Both of them were upright in
the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations
blamelessly. But... Luke 1:6
Life is full of "buts".
Life is full of "buts".
"We’d planned to go for a picnic, but it bucketed down with
rain..." "We were in front until the 89th minute, but their centre-forward
just sneaked a goal..." "Everything seemed great, but then that awful
phone-call came..." "The holiday was fine, but our flight home was
cancelled at the last minute..."
You can probably think of various buts in your life as you read this. This tiny word reminds us that life is never perfect, and that we should never take anything for granted. And this is true for the finest Christians as much as for anybody else. It was true for Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Luke tells us they were exemplary, God-loving people. They lived holy lives. But...
You probably know what comes next: "... they had no children... and they were both well on in years". For all their goodness, a cloud of sadness hung over this old couple. Today, childlessness is no stigma - indeed, some people consciously choose it. ("We aren't childless," I once heard it said, "we're child-free ".) But in New Testament times it was seen as a reproach, taken by many as a sign that God was displeased with them.
But then what happened? They were told that, impossible though it might seem, they were indeed going to be blessed with a child. And so John was born. It strikes me that perhaps it was a blessing that Zechariah and Elizabeth will almost certainly have died before they saw the weird life their son ended up living - a prophet of God, a “voice in the wilderness”! - and the sordid, tragic death he died. But they knew joy in their latter years.
Yes, there can be good buts as well as bad ones, positive buts as well as negative ones. "Yes, it was raining hard, but suddenly the sun came out...!" "It looked as though she wasn't going to pull through, but here she is today...!"
Two thoughts strike me.
First, don't write off the old.
You can probably think of various buts in your life as you read this. This tiny word reminds us that life is never perfect, and that we should never take anything for granted. And this is true for the finest Christians as much as for anybody else. It was true for Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Luke tells us they were exemplary, God-loving people. They lived holy lives. But...
You probably know what comes next: "... they had no children... and they were both well on in years". For all their goodness, a cloud of sadness hung over this old couple. Today, childlessness is no stigma - indeed, some people consciously choose it. ("We aren't childless," I once heard it said, "we're child-free ".) But in New Testament times it was seen as a reproach, taken by many as a sign that God was displeased with them.
But then what happened? They were told that, impossible though it might seem, they were indeed going to be blessed with a child. And so John was born. It strikes me that perhaps it was a blessing that Zechariah and Elizabeth will almost certainly have died before they saw the weird life their son ended up living - a prophet of God, a “voice in the wilderness”! - and the sordid, tragic death he died. But they knew joy in their latter years.
Yes, there can be good buts as well as bad ones, positive buts as well as negative ones. "Yes, it was raining hard, but suddenly the sun came out...!" "It looked as though she wasn't going to pull through, but here she is today...!"
Two thoughts strike me.
First, don't write off the old.
Zechariah and Elizabeth had lived long
lives, and probably felt they had nothing new to look forward to or to
contribute. But God hadn't finished with them! They had a vital role to play in
the unfolding of his purposes.
A couple of questions...
If you are young, do you tend to
subconsciously dismiss the old? Well, stop it, please! And if you are old, do
you tend to think you have nothing left to give, or to enjoy? Well, again, stop
it!
As long as God gives you another day of
life, there is something for you to do, to achieve, to enjoy, simply to be. I read not long ago
about a pensioner who discovered a new ministry as a "street pastor"
- she's out there in her town centre in the early hours befriending
prostitutes, some of whom see her as a substitute mother.
Second, don't give up on prayer.
Second, don't give up on prayer.
I'm sure Zechariah and Elizabeth had
prayed much about their sadness. All right, perhaps they had stopped asking specifically for a child,
given their age - and who would blame them for that? But God did answer their prayer,
even if not in the time-scale they would have liked.
We need to learn that however things may
look today, there will be good days ahead. Think of it like this: a prayer you
first prayed twenty years ago may for all you know be due to be answered in two
weeks’ time - you could say (sorry, this is the way my mind works), a bit like a
policy coming to maturity. You may have forgotten it; but God hasn’t.
The gospel is all about God's great and miraculous but. "Like everyone else we were by nature objects of wrath," writes Paul in Ephesians 4. "But God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ..." “You were like sheep going astray,” says Peter, “but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2).
The gospel is all about God's great and miraculous but. "Like everyone else we were by nature objects of wrath," writes Paul in Ephesians 4. "But God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ..." “You were like sheep going astray,” says Peter, “but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2).
Everything seemed dark and hopeless. But God decided to act in the giving of
his own Son. And nothing has ever been the same.
Dear Father in heaven, help me to cope in faith with the sad buts in my life - and to keep looking in hope for the joyful ones. Amen.
Dear Father in heaven, help me to cope in faith with the sad buts in my life - and to keep looking in hope for the joyful ones. Amen.
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