I’m currently studying Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Marketing Management at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), Quezon City campus. I’m down to the last semester of 4th year. Yey! Victory is already at hand! A few months left and the real challenge will commence! I will surely miss our campus since I had a lot of memories there and I will have a few more in the remaining months of my stay there. Not only will I miss the experiences and learnings, but of course, the very place itself.
Our campus isn’t like the PUP main campus, UST, De La Salle or Ateneo, which really have a great expanse. Our campus is a small community which is very close to nature since there are a lot of trees inside. Not just trees, but luxuriant trees and you would not even notice the campus in bird’s eye view (Try it in Google Map). If the campus was to name like the villages in the Naruto anime series, it would probably be “The Hidden Campus” village. Sometimes, I call the place a “forest” and sometimes a “Mini Zoo” because you would see roaming chickens and turkeys, cats doing their thing (meowing loudly and making a fuss with other cats), dogs, doves, woodpeckers and some also say that there are snakes and pigs but I haven’t seen one. Our campus just really loves nature and it is really relaxing because it is not polluted and you can hear the sound of the trees when the wind passes by.
As a student of PUP, one of the most common activities that we do is falling in line. Yep, we consider “falling in line” as an activity since this is something that we always do. They even changed the meaning of the PUP acronym, from the actual name of the university to “Pila Ulit Pila” which means that in PUP, we keep falling in line whether it be falling in line in the PUPCET (PUP College Entrance Test), at the counter to pay the tuition fee, submission of requirements for enrollment or submission of the final requirements for graduation, the most awaited event in every student’s life. It is a part of our culture, to fall in line. Some even said you haven’t really experienced the PUP life if you never experienced falling in line.
Well, you might say, falling in line is an easy task since you just have to stand and wait for your turn. But that’s what makes falling in line challenging, YOU HAVE TO WAIT for your turn! The worst part of falling in line is you are far behind the counter! Waiting feels like forever especially when you don’t have someone to talk to. Sometimes I think of waiting as “Long-suffering” and no one likes the waiting game, who would?
Waiting isn’t really an easy task. Even great pioneers of science struggled in waiting. Thomas Edison had to wait for 10,000 incandescent light bulbs before he was able to create a working light bulb. If I were in him, I’d probably give up since I’m not really good at waiting, I’m impatient.
Thomas Edison quoted:
“I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Have you watched the movie Hachi: A Dog’s Tale? If you are a dog lover like me, you would know this movie. This is a true story of an Akita (dog breed) dog who was always waiting, day after day, for his master, Hidesaburō Ueno, an agricultural scientist in Japan to come home from work at the Shibuya train station. One day, his master died and never returned. Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1925 while he was giving a lecture. Still, Hachiko waited for his master’s return without knowing that his master already died. He waited every day at the train station for over 9 years until his death. Hachiko was remembered for his loyalty and for his persistence in waiting.
Thomas Edison and Hachiko both waited but not both of them had a happy ending. Sometimes, that’s what we fear in waiting, we don’t know what the future will bring us. We feel like we are waiting in vain and we tend to give up and just move on and forget. That’s why in our present generation, we want things immediately and not taking the process that it requires. We want shortcuts. We want it now. We want everything instantly. What do we get? Regrets.
But in the case of Zechariah and Elizabeth, though they also experienced waiting, a very long wait, it was different. It seems totally impossible but there was a supernatural assurance which we may think that it is too good to be true.
Zechariah and Elizabeth’s Devotion to God
Luke 1:5
5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.
Basically, Zechariah (also called Zacharias or Zachariah) was a priest from the tribe of Levi who served the Lord during the reign of Herod in Judea. Zecharia’s wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron and she was also a cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus who would later be born. The Bible says both Zechariah and Elizabeth were godly, devout people.
They are like a husband and wife team devoted to serving the Lord. I always dreamed of having a husband and wife team, you know, serving the Lord together, reaching out other people like teenagers and other couples, and meditating the Word of God day and night together. That would be so much fun for me! But, the best is yet to come. I still want to enjoy God’s gift of singleness and I want to maximize my singleness in serving the Lord. You’ll never know what you will miss out if you don’t go according to God’s perfect timing.
The couple is righteous in God’s eyes and they are really careful in obeying the Lord and everything He commanded. If they are really RIGHTEOUS and CAREFUL in obeying the Lord, why don’t the Lord bless them with a child since they are really devoted to Him and God knows that?
