Luke 1:13 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 give him the name John.

        

I think we are sometimes hard on Zechariah in his inability to respond well to the angel's message. I have watched many people over the years receive prophetic messages and again and again I read the response, “Yes,…. well….” as if they are saying, “God can't love me that much!"

 

There are sometimes accusations that Christianity is all about wishful thinking and Zechariah could possibly be excused for wondering if this was a vision based on wishful thinking. Had he just been thinking back on his childless life and been wondering why? He's an old man and his wife is an old woman. It's too late now anyway so why even think about it. And then this angel appears. Now when angels appear in Scripture they tend to come giving the person a great task to fulfil, so is this angel going to impart something really significant to Zechariah's calling for his remaining days? Yes, but not in the way he expects. It's so often like that. God speaks in ways we don't expect. Here He just tells Zechariah He's come to give him his heart's desire. Oh come on now, Lord, please don't play with me. You know I've anguished over this for years. It's too late now. No it's not!

 

Do you struggle with the wonder of God's love, so much that perhaps you have written off and rejected something the Lord said to you because it was too good?