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Promises…not yet fulfilled
Dec 03, 2009
Those long, dusty stretches. Those painful longings that can even make the heart sick. We’ve all felt those pangs of desperation at times as we ‘wait upon the Lord’ for things promised but as yet unfulfilled. It’s hard, it’s long and dry at times but is a part of life that can’t be avoided.
Zechariah and Elizabeth were a couple longing for a child for years. The Bible tells us that they had walked blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord, but they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.
But suddenly, unexpectedly, Zechariah is visited by the angel Gabriel while on his temple duty. Poor Zechariah couldn’t believe his ears or his eyes and because of his unbelief at what the angel was telling him about Elizabeth becoming pregnant, he was struck dumb until John’s birth.
I love the verse in Luke 1:20 which says in part, “…because you did not believe my words, WHICH WILL BE FULFILLED in their time.”
Even as Zechariah lost his ability to speak, God’s message to him was that his words would not fall to the ground but WOULD, beyond a shadow of a doubt be fulfilled.
And of course as the facts go, John the Baptist was born and the promise was fulfilled.
But the point I want to make is that we often face a lifetime of longings and seemingly unfulfilled promises. And so it was with Zechariah, Elizabeth and John.
Zechariah prophesies amazing things at the birth of John, about his future…”And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins…,” Again, we see another prophecy in the lives of this family.
But again followed by the words, “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”
Even though John was born and the promise fulfilled, there would be another waiting period, as John himself lived ‘in the wilderness’, no doubt wondering if the things spoken over his life would come to pass.
Perhaps you feel like you’ve been through one wilderness after another and it’s too much to bear. My friend, take heart, you are following great footsteps of the fathers of the faith that have walked this ‘way of waiting’ long before you. Keep the faith, fight the good fight and believe the words of the angel in Luke that say, his words will be fulfilled in their time. Not our time, not too quickly or too late, but in God’s perfect timing for what he wants to accomplish in your life, the life of your church or even a nation.
