LIFE INTERUPTED

 

December 4, 2023

Luke 1:8a, 11-13a

 

Now while he was serving as priest before God ... there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard ..."

 

Here is a question for you today, what do you do when your life gets interrupted? Pause for a moment before reading on and think about this question.

I am quite confident that Zechariah wasn't expecting an angel that day. He was like us, an ordinary believer, someone who served God in his daily life and did the work God called him to do.

We read in our Gospel that God put something else in front of him. For Zechariah there was a sudden turn, a curve in the road. A miracle! Unexpected fatherhood. A child who would grow up to prepare the way for Jesus.

No wonder he was troubled!

What about us, when our life gets interrupted? What do we do, when fear descends on us?

Look at our reading, the angel points the way: "Don't be afraid," he says. "Your prayer has been heard ..." Heard by whom, we may ask? By the Lord who loves us, and who will hold us up, even as the world changes around us.

Here something we need to remember, that the Bible teaches us frequently. No matter what happens to us, God isn't taken by surprise. God will not leave you to deal with it on your own. How could God? He is the God who came into this world, and into our lives, to suffer and die and rise again, to show us that we are God’s dearly loved children. GOD will not desert you now in a interrupted and troubled state. God, will never leave us or forsake us!!

Lord, when I'm unsettled, be with me, support me, and remind me I am yours. Amen.