Advent - God Knows What He's AboutSample

Zechariah’s Song

We re-encounter Zechariah after John’s birth. Zechariah has been unable to speak for months, but following his obedience, Zechariah begins to sing words inspired by the Holy Spirit. Zechariah breaks the silence by recounting God’s faithfulness throughout time and proclaiming the way in which God would use this newborn child as the prophet that would identify the coming Messiah.

Zechariah had just witnessed the miracle of a birth and was now able to proclaim God’s glory. The form of the song is a model for our own songs of praise today. The opening lines recount the ways God worked throughout history. The next section gives thanks to God for the blessing in the present, the birth of John. The focus of this thanks is not however on the present, but on the yet to come. The third and final portion of the song praises God for what He will do in and through John’s life. Let our own songs and prayers of thanks follow this same pattern: thank God for what He has done in the past, thank God for what He has done in the present, and thank God for how He will use us in the future.

Father,

Thank you for what you have done in looking on a world in need of a Savior and meeting that need.

Thank you for the testimony of the women and men through the ages that have found their hope and trust in you alone.

Thank you for what you do in our mundane lives on a daily basis; 

for the way you work and intervene to bring glory to your Name.

And Father, thank you that you will use us not as passive spectators,

but as ministers of your gospel as we seek to share your love with a world that waits for your return, just as Israel had waited for your Son’s first advent.

Use us and direct us to do your work,

Amen.

Dr. Robert Pendergraft
Assistant Professor of Church Music, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor