Faith in the Possible

“…because thou believest not my words.” Zacharias was a priest after the old order, his wife Elisabeth of the daughters of Aaron. They were both righteous, walking before the Lord blameless, but were now old and well stricken in years. They were childless and had prayed for a little one during those years when it was possible for his wife to conceive.  But when it was no longer humanly achievable, they had evidently given up any hope. Thus he questions the angel. This is all made plain by the conversation between Zacharias and Gabriel (Lk.1:5-20).

Earlier in the chapter when Mary was approached by the same angel and told of her conception, she basically asked the same question as Zacharias, but was not reproached for it. Why? Because what was going to happen to her had never been done before in the history of the world. But in the case of Zacharias it had been, in the case of Abraham and Sarah. In other words, he had the Old Testament scriptures and the words spoken to Abraham by the angel, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” The account in Gen 18: 9-14 is almost identical to Luke’s.

How easy it is to flaunt ones faith in the presence of possibilities.But once it enters the realm of the impossible, we seem to leave our faith outside the door. Do we not yet realize, as the little poem says, “God is a tower without a stair, and His perfection loves despair?” It is when we come to the end of self that we find God. The reason God has not yet worked on behalf of many of us is because there is still yet a human possibility. How wonderful when “all hope is taken away.” It is then we can be of good cheer, knowing it shall be even as it was told us! (Acts 27)