READ: Luke 1:13-15 NLT
The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord.”
This was the greatest day in Zechariah’s life. Being a male descendant of Aaron, he was a priest and that was a great privilege. However, there were a huge numbers of priests. It is suggested that there might have been up to 20,000 of them and so there were divided up into 24 groups which served in rotation. The greatest privilege of all was for a priest to be chosen to go into the temple to burn the incense at the time of the offering of the morning or evening sacrifice. Having burnt the incense, the priest would then emerge from the temple and pronounce a blessing on the people. This was such a great privilege that a priest could only do this once in his lifetime and many never had the opportunity.
The priest was chosen for this awesome responsibility by lot. Just imagine the sense of anticipation as the choice was made, and the overwhelming sense of privilege and responsibility when you knew it was you. And that’s exactly what happened to Zechariah. The other major factor in his life was that he and his elderly wife, Elizabeth, had no children and, at the time, this was seen as a matter of great shame. It was a burden that they had lived with for many years. So when the angel met Zechariah in the temple and informed him that Elizabeth would not only have a baby but that their son would have a key role in God’s purposes for the world, it is hardly surprising that he was left speechless.
This wonderful story reminds us that we should never put a limit on what God can do. The idea of Elizabeth having a baby seemed ridiculous – but not to God. We always need to leave our minds open to the new things that God might want to do in our lives.
QUESTION: What surprising things has God done in your life?
PRAYER: Lord God, help me always to be open to whatever you want to do, however surprising. Amen.

Released on 17 Dec 2020