How Much Does God Have To Do?

You know I'm looking over Luke 1 again after the sermon I preached yesterday. And it's really incredible. To me Luke makes it pretty clear in the first 4 verses that his writing is to help make certain the teachings of our faith. He then leads off his account with a depiction of a man, Zechariah, who's first response to an encounter with the divine is uncertainty. And I know that's who I am as well. In these last seven years of ministry I have run across the hand prints of God over so many peoples lives. And when I encounter the traces of God in peoples' stuff I'm astounded. How much does God have to do to convince me that He is as active today in peoples' lives as He was in the time of scripture. I'll tell you what it took for Zechariah. With the odds against him he was chosen to serve in the temple. Which sounds like it would be an easy thing but it wasn't. An angel is sent. (Now that in itself should be enough, if you think about it). But not only is an angel sent but an angel is sent with the greatest news! "Zechariah not only is your aged and barren wife going to have a son but your son will have the honor of paving the way for the messiah to come." And Zechariah's response? "How can I be sure its going to happen. We are too old." Wow! Instead of looking at the angel with good news before him, Zechariah is looking at all of the reasons this thing can't work! What more could God have done to convince Zechariah? What more does God have to do to convince me? To convince you? I guess it takes all of us to get struck dumb to be convinced. It seemed to help Zechariah. It finally takes being silenced and stilled enough in order to convince and make certain. Maybe it's true: we learn from being burned by the fire instead of being enlightened by the flame. I'm just grateful God was gracious enough to do what ever it took to get Zechariah to believe. There is hope for us all.