Prayer. Heard.

"But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.

“He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.” Luke 1:13 - 20

Your prayer has  been heard. Your prayer has been heard. 

After so many years, of begging and beseeching for a child, Zachariah's prayer has been heard.

Not only that. It was YES!!  He and Elizabeth would have a child: not only a child, but a SON.

And yet. Zachariah did not, could not, believe it. Reason - he and Elizabeth were too old - triumphed over belief in God's mighty power.

The consequence: he was struck dumb, because he had objected to God's word.  

So we pray. We wait.

"While Zacharias was burning incense in the temple, the whole multitude of the people were praying without. 

All the prayers we offer up to God, are acceptable and successful only by Christ's intercession in the temple of God above. 

We cannot expect an interest therein if we do not pray, and pray with our spirits, and are not earnest in prayer. 

Nor can we expect that the best of our prayers should gain acceptance, and bring an answer of peace, but through the mediation of Christ, who ever lives, making intercession. 

The prayers Zacharias often made, received an answer of peace. 

Prayers of faith are filed in heaven, and are not forgotten. 

Prayers made when we were young and entering into the world, may be answered when we are old and going out of the world.

Mercies are doubly sweet that are given in answer to prayer."  Matthew Henry.

Christmas. Ninth day. Easter comes.

Reading God On Mute by Pete Greig. Revelatory walk through the events of Easter as he engages with 'the silence of unanswered prayer'.

I have arrived at Easter Sunday with Mary Magdalene at the tomb. And Pete says: 'The Earth has quaked and angels worship, but He Himself is mistaken for a humble, bumbling horticulturalist with dirt beneath his fingernails at the start of a working day.'

The start. The start of a new agreement between God and man where, because of Jesus, there is peace in the garden. It really is God starting over again.

In the beginning, God, the Master Gardener, created the Garden of Earth. He brought the soil, the rocks and stones, created the hills and valleys, brought in plants and the animals which lived there. Added lighting to suit the mood. A macroscopic version of an entry into the garden competition of the Chelsea Flower Show.

Then Man and Woman spoilt it, and we've been living in the mud and mess ever since.

So how fitting that Jesus appears as a Gardener in the new world he has created. He brings His life-giving Spirit to grow his garden.

As for us? We are plants to be loved and nurtured by Him, growing into full maturity, blooming under His tender care. But we are also gardeners, working under the Master Gardener, getting cracks in our palms and dirt under our nails.

Just as He did.

And so we celebrate Christmas, when the Promise came and the New Thing began...
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland

God is cultivating the garden of my soul...as I read Pete's book about suffering and unanswered prayer in my wasteland...but that's another story.