Dec 13th

Ive just been reading the account of Gabriel's appearance to Zacharias in Luke 1.

Zac is an elderly gent.  He is described as being 'righteous before God, walking blameless in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord'  (v6)  He and his wife Elizabeth have faithfully served God, done nothing wrong and yet they are childless.......a matter of great shame in the culture of the time.   How often must they have prayed over the course of their lives together ?  Asked and begged and pleaded with God for a baby.  How often must they have had to watch friends having babies and felt that pain of it not being them?  How scrutinised and judged must they have felt as people speculated about the reasons for their evident infertility?   For years and years.  Day in day out.  Misery and pain.

And then, one day long long long after any hope or possibility had so far vanished it was not funny - an angel appears.   Not to Elizabeth, interestingly.  To Zac.  Dad.  Priest.  Whilst he was in the temple worshipping.
Zac was understandibly terrified ( which seems to be the usual response when confronted by an angel !)
¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zachariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.

And then Zac is struck dumb and goes home to his wife - unable to explain to her what has happened.  How annoying must that have been?!!!  For both of them. And lo and behold, shortly thereafter Elizabeth conceives, despite being ' well advanced in years'

I suppose I have always assumed that Elizabeth and Zacharias would have been delighted by the news.  But actually, thinking about it.......I'm not so sure.   They had prayed for years - suffered all the shame and hardship of being childless, struggled on and got through to a place where they were now elderly and probably relatively content with their lot.  All the days of hoping and praying and wishing and regretting were behind them.   And then in their old age all of a sudden they are expected to be parents.   Do the sleepless night thing, the teething thing, the toddler thing.   Suffer the stares and questions and amazement of the whole community once again.   Im not sure I would have been too chuffed to be honest

God's timing eh?   Thirty or forty years earlier might have been perfect for Elizabeth...... but a baby in your sixties or seventies???     Why?

Im not sure why.   But the thing that strikes me from this story is that God did answer their prayers.  Just not when they asked Him to. 

Long after they had stopped asking and believing their prayers were still on God's ' to do' list.  How many of the prayers I have prayed and not yet seen answered are also ' pending' ?  How much do I long to hear God say ' hey, dont stress - your prayer has been heard'  ?

I remember many years ago talking to a very old lady who had been a christian for decades.  I asked her if she would pray with me about some ongoing issue - I cant remember what it was now.  But I do remember her reply  'Oh, Ive already prayed about that.  And God has heard.  So there is no point in asking again.  He is on the case '

Lord, as we think about the circumstances surrounding your birth we reflect on the mystery of your timing.  We dont understand why You sometimes make us wait.....why sometimes Your timing seems odd.  Why sometimes the answer is not what we expected.  But I thank you that no prayer goes unheard.  You are working all of history together in ways we cannot understand.  Help us to trust that Your ways are higher than ours and are perfect.  Help us to believe that You are listening and have heard every prayer as You work all things together for our good.