Holy Spirit Formed

I’m not saying the bible is funny; it is the Word of God given to us for fellowship with God and with Jesus Christ. But there are a couple of places that made me laugh and I wanted to share them and the lessons they teach.

The first scene is in Luke 1:5-25 and 57-66. It’s the story of an old couple named Zachariah and Elizabeth. He was a temple priest and he and Elizabeth had no children. However Zachariah goes to work one day and encounters the angel Gabriel who tells him they will have a child. Now think with me – you are in your 70s or 80s and someone tells you you will have a baby – do not some questions arise? Zachariah finds that he doesn’t fully believe the angel because he asks “How can I be sure of this?” This, unsurprisingly, irritates Gabriel who proceeds to tell him that he is the angel that stands in the presence of God and that God sent him.

So Gabriel tells Zachariah that because of his unbelief he will be unable to speak during the time Elizabeth is pregnant. So Zachariah goes out and lets the people know he can’t speak probably like you or I would – by pointing at our throat and shaking our head “no”.

So Zachariah goes home – first funny point; how does he let Elizabeth know that they are going to conceive. I can visualize an interesting game of charades happening (2nd word, 3rd syallable?)

But God’s word come to pass and Elizabeth becomes pregnant which is when Mary the mother of Jesus comes to visit her. When it’s time to deliver, the baby born is none other than John the Baptist but obviously no one knows that at the time of birth so they are going to name him Zachariah after his father. But Elizabeth says, “no, his name is John”.

So they go to Zachariah for confirmation and here’s the funny scene. Luke writes, “They made signs to his father to see what he would like to name the child”. Do you see it yet? The crowd is making hand motions and probably speaking real loud and Zachariah has to think, I can hear you dummies; I just can’t speak! So he asked for a tablet and wrote “His name is John” and his tongue was loosened and he gave praise to God!

So how is Zachariah different from Mary the mother of Jesus? The same angel visited her and gave her even more difficult to believe news – she would have a baby without having relations with a man! And she also asked a question – How shall this be since I am a virgin? Why didn’t Gabriel get mad at her? Because hers was a simple “how will this happen” question; NOT a “I don’t believe this!” question. Zachariah’s question was really a statement about his belief – “I don’t tend to believe this can happen so convince me”. Mary’s was a “How” question, not an “I don’t really believe” question. And after the angel’s explanation Mary responds, “May your word to me be fulfilled”. Mary had simple acceptance while Zachariah was conditioned by years and years of waiting and hoping and disapointments.

So while the scene is funny we have to ask, why did the angel take away Zachariah’s speech? Was that just to be mean or did it have a purpose? Everything God does is for a purpose so there must have been some meaning; it wasn’t simply a punishment.

Let’s take a short side trip and compare what happened to Zachairah to what happened to Paul when he was converted. We read in Acts 9:1-19 that Paul was highly religious and highly angry at these supposed blasphemers called Christians. He was on the way to Damascus to harass, arrest, imprison and probably torture these believers as he had already been doing in Jerusalem.

While on the road God blinded Saul by an extremely bright light which, after his conversion, left him blind for the rest of the trip until he was prayed for by Ananias. So why blindness? Why didn’t he strike Paul dumb like he did Zachariah?

God in each case did what He did for a definite purpose and here is where we can learn an important lesson. Paul was blinded because he depended almost entirely on what he could see and think – he was highly intelligent and educated and was offended by what he saw these “unbelievers” doing that went against what he was taught about God. God robbed Paul of his sight for a time to show him that what was unseen was more real than what was seen and caused Paul to have to be led around by others; having to rely on someone other than himself.

Do we believe that the unseen, supernatural world is more real than what we see around us? Our circumstances (which is the circle we stand in) often become more real than the promises of God.

Zachariah was robbed of his speech because OUR WORDS ARE IMPORTANT. If he had come out of the temple saying “wow, I can’t believe what I just saw and heard and, Elizabeth, you aren’t going to believe what is going to happen!” he would have stood in the way of what God was planning.

No matter how long it takes and no matter how big the walls seem; when God gives us a promise we just need to SHUT UP and accept God’s word. Zachariah had literally decades of hoping and being disappointed and that had become his way of thinking.

For those things you have been hoping and believing for for a LONG TIME, has it become easier to rationalize? Easier to say, well, evidently that wasn’t God’s will for me or I didn’t hear Him right. Sometimes we even make excuses for God saying, well, that wasn’t really a true desire I had anyway.

The next “funny story” happens to Peter in the book of Acts. In Acts 12:3-5 we read about Herod harrassing Christians. “When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

Now God answered this prayer by miraculously freeing Peter. So Peter runs to John Mark’s house where all these believers are praying. Peter knocks and Rhoda comes to see who’s there. When she recognizes Peter’s voice she gets so excited that she runs back inside without even opening the door!

So here Peter standing humming to himself out in the street while all the great faith people are telling Rhoda that she’s crazy. The person they’ve been asking God for a miracle for has to keep knocking to be let in! Again if you visualize it you can see the humor.

But what’s the lesson for us in this? How often to we pray and pray and ask God for a miracle only to be astonished if the prayer is actually answered? Do we really pray believing that God will answer? Or do we praying kind of, sort of hoping something might happen someday?

Like the man who’s son was demon-possessed our cry should be, “I believe, help me in my unbelief!”

Lessons to learn – 1) Our words (our confessions) do matter and we should be aware  how often we voice doubts and unbelief. 2) God took away speech from the doubter and sight from the self-reliant, and we should learn to doubt our doubts and rely on His goodness and promises rather than what we think and see. 3) If we pray for something, first establish in your heart and mind that you will welcome and embrace God’s miraculous answer; pray wholeheartedly from the start.