Read: Luke 1:11-23
I am Gabriel. . . . and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. (v. 19)
If we truly believed that every prayer of ours was heard by God, how would we live differently? Perhaps the confidence that we are heard by a loving and responsive God would free us to live more simply and trustingly each day. If the one who knows the number of hairs on our heads is always listening and working on our behalf, then what have we to fear?
Several months before Mary received a message from the angel Gabriel, he appeared to the priest Zechariah in the temple. Zechariah received an angelic message similar to Daniel’s: “Do not be afraid . . . for your prayer has been heard” (v. 13). Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth longed for a child but were unable to conceive. As a priest, Zechariah’s prayer was for Israel’s redemption. Gabriel brought him the news that both prayers would be answered, but Zechariah was afraid and full of doubt.
Is there a situation in which you, too, are longing for good news? If so, what might that good news sound like? How would you respond to receiving it? As followers of Christ, we can be confident that we have already received the best news possible: God loves us so much that he gave himself over to death that we might live with him forever. No matter what trials and unfulfilled longings we experience, this good news is here to stay. In the words of the resurrected Jesus to his disciple Thomas, “Do not disbelieve, but believe” (John 20:27).
As you pray, express both your doubts and desires to God and ask for faith to trust him.
Justin Kuiper is a student from Holland, MI, studying English literature at Hope College. His own writing explores the many intersections of faith, storytelling, and the created order.
