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“But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid Zechariah,
for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall call his name John.’” (Luke
1:13)
When it was the turn for the aged priest,
Zechariah to serve in the temple in Jerusalem, an angel of the Lord appeared to
him while he was burning incense, and said, “your prayer has been heard.” What
was the nature of this prayer that had been listened to at the throne of grace,
and whose answer had now come forth? It is natural for us to assume that the
righteous old man had been praying for a son. However, it would be wrong to
narrow down his prayer to this personal and family need. In fact, the context
suggests that Zechariah and his wife had long resigned themselves to the will
of the Lord in this private sorrow of childlessness. So, it is doubtful that he
and his wife still felt compelled to pray for a child. The skepticism and
unbelief of Zechariah to the angel’s good news confirm this fact (1:18).
“Your prayer has been heard.” Which prayer? I
believe that Zechariah must have been praying the unselfish patriotic prayer
that God would hasten the coming of the long-looked for Messiah (vv. 13b-17). He must have been praying
for the coming of the Messiah and the blessed era of salvation. Zechariah was
definitely among those who were “waiting for the consolation of Israel…and the
redemption of Israel,” spoken of in Luke
2:25 and 2:38. And is it not
highly probable that the chief matter of his prayer could well be expressed by
the words of the Psalmist: “Oh that the salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!”
(Ps. 14:7).
Dear friends, when we come before the Lord in
prayer, we should not be motivated by narrow interests; absorbed by the desire
for blessings that are entirely personal – a better job, a husband or wife, a gift
of a baby, good health, or indeed provisions of the material necessities of
life. These are legitimate needs, and it’s not sinful to ask the Lord for them.
But our prayers ought to rise higher than our personal and temporal needs.
Zechariah prayed, following our Master’s cue: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He sought first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and God granted him more than he had ventured to anticipate. He himself
becomes the father of the forerunner, who was to prepare the way for the
Messiah. God heard the prayer for the dawn of the era of salvation, but also
gives the old man the earthly joy of becoming a father.
There is a great lesson for us here brothers
and sister. The prayer of faith has interconnections with the purposes of God that
are far beyond our power to estimate. You could have prayed in vain for
something from the Lord, but in God’s own programme and timing, He always had
in mind, not your personal happiness, but the greater good of multitudes (Lk. 1:14). I am sometimes tempted, and
probably you too, to be narrow and self-absorbed in prayer. And I need to be
reminded again and again, to have a broader, wider, global and eternal
perspective in my prayers. Lord, teach me; Lord teach us to pray aright.
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