Elizabeth: Silence Ended (Part 1)

When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron.  Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations – Luke 1: 5-6 NLT

When I was young, my father told me stories about the Living and One True God – Yahweh. How He called Abraham, blessed him and made him a great nation through his only son – Isaac. How Joseph ended up in a foreign land, Egypt and became a leader there.

After many years in Egypt, the Israelites became enslaved, and God rescued them under the leadership of Moses. They witnessed the parting of the Red Sea and River Jordan. While in the wilderness God protected them with a pillar of cloud by day and another of fire by night and fed them with manna. Over the years, He raised great kings and prophets to lead His people – Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Hezekiah, and Elisha to mention a few. And He won various battles in miraculous ways for Israel.

These days I really wonder if all these were just great, unbelievable stories because the nation of Israel is languishing, and God doesn’t seem to care about us as He used to. God hasn’t spoken through his prophets for years, nothing like that has happened in my lifetime. We might have thrived as a nation but we are under the heavy leadership and rule of the Romans.

The Roman soldiers gallop around our towns and villages on horses demanding taxes and food. If they are refused, they take it by force and on many occasions have killed our men in the process. They do not have sympathy for us or our families, they are very cruel.

It seems to me, that God has finally given up on His people. He is done begging, loving and rescuing His people. And this is because we have refused to listen, obey and repent from our sinful ways. Even Zachariah has noticed how a lot of our people just go through the motions of offering sacrifices. They seem to be in search of forgiveness and restoration, only to leave the temple to continue in their sins or even commit even worse atrocities.

God is not answering our prayers anymore either. Zachariah and I have been married for years and we don’t have children. We have prayed and fasted but nothing! Zachariah is still full of faith though! He has served faithfully in the temple since he was a young man, and he hangs on every Word of God that He has spoken through His prophets. He believes the bleaker and darker the situation gets, the brighter and greater the light of God will be when He appears.

He keeps quoting the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” *

The more Zachariah recited the words of Isaiah, the more I asked God why He hadn’t given us a child of our own.

*Isaiah 9: 6-7 (NLT)

(To be Continued.)

Stay blessed,

LaraLex