Known Belief

Luke 1: ¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

¹⁹ And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. ²⁰ But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. ²² But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

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“That couldn’t possibly be the answer” is what I said to myself because the solution was too easy. I mean all the other problems on the test seemed excruciatingly hard. Why was this one so easy? I decided to go with my second guess answer and chose to make my answer more complicated than it needed to be. I got that problem wrong, it was as easy as my first thought.

• Sometimes I second guess.
• Sometimes I rethink something that has already been thought out.
• Sometimes my fears make me relook at something that is already planned and in the middle of execution.

Zacharias was a priest and probably knew the history of Abraham and Sarah having a baby in their advanced age, yet he questioned if GOD was able to do the same for him and his wife. Even though he knew an angel was standing in front of him, he still did not believe. I do the same. Sometimes I know what GOD can do and I second guess HIS methods.

• GOD wants me to practice having faith in HIM so it will grow.
• GOD wants me to take baby steps with my faith until I can handle larger amounts of faith.
• GOD wants me to steadily grow in HIM so I can immediately believe what HE says to me without pouting about HIS timing.

GOD fulfills HIS words “in their own timing.” HIS plan is intricate and involves other people. Sometimes other people are not yet ready so the plan HE has for me gets extended. Zacharias motioned to the people to calm down rather than clutching his throat in pain.

He knew this slight gaff in belief caused him to become mute temporarily. This “timeout” more than likely strengthened his belief in what he already knew. He accepted GOD’s power and acted accordingly. GOD wants me to believe without question. This takes practice.

• Do you doubt GOD?
• Do you think HIS timing for HIS promised blessings are wrong?
• Are you angry at GOD because HE chastens HIS chosen ones including you?
• Will you believe in HIS ways immediately more and more each day?