Dreams Do Come True

In Luke 1:13 we see Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, faithfully attending to his duties as a priest and burning incense in the temple.  He and his wife Elizabeth were quite up in years and childless.  During that fateful night he is startled or may we say, "freaked out," by an angel appearing to him and saying, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah (easy for him to say); your prayer has been heard.  Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son..." 

There are a couple things I take away from this passage.  The first thing is that God doesn't just 'answer prayer' he often over-answers prayer.   Not only did Zechariah get word that God was going to provide him with a son but he also becomes the first to know that the Messiah,  centuries of faithful Jews had been waiting for,  was about to appear on the scene.  Furthermore, it would be quite enough just to know that God was providing me a miracle child but to also get in on my sons purpose/destiny and direct role in the Messiah's coming.  Dude!

The second thing that sticks out to me in this verse is the challenge to never let your dreams die.   How many times had he entered the same old building, doing the same old duties, burning the same stinky, smokey incense.  You get the picture.  Only to go home to his wife knowing the same old outcome of a childless and quiet home awaited him.  Yet it had to be a dream of his.  To have a child, a son to carry on the family name and tradition.  

What an upheavel.   What a God way of doing things.  In his time and way but none the less supernatural. Let's take a great amount of hope and courage in the Angels statement, "...believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."