Never Question The Angel

Luke 1:18-23

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

19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Limitations. We put them on ourselves, we put them on God, we put them on God moving through us. Even in the presence of Gabriel, the one that God had chosen to speak for him, Zachariah had his doubts. Zachariah weighed out the same variables that any pragmatic person would: 1) Old husband, 2) Old wife, 3) Wife has been barren for her whole life up until this point.

All signs pointed to impossible. Soooo he had some questions... and the answer was silence. It was like God said "speak less, trust more."

Isn't if funny how God starts the story of His rescue of his people with two women who should not be pregnant but were. Mary, the unmarried mother and Elizabeth, the mother well past her child bearing years. Perhaps this was God's way of saying "There's no one I cannot use to bring about my glory".

Why is it that we lose sight of the limitless nature of God? Why do we question that the God who created the entire universe might want to create something new in and through us? Why do we throw up the questions as Zachariah did, rather than praise like Elizabeth or Mary who said "Truly I am the Lord's servant. Let everything you have said happen to me."?

Perhaps we need to give ourselves a similar challenge to the one that Zachariah faced. When we seek to limit God, to question whether we ourselves or others are "usable" by the Lord, then may we chose silence. May we replace our doubt with praise or be quiet. May we greet God's challenges with positivity or else zip it. Negativity is contagious and if your negativity stands in the way of God's moving in the hearts and minds of his people...prepare to be moved, or in Zachariah's case, muted.

This Advent season let's be positive; let's be usable; let us silence our doubts and look to God's boundlessness. May we be God's willing servants, and then step back and watch how much more God achieves through us than we could have ever imagined.

Prayer: Holy God, we praise you for your limitlessness. May we seek to move with you and not against you, and may you create something new in and through us. Amen.