Luke 1: 18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
As I read this chapter, I couldn’t shake this part. I felt so strongly that the Lord wasn’t punishing Zacharias for his question, but helping him in some way. I felt it was a blessing instead of a curse. It took me quite a few days and several prayers to understand why this was important for me.
Now if we could pause for a moment…I am most excited about the “Come Follow Me” study because it is designed for each of us to personally seek inspiration for ourselves—to ask, seek, and ponder until we understand. Like Nephi tells us, it’s an opportunity to apply the scriptures to our lives.
1 Nephi 19:23 And I did read many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning.
Ok! Back to my personal application which I share to inspire you to seek for yourself.
I had Zacharias on my mind. We know he was a righteous man who followed the Lord, and we know he wasn’t just going through the motions because he spent time in the temple, which takes great dedication due to the time commitment involved, and the fact that Lucifer discourages us all from going.
We also know that the Lord has asked us to ASK! So he couldn’t have been upset about that. We know that the three brief verses cited above don’t adequately describe what happened in the temple at that time because the next verse tells us that the people waited a LONG time for Zacharias to come out of the temple.
We know his question was due to the fact the his wife was past her child-bearing years, and that they had desperately wanted children. I think it is safe to assume that this was a prayer that Zacharias and Elizabeth each prayed 1000 times or more with no answer of a child. It is difficult to pray for a long time and not receive the answer and to keep the faith, especially for those who understand that God’s will is not always our will. It would be easy to question God–how He could possibly make this happen for them now?
With all that on my mind, I was praying one of my lifelong prayers–asking God again for help and healing for my son. My heart was broken and my prayers included desperate cries and humble pleas for direction. These thoughts by David A. Bednar stuck my mind:
“And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
“I have reflected many times on this father’s request: “Help thou mine unbelief.” I wonder if the intent of the man’s pleading was not primarily to help him believe in Jesus as our Redeemer and in His healing power. He already may have acknowledged Christ as the Son of God. But perhaps he needed help to believe the Master’s healing power indeed could be so individual and so personalized as to bless his own beloved son. He may have believed in Christ generally but not believed Christ specifically and personally.”
I got it!
Zacharias believed the Lord! He knew God could do the impossible, but didn’t believe this applied to HIM. He didn’t believe that the Lord could give HIM a child, and answer his lifelong prayer now while he was old?! He, too, suffered from “unbelief” and so he asked for help. “How shall I know this?” This was his plea of “I believe, help me with my unbelief.” He was struck dumb, so that he didn’t have to question why his elderly wife was ill from morning sickness–no, it wasn’t the plague! He wouldn’t have to ask why her stomach was swelling–no, it wasn’t a tumor! Instead, he could quietly ponder the angel who spoke God’s blessing upon him rather than vocalizing his lack of faith.
Later in the chapter we also hear Mary question “how?”. What’s the difference? I believe the difference was in her motives behind the question. Zacharias lacked the faith that a miracle could take place in his behalf, whereas Mary was asking about the details–rather important details, too, mainly how she could conceive without a husband?
This was a great answer to my own personal wrestle with the Lord. I believe that with God nothing is impossible. I believe that miracles are just as real today as they were in the Biblical times. I’ve been the recipient of a real-life, health-changing miracle when my daughter’s heart condition was literally changed overnight (I’ll write on that soon); yet, from the answer to my prayers, I have come to realize, I too have “unbelief”. Where does that come from and how do we get to a point to where we have faith unwavering? It’s hard to explain here, for if you were to ask me if the Lord could heal my son, Luke, my answer would be something like: “Of course!”, “Absolutely!”, “No doubt about it!” However, am I fully ready to accept Luke’s healing? Like Zacharias, I also have “unbelief”.
That’s my new prayer: “I believe! Please help me with my unbelief!”
As for how do we get the the point that we believe in Christ no questions asked? David A. Bednar lays it out for us….
“Coming to Know”
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me…If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.”
We come to know the Father as we come to know His Beloved Son.
A grand objective of mortality is not merely learning about the Only Begotten of the Father but also striving to know Him. Four essential steps that can help us come to know the Lord are exercising faith in Him, following Him, serving Him, and believing Him.”
Along with my new prayer I’m going to focus on these four steps:
1. Exercising faith in Him
2. Following Him
3. Serving Him
4. Believing Him
They seem simple, they seem like steps that are already part of my life….you may feel the same; however, if you have a BIG prayer that’s not yet been answered that you have prayed unceasingly for over a period of years and years, you may also want to dive into these four steps. in fact, let’s take them to a new level!
Are we prepared for our unanswered prayers to be answered and to believe it without question?
-Sherri Jorgensen
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