Waiting Well

Waiting. I can’t stand waiting. The other day a train stopped on the tracks along the route I take to travel home. Rather than wait on the train, I drove several blocks over until I could tell the tracks were no longer blocked. Then I drove the long way home. Why go to all that trouble? At least I didn’t have to wait. Waiting is difficult. Waiting seems impossible.

While I was reading Luke 1 a few weeks ago, I noticed something I’d never seen before. In Luke 1:13, an angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah unexpectedly and announced that in spite of the fact that his wife was barren, Elizabeth was going to bring forth a son who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. This is amazing news! Nothing could have prepared Zechariah for this. As amazing as the news of the birth of John the Baptist is, there is another encouraging detail in this text.

The angel tells Zechariah that this is happening in answer to his prayer: “But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid Zechariah, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John’” (Luke 1:13). On the surface this doesn’t seem like such a significant statement. The angel is saying the birth of John is coming in answer to Zechariah’s prayer. There’s nothing particularly unusual about answered prayer. If we take a closer look though we see how significant this is. Zechariah’s wife has been barren and they are well past the age of bearing children: “For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years” (Luke 1:18). Zechariah couldn’t believe the message the angel was giving him, which means that wasn’t something he was praying for at that time. Perhaps it had been years and years since he had prayed for a child. Yet here the angel of the Lord told him that this was an answer to his prayers.

Prayer is never wasted! Zechariah might have assumed that God’s answer to his prayer was “no.” God certainly does respond that way to some of our prayers and we should rejoice in that. However, here, God just had not given the answer yet. This was a prayer years in the making. Delays aren’t denials. Don’t presume to know God’s mind. That’s why Jesus told us to persist in prayer: “He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Not only does this passage teach us about prayer but it also teaches us about waiting on God.

Zechariah finally heard from the Lord after a season of waiting. That season might have been decades long. But God had an answer ready and He sent it when the time was right. There is another lesson for us in this. Zechariah heard from the Lord when he was at work serving the Lord. When you’re waiting on the Lord, don’t just sit there. Stay busy in His work. The best posture in which to hear from the Lord is with your hand to the plow!