Dealing with disappointments
Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.
Luke 1:6-7
Luke begins his Gospel by introducing us to two couples. An old couple and a young couple. First of all, we meet Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were both very elderly and very godly. Zechariah was a priest and a direct descendent of Aaron. There was no retirement for priests and so, because there were so many of them, they were divided into 24 groups, serving at the temple twice a year for a week at a time.
We naturally warm to Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were a devout couple. When Luke records that they were righteous in God’s eyes, he wasn’t suggesting that they were perfect but notes their careful obedience to the Lord. Yet they lived with one great sadness: they had no children. In New Testament times, this was considered a matter of shame and would have been confusing for such a godly couple; Old Testament scriptures refer again and again to children being one of the signs of God’s blessing.
Sad as Zechariah and Elizabeth were, they remained faithful to the Lord. On this particular day we find Zechariah performing his twice-yearly duty in the temple. We all live with disappointments of different kinds. They are an inevitable part of living in a broken and sinful world. The question is, how do we live in the light of them? Zechariah continued to serve the Lord and be committed to his priestly duties. As a couple, they remained faithful as they lived with their deep personal disappointment. Like them, we also need to pray sometimes for God’s strength to faithfully serve him, even in the face of deep personal disappointments.
QUESTION
How do you cope with disappointments in your life?
PRAYER
Lord God, thank you for your faithfulness to me. Help me to be faithful to you, whatever challenges I have to face. Amen