Dawn Bring Light to the Darkest Night

 Earlier this year, my church asked me to write a devotional for their Christmas booklet, and I wanted to share it with you. While it was an honor to write, God used it to speak to me in so many ways about trusting Him with my heart's biggest desires. 

Luke 1:76-79

As Luke wraps up his first chapter, we as readers already have witnessed several miracles. First, God has been silent for over 400 years, and yet, in this first chapter we see God speaking through Gabriel to Elizabeth, Mary, and now Zacharias all in relation to Jesus, the Messiah. The first chapter announces how Mary will miraculously conceive a child (whom Elizabeth recognized as the Messiah), but Zacarias and Elizabeth also have a miraculous birth. The Bible says in verse six that “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” What an honor to be remembered in such a way! And yet the next verse states that “Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well-stricken in years.” I do not know exactly how old that was, but I do know that it was old enough that their dream of a child had vanished. They had prayed faithfully for years for a child, and yet they had to rest assured that God knew best by saying no. Were they bitter? Did they call out to God asking why they had not been blessed with a child while they watched all their friends having their dream fulfilled? I don’t know, but I do know so often, this becomes our story. The desire of our heart does not happen. We have been praying for years for that relationship, that child, that salvation, that house, that promotion, and yet, God has said no. We experience the darkest of nights as our dreams go unfulfilled. 

But God (isn’t that such a beautiful phrase?) knew their hearts’ desire, and their prayer was finally answered with the birth of John. There, God uses Zecharias to prophesy about the Messiah. In these verses, Zacharias, addressed his son. This tiny beautiful child that brought a dawn to a dream of parenthood would prepare the way of Jesus, the shimmering golden dawn to a dark world. 

As I read this passage, I was reminded of a time that I dragged my friend up a mountain in the dark around 4:30am. We had to be careful not to misstep on the rocks as we sweated our way up a narrow steep path. Finally, we made it to the top and the struggles of the dark mountain climb vanished away as suddenly everything was bathed in sparkling sunshine with a gorgeous Hawaiian sunrise. Zacharias got to prophesy about his son preparing the way for the Messiah who would bring salvation to us all. As John represented God’s goodness to his parents even in their darkest hour, Jesus has come to bring hope to all people as He brings us out of darkness. John prepared the way for the Light of the World to clothe us all in His light and His hope.