Learning to Trust God From the People God Used at the Birth of Jesus

There are many fascinating characters in the Bible, some of whom trusted God and some of whom did not. They can teach us many things about trusting God. Certainly this is also true of the characters in Luke’s narratives about the birth of Christ. Their songs, which we are examining this Christmas season, speak of the greater purpose of Jesus’ birth. But what can we learn from the people who participated in and witnessed the birth of Jesus?

Consider the couple whose story prompts the song of Zechariah that we shall consider this week.

Zechariah was a priest who would become the father of John the Baptist. Luke tells us that he and his wife Elizabeth “were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” When an angel appeared to him while serving as a priest in the temple and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son in their old age, he could not help but ask “how?” From that time, he could not speak for nine months.

While Zechariah’s question is a natural one, it still indicated he had limits on how far he was willing to go in trusting God. It took the birth of his son for him to completely believe the promise of God. So when his son was born and Elizabeth surprised their family and friends by announcing that their son would be named John, he confirmed her announcement. Suddenly his voice was given back to him, and he broke out in praise to God.

In the meantime, Elizabeth lived for nine months with a husband who could not talk. They had to communicate silently during the entire course of her pregnancy. What was she thinking during that time? Was she marveling at what God had done when she became pregnant after years of being barren or did she question whether it really was the Lord at work?

All we know is that sometime during the course of her pregnancy, she came to believe that the Lord was using she and Zechariah as the parents of the one who would announce the coming of the Messiah. Her trust in God was demonstrated when she declared that her child would be called John.

If we were in their place, would it have taken nine months for us to believe and trust God? Or would we never have trusted God and not allowed him to use us? We need to decide because some day, any one of us may be in a position where we need to trust God without question. When we face such circumstances, we need to trust God completely as they and others did.