how can i be sure

Opening Prayer: Thank you, O Lord, that you are faithful and true.  Thank you that we do not have to worry over and over again if we can trust you—we can.  Help us to do so again today.  Amen.

Scripture: Luke 1:5-25

Journal: Where in your life are you asking the question: “How can I be sure of this?”  Where is God saying to you: “How can you not be?”  How is he asking you to trust him these days?  Will you?

Reflection: Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?  I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” (Luke 1:18)

     It’s a good question.  After all, Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were most likely well over sixty when this visitation took place.  They were both significantly past their child bearing years, so how was this even possible?  In the original language, Zechariah basically referred to himself as elderly, while, wisely, being a little kinder in the description of his wife as advanced in years.  His mama didn’t raise no fool.

     So the question (“How can I be sure of this?”) is a good one.  But a better question is: “How can you not be?”  After all, it’s an angel we’re talking about here.  That didn’t happen every day.  As a matter of fact, it hadn’t happened for over four hundred years.  So remarkable was the encounter that the scriptures described Zechariah as startled and gripped with fear.  It definitely got his full attention.  And yet, Zechariah was still slow to believe all that the angel told him.  I wonder why?  I mean, if a visit from an angel can’t convince you that God is at work, what will it take? 

     But if we are really honest, we all have to admit that Zechariah’s question is the one that lives in the depths of each of our hearts.  Even after God has proven himself trustworthy over and over again throughout the course of our lives, we still tend to doubt.  We still wonder how we can be sure that this time he will show himself to be faithful once again.

     Where is this question dwelling in your heart these days?  Where is God asking you to trust him and you are still having a hard time doing so?  How does his faithfulness in the past give you the assurance that you can trust him yet again?  Will you? 

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help us to really trust you, O Lord, this day and every day.  Amen.