Breaking The Silence

We have all had a time when we felt God was silent but not for 400 years! Because of past experiences, I know God is still working - even if I don’t see it, even if I don’t feel it. Parents and past generations have passed down their faith. Zechariah did not have generations to tell him about God or a Bible to read. God had been quiet for 400 years and the priests STILL went to temple. In staff meeting, my pastor shared this and I had never thought about it.

Luke 1: 13, 18-20, 57, 59-60, 62-64, “But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.’”...“Zechariah asked the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.’” "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. 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'"...“When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son”...“On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, ‘No! He is to be called John'"...“Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Immediately his mouth opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.”

The last words of Malachi and the Old Testament, reads, “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes.” Then there were the 400 years of silence. We see that God was working and orchestrating but, again, we know because we know the rest of the story. Through Jesus, God is always with us. God shows us that He has the master plan for our life and perfect timing! He brought the perfect moment for His Son to be born and save us. Galatians 4:4, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law…” We may not understand God’s plan but we can have faith in it.