God’s Humbling Hand
Perhaps the most striking thing in this passage is the angel’s seemingly harsh response to Zechariah’s bewilderment. Zechariah is promised a son, and we read that in his bewilderment: “Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” (Luke 1:18–20 NIV11)
Zechariah discovered God’s humbling hand that day. And it could be that, this Christmas, we will too.
You see, sometimes it takes a bit of humbling for us to see things God’s way. Sometimes our minds are just unable to understand what God has said. Sometimes God needs to take something away from us, so that we can more fully focus on His truths.
And that’s quite humbling.
Fasting has a similar aim, although it is intentional. When we fast, we deny ourselves something in order to spend more time on our relationship with God. And it’s certainly humbling to do this, to go without eating and pray instead – you realise you’re weak, you’re fallible, you’re fragile, and so you lean on God all the more.
Embracing Silence: Finding Deeper Communion with God
Perhaps God was doing something similar with Zechariah here. Taking something away from him so that he could go deeper with God.
I have no evidence for this, but I imagine that Zechariah was a talker. God took away his speech, he could have blinded him or done something else but it was his speech God took. Why? Maybe he was a talkative type. When he got going you couldn’t shut him up!
Maybe God said it will be good for this man to cease talking for a while. He will come to see the glorious truths I have just shared with him, only if he shuts up a bit. So he humbles him, takes away his speech, and for 9 months at least, Zechariah is on mute.
But think about it: I can only imagine how he must have prayed in that time! How deep he must have gone with God! I wonder sometimes if God would take away something that means a lot to me, if it would actually draw me nearer to him. It is often true that we find God to be closest in our most desperate and humbled moments.
Do you know who Fanny Crosby is? She is one of the great hymnwriters of all time. She wrote Blessed Assurance, and To God Be The Glory, and a thousand+ others hymns. She was blinded as a very young girl at the hands of an incompetent doctor. And the very first poem she wrote as a young girl went like this:
O what a happy child I am although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don’t
So weep or sigh because I’m blind? I cannot, and I won’t!
Finding Grace in Loss: Embracing Deeper Faith
Something basic was taken from her, and what did she do? She received it humbly and thanked God for the blessings she did enjoy.
My friends, if you end up on the losing side this Christmas - if something precious of yours is taken away, or if God’s humbling hand comes down on your life like it did on Zechariah’s, and Fanny Crosby’s…
Don’t despair… Dive deeper in faith!
Don’t be mad at God… Be grateful for the blessings you do enjoy!
Because I believe it with all my heart, when God humbles us it’s because his humbling grows us, and matures us, like very little else can.