Deuteronomy 28:1-2
1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God.
This seems very contradicting! God will bless those who obey him but Zechariah and Elizabeth don’t look blessed since they don’t have any children, Elizabeth is “unable to conceive” and they are very old to have a child. Despite their situation, they continued to serve and obey the Lord carefully.
Luke 1:8-10
8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
Quick Detour: Casting of Lots
One day, Zechariah was chosen to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense by casting lots.
The practice of casting lots is mentioned 70 times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament. In spite of the many references to casting lots in the Old Testament, nothing is known about the actual lots themselves. They could have been sticks of various lengths, flat stones like coins, or some kind of dice; but their exact nature is unknown. The closest modern practice to casting lots is likely flipping a coin.
The practice of casting lots occurs most often in connection with the division of the land under Joshua (Joshua chapters 14-21), a procedure that God instructed the Israelites on several times in the book of Numbers (Numbers 26:55; 33:54; 34:13; 36:2). God allowed the Israelites to cast lots in order to determine His will for a given situation (Joshua 18:6-10; 1 Chronicles 24:5,31). Various offices and functions in the temple were also determined by lot (1 Chronicles 24:5, 31; 25:8-9; 26:13-14). The sailors on Jonah’s ship (Jonah 1:7) also cast lots to determine who had brought God’s wrath upon their ship. The eleven apostles cast lots to determine who would replace Judas (Acts 1:26). Casting lots eventually became a game people played and made wagers on. This is seen in the Roman soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ garments (Matthew 27:35). Basically, casting lots was a very common practice in the old times. (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/casting-lots.html)
Luke 1:11-12
11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him.
This leaves me with a question, were the lots that fell on Zechariah are a coincidence? Or is it really God’s will for Zechariah to hear the Lord’s message for him? We don’t know but God uses such methods in the old times to use someone or to speak to them. But, of course, casting lots isn’t necessary for today’s generation since the Word of God, which is the Bible, is already complete and all the answers that we are looking for are already written we just need to open it, read it and meditate on it.
After the angel of the Lord appeared to him, he was afraid. Who would not be afraid of a supernatural being appeared to you? You may think that it is an apparition, ghost or something but one thing is certain, Zechariah got afraid. He did not only get afraid, he was also shaking in fear.
The Lord Answered Their Prayer
Luke 1:13
13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.
When all seems lost, it is a great reminder for us that God always hears our prayer even when there are times that we feel he doesn’t. We even question him and doubt him. We may become unfaithful to God but He will remain faithful to us.
It’s about time! The Lord has heard the prayers of the couple! They are going to have a child! But, wait! That’s ridiculous! As mentioned, Zechariah and Elizabeth are already advanced in years! How can Elizabeth conceive a child? This story is also related to Abraham and Sarah when God promised them that Sarah will conceive. Abraham bowed down but he laughed in disbelief since he is already a hundred years old and Sarah is already ninety years old (Genesis 17:17). Is this even possible? Well, if God said it, He means it. Will our God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the Creator of heaven and earth, lie or make fun of them? Certainly not!
Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?
If God fulfilled His promises before, He will do it again and again! He keeps and never breaks his promises to us. As said in Deuteronomy 7:9, “Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.“. Wow! That’s really assuring! A person may break his promises to us but the Lord never forgets what He told us.
Luke 1:14-15
14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”
The long wait is over! The couple has been waiting for it for years! Not only did God give Zechariah and Elizabeth a son, but a son who will be great in the eyes of the Lord and will carry out a special mission which will contribute to God’s ultimate plan of salvation to many. There’s a purpose! God allowed them to experience such a long wait because God has a purpose! The promise isn’t just for them alone, for them to enjoy it but for the benefit of mankind! This reminds us that God doesn’t just give solely for our own benefit, it has a purpose of benefiting others.
Despite the long wait, Zechariah and Elizabeth did not grumble against the Lord, they prayed for it and as they continue to wait, they never cease in serving the Lord. When we wait, it doesn’t mean that we are to just sit and do nothing. We should continue to do the work the Lord has given us. Waiting doesn’t mean that when you pray to God for a job, you just have to sit on your couch and wait for someone to knock on your door and offer you a contract as a general manager of a company. The Lord doesn’t work that way. That’s tolerating and since God loves us he wants us to learn. So