The Story of Christmas doesn’t begin with a BIG band, a bang or a blast!
It begins pretty much in silence.
It really unfolds after years and years of silence.

TRUTH: Most of us aren’t comfortable with silence…

We squirm. We become uncomfortable. We’re used to noise, to hustle, to movement and well, silence seems too quiet, too still, to boring…

But in the Story of Christmas, God does some of His best preparatory work in the stillness, the quiet, the silence. He still does today.

The angel says to Zechariah, "'… your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.’"

Now when you first read that, you think the two are connected. You think the angel is saying, "Zechariah, I have heard you pray for years that you and Elizabeth would have a son, and now you're going to have a son."

But that's not what's happening at all. The aorist tense the writer Luke uses for the prayer is to declare one singular event that has happened in the recent past, so the angel is referring to the prayer that Zechariah just prayed in the Holy Place for the redemption of Israel and the coming of the Messiah. This is a beautiful example of where God is at work corporately and personally at the same time. Zechariah could never have imagined that the answer to his prayer for the redemption of Israel and the coming of the Messiah would be found in the answer to another prayer that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a child.

Zechariah's unbelief brings on the 'mute' button for 9 months...

In these nine months, this silence has brought about a fresh state of spiritual health in the life of Zechariah, because the immediate thing that came out of his mouth was an unleashing torrent of praise.

Scholars indicate: in the book of Luke, there are more references to praising God than there are in the rest of the New Testament.

Zechariah's song, (Luke 1:68-80) -- has 4 simple moves to it.

First, He starts off being overcome with thanksgiving to God.
Second, he talks about the amazing deliverance from the enemies that God is putting into play with his plan.
Third, he has a section that is, sorta: "That's my boy," because he wants to tell everybody the part his son will play in the preparation for the Messiah.
Finally, he ends on the note of God's salvation through mercy and light.

TakeAway:
Even in the silence and the quiet of our lives, God is always at work and active!

God still does some of His best work in the quiet, in the silence.
He’s still active behind the scenes of your life friend.
He’s still at work. Trust Him and in His timing.

In the quiet - let Him grow your heart to REACH UP in worship and praise!
Just like Zechariah had happen within him.

*this week: practice some time of silence, to grow a heart of praise