”

I want to say, “I’m your servant, Lord. Whatever you say.”

But the truth is, I’m more often like Zechariah – knowing God’s faithfulness and still wondering how He will do the impossible. And that’s why I’m encouraged by God’s choice of this man, the man whose first spoken words after nine months of silence were praise to a faithful God.

Yes, he knew the history of his people, and yes, he had grown weary in his faith. But God had not given up on him and knew that Zechariah was the one to teach his child of “the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77 NIV).

God gives all of us opportunities to say “yes,” whether it’s sooner or later. What will your choice be this Christmas season?