By Ben Van Arragon
Read: Luke 1:5-17
“Do not be afraid … for your prayer has been heard.” (v. 13)
The thing I find most challenging about prayer is wondering whether my prayer has been heard.
When I pray, I do not hear audible responses from God. I may wait weeks, months, or even years before I see answers to specific prayers. Some prayers seem to go completely unanswered. How can I know God hears me?
Zechariah spent his life praying. As a priest, he spoke public prayers on behalf of his people. As a man of devotion, he spent hours in private prayer too. Many of Zechariah’s private prayers no doubt focused on his and his wife Elizabeth’s desire to have children.
In Luke 1, when Gabriel appears and says, “Your prayer has been heard,” we might assume the angel means Zechariah’s lifetime of private prayers. Commentators agree, however, that Gabriel is almost certainly referring to the prayer Zechariah had just prayed: his priestly prayer for the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the world.
And yet God, who heard that priestly prayer, reveals that he also hears every private prayer. The salvation Zechariah prayed for was the dearest desire of every nation: God with us. At Christmas we celebrate the answer to that prayer.
Zechariah’s story reminds me that the God who invites prayers for the world’s salvation hears all my prayers, even the most personal. When Zechariah doubts, Gabriel says, in effect, “Trust me.” Gabriel encourages trust with a miraculous sign: Zechariah is mute until his child is born. Our miraculous sign is Jesus: Immanuel. “God with us” hears every prayer.
As you pray, pray with hope, trusting that God hears you.
—————
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids.
Read: Luke 1:5-17
“Do not be afraid … for your prayer has been heard.” (v. 13)
The thing I find most challenging about prayer is wondering whether my prayer has been heard.
When I pray, I do not hear audible responses from God. I may wait weeks, months, or even years before I see answers to specific prayers. Some prayers seem to go completely unanswered. How can I know God hears me?
Zechariah spent his life praying. As a priest, he spoke public prayers on behalf of his people. As a man of devotion, he spent hours in private prayer too. Many of Zechariah’s private prayers no doubt focused on his and his wife Elizabeth’s desire to have children.
In Luke 1, when Gabriel appears and says, “Your prayer has been heard,” we might assume the angel means Zechariah’s lifetime of private prayers. Commentators agree, however, that Gabriel is almost certainly referring to the prayer Zechariah had just prayed: his priestly prayer for the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the world.
And yet God, who heard that priestly prayer, reveals that he also hears every private prayer. The salvation Zechariah prayed for was the dearest desire of every nation: God with us. At Christmas we celebrate the answer to that prayer.
Zechariah’s story reminds me that the God who invites prayers for the world’s salvation hears all my prayers, even the most personal. When Zechariah doubts, Gabriel says, in effect, “Trust me.” Gabriel encourages trust with a miraculous sign: Zechariah is mute until his child is born. Our miraculous sign is Jesus: Immanuel. “God with us” hears every prayer.
As you pray, pray with hope, trusting that God hears you.
—————
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids.
