Unbelievable (Luke 1:18-20)
"Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.” (Luke 1:18-20 NLT)
So this guy Zechariah (not to be confused with the Old Testament prophet) was merely doing his priestly duties at the Temple one day when out of nowhere an angel of God appears and begins telling him that God is finally about to answer his prayers for a son.
However, Zechariah and his wife are "very old" and he's having trouble wrapping his brain around everything as he attempts to process all that's happening.
In his head it probably sounded something like...
"Ahhh! What the? Oh my gosh! An angel? Answer my prayers? What prayers? A son? It can't be. Whats going on here? You're kidding. We're old. You're a few decades late buddy. Why are you telling me this? But how? This can't be happening. You got the wrong guy."
After taking the whole experience in the best response he can muster is, "how can this be?...I'm old..." (vs. 18). In translation what he was saying TO THE ANGEL was, "Um, I don't really think you understand my situation here. Here are the reasons why that's impossible."
But to me the best part of the story is in vs. 19 where the angel gets mad and shoots back out of frustration with a little angelic sarcasm, "Dude, I'm a freaking angel. I just left heaven. Maybe youve heard of it. Its that place where God lives in omnipotent power and everything is possible. He sent me here today with good news and you're really gonna argue with me about logistics? Nice."
From the outside looking in it sounds kinda ridiculous but that's exactly what happened. Sometimes we pray in faith and get no answer. We hope and believe but see no immediate results. We desperately want God to just hurry up and fall in line with our plans already.
But we often forget that God has His own plans and is not limited or intimidated by our circumstances. He answers on His time and is never late to the party. It's not up to us to determine how or when God will act, but we should always be ready to answer when He does.
It's easy to say, "If God would just send me a sign I would ________." But the reality is, even if the angel Gabriel showed up on your doorstep with an answer you didn't expect, we would still probably start rationalizing all the reasons why God's plan wouldn't work in our situation.
Ephesians 3:20 says, "God is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20 NLT). Whatever we think God could do, God's plan and His ability to act are infinitely greater.
At the end of the day God doesn't always expect us to understand His plans, but when He speaks He fully expects us to get on board. Since the word "impossible" does not exist in God's vocabulary, we might want to remove it from ours as well. Let's be ever ready and willing today to trust and obey the God of the impossible despite the unbelievable.
Facebook.com/Josh1Eight
Twitter @Josh1Eight
So this guy Zechariah (not to be confused with the Old Testament prophet) was merely doing his priestly duties at the Temple one day when out of nowhere an angel of God appears and begins telling him that God is finally about to answer his prayers for a son.
However, Zechariah and his wife are "very old" and he's having trouble wrapping his brain around everything as he attempts to process all that's happening.
In his head it probably sounded something like...
"Ahhh! What the? Oh my gosh! An angel? Answer my prayers? What prayers? A son? It can't be. Whats going on here? You're kidding. We're old. You're a few decades late buddy. Why are you telling me this? But how? This can't be happening. You got the wrong guy."
After taking the whole experience in the best response he can muster is, "how can this be?...I'm old..." (vs. 18). In translation what he was saying TO THE ANGEL was, "Um, I don't really think you understand my situation here. Here are the reasons why that's impossible."
But to me the best part of the story is in vs. 19 where the angel gets mad and shoots back out of frustration with a little angelic sarcasm, "Dude, I'm a freaking angel. I just left heaven. Maybe youve heard of it. Its that place where God lives in omnipotent power and everything is possible. He sent me here today with good news and you're really gonna argue with me about logistics? Nice."
From the outside looking in it sounds kinda ridiculous but that's exactly what happened. Sometimes we pray in faith and get no answer. We hope and believe but see no immediate results. We desperately want God to just hurry up and fall in line with our plans already.
But we often forget that God has His own plans and is not limited or intimidated by our circumstances. He answers on His time and is never late to the party. It's not up to us to determine how or when God will act, but we should always be ready to answer when He does.
It's easy to say, "If God would just send me a sign I would ________." But the reality is, even if the angel Gabriel showed up on your doorstep with an answer you didn't expect, we would still probably start rationalizing all the reasons why God's plan wouldn't work in our situation.
Ephesians 3:20 says, "God is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20 NLT). Whatever we think God could do, God's plan and His ability to act are infinitely greater.
At the end of the day God doesn't always expect us to understand His plans, but when He speaks He fully expects us to get on board. Since the word "impossible" does not exist in God's vocabulary, we might want to remove it from ours as well. Let's be ever ready and willing today to trust and obey the God of the impossible despite the unbelievable.
Facebook.com/Josh1Eight
Twitter @Josh1Eight
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