The Reason for the SeasonSample

Your Prayer Has Been Heard

“But the angel said to him: ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call his name John.’” (Luke 1:13)

We have a pre-Christmas story in the account of the birth of John the Baptist, the messenger who was to come before the Messiah. In the gospel of Luke, we read that John’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were descendants of Aaron and righteous in the sight of God. When Luke picks up the story, they were childless, because Elizabeth was barren. But there was another obstacle to their having a child at that point in their lives: the Bible says that they were both very old. How interesting it is to read, then, that as Zechariah ministered as a priest before the Lord, he was visited by an angel who told him that Elizabeth would bear a son. And here’s the part that should be encouraging to us all as believers: The angel told Zechariah that his prayer had been heard.

What? When did Zechariah pray this prayer? And did he tell anyone about it? Had he even shared it with his wife? Common sense would tell us that Zechariah’s prayer for a child had to have been uttered many years before. Certainly, he wouldn't have been praying this way once he and his wife had gotten on in years. But Zechariah’s prayer had been heard! It had not evaporated into the air! And in God’s own timing, Zechariah was receiving an answer to that prayer.

How encouraging that is for us today! Our prayers don’t go away! God hears them, and he treasures them.

You may wonder then why he waits to answer some of our prayers. Why did he wait to answer Zechariah’s plea? God waited until the situation was so impossible in the natural that all glory had to go to him as Zechariah’s prayer was answered. Not only was Elizabeth barren, but she was also past childbearing age! Yet she was to have a child in answer to the prayer of her husband many years before, and the whole town was abuzz with the news. Furthermore, this child was going to be “the voice of one calling in the wilderness,” as a fulfillment of a prophecy that had been spoken hundreds of years before. Only God could do that!

If you have some burden on your heart that you have shared with the Lord, if some plea for mercy and grace for a wayward spouse or son or daughter; and if it seems as if God has ignored your prayer or has been too busy to answer it, don’t give up! God has heard your prayer. And he will answer in his own time, working all things together for your good. God heard the prayer of Zechariah, and he has heard your prayer as well!