Are You Ready for your Package

I will glean from a story in Luke 1, and today’s blog will be based on that. This story has greatly encouraged me, and I hope you will be encouraged by it, too. Zacharias and Elizabeth are a couple that the Bible calls righteous (Luke 1:6). However, their righteousness did not shield them from life's challenges; Elizabeth was well advanced in years, yet she had no child—she was barren. Then, we move on to verse 13, when the angel named Gabriel visited Zacharias and declared that “his prayer is heard.” From what I have read, I don’t know how long Zacharias has been praying, but if he and his wife had advanced in age, then it would mean they had been praying for a long time. But the lesson I have picked here is that despite the length of waiting for Zacharias and his wife, they never gave up their righteous walk with God. The comforting outcome of their righteous waiting was a great son before God who will be going before God in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children (Luke 1:17). It was indeed a well deserving answer to their righteous waiting.

One more big lesson for me in this story is in Luke 1:36, when the same angel named Gabriel visited Mary to inform her of her good news. He said, “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.” What this tells me is that Elizabeth had a stigma of barrenness to her person. Everyone who knew Elizabeth knew her to be that childless woman. It wasn’t a good identity. Some would have mocked her, spoken ill about her, and it would have appeared as though God was silent. But when it was time to send a great prophet to earth—the forerunner of Jesus Christ, righteous Elizabeth’s womb was perfectly ready and available to carry the seed.

I don’t know what kind of stigma your challenges have placed on your person, but nobody dares define you in a way that God has not because only God has the final say. It might not look or feel like it, but if you do not lose focus on God, the perfect time for that miracle is on its way. When the answer to Zacharias' miracle came, it was unbelievable for him. The kind of miracle that matches the definition of “too good to be true.” It was such a dumbfounding miracle that when people around Elizabeth heard of her childbirth, they rejoiced with her. Remember, these same neighbors had known and defined her as barren.

Isaiah 49:14-15 speaks of a profound truth. When you, like Zion, say the Lord has forsaken and forgotten you, the Lord responds with an affirmation, and He says: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely, they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palm of My hands; your walls are continually before Me,” These words are a direct declaration from God, not spoken by Derin or your pastor.

When you feel overwhelmed, as we all do every now and then, understand one truth: Your situation does not define you, and your challenges are only for a moment. Your prayers are not in vain. Don’t lose focus on God, and don’t neglect your righteousness because when God is ready to dispatch your package, you must be ready to receive it. Elizabeth and Zacharias received their package, and it wasn’t small. Yours is coming too, and it won’t be small.