During this Advent season, I decided to shake things up a bit and change my daily devotional. Normally, I read The Upper Room, but after reading a blog post (sorry, I don’t remember where it was) I decided to do a study on Advent.

I asked my pastor for recommendations and he said he had a few books up in his office that I could feel free to borrow. After church on Sunday (I know, I was already two days into Advent… better late than never), I went up to his office and selected Preparing for Jesus by Walter Wangerin, Jr. I started reading the book that afternoon and was quite pleased; it goes day-by-day through Advent up to the Epiphany focusing on the various people who are part of the Christmas story.

The first few days of the devotional focus on Zechariah, the husband to Elizabeth and father of John the Baptist. In yesterday’s reading, something caught my attention. The passage focused on Luke 1:13-17:

13But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. 16Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

The author of the devotional takes a moment to remind the reader of scripture from the previous day’s devotional:

5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

So, it’s clear from the two passages that a) Zechariah and Elizabeth lived blameless lives, b) they were quite old, and c) they had prayed, likely many years ago and for a number of years, for a child.

In my mind, I’m picturing a couple in their 80s (perhaps older) who’ve been married since they were teenagers. They’ve wanted to have a child since shortly after they were married (as that was the tradition of the time), but they never had one because Elizabeth was barren. Clearly, they prayed that one day they might be blessed with a child; they probably prayed for years, perhaps decades, before giving up hope, believing that they would never experience the joy of being parents.

Then, years later, the angel Gabriel, visits Zechariah while he’s in the temple burning incense. Gabriel comes with a message from God: Zechariah and Elizabeth will have a baby boy and they are to name him John. But the message doesn’t stop there; the angel continues by saying that “…Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

God’s message, then, is twofold: not only will the couple have the baby they hoped, dreamed and prayed for, but the child will bring many Israelites back to and prepare them for the Lord. This reminds us how truly amazing our God is: God not only remembers all of our prayers, but he uses them for universal benefaction.

Just imagine Zechariah’s reaction and, in turn, Elizabeth’s reaction when her husband passes along the wonderful news. Not only are they finally going to have a child, but this son will prepare others for the Lord (a Lord who turns out to be Jesus, the son of Elizabeth’s cousin Mary). It’s important to note, however, is that all of this was done in God’s time, not when Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted it to happen.

How many times have I prayed for something and then been upset when nothing came of it? Dozens? Hundreds? Hopefully in the future I won’t be disappointed when I don’t think a prayer has been answered, for God will answer it in His time and His response will benefit more people than just myself.