Being sure
by Pastor Reid Matthias
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Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years’ (Luke 1:18).
Ironically, most people like to be sure of the landing before the leap of faith. We talk big, I think. We say things like, ‘Whatever the plans God has for me, I’ll be fine as long as Jesus walks beside me’. In this visual, we think of the Footprints poem, that somewhere along the way, we’ll have the strength to let Jesus carry us.
Yeah, right.
It’s very hard to relinquish our sight for God’s vision. We like to see where we’re going. We prefer to stay informed of every step of the process and be invited into a discussion with God about what we think is best for us.
In this, Zechariah seems to display the very things that we feel. When the angel approaches Zechariah in the temple and tells him Elizabeth will have a child (a very important one), his response is unsure.
To be honest, I feel for Zechariah and Elizabeth. Who knows how long they’d been trying to have a family. Certainly, Elizabeth’s exclamation that their ‘disgrace had been taken away among the people’ (verse 25) is a clue of what they’d been praying for. But Zechariah’s need for surety was protection against disappointment. Just like the people of Israel, they’d been waiting a long time for change.
As I read this beginning narrative in Luke’s Gospel, it seems patently unfair that Zechariah is ‘punished’ for his disbelief. And yet, his inability to speak is a small price to pay for God’s promise coming to fruition.
It’s pointless to wonder what would have happened if Zechariah had trusted in the first place. What we do gain from Zechariah and Elizabeth’s story is that faith in Jesus is rarely about being sure of the steps ahead, only being sure that those steps lead forward to the kingdom of God.
God, the creator and sustainer of all life, plan and guard my steps into the future. Help me trust you despite an uncontrollable sense of worry about what the future holds. Thank you for walking with me. Amen.
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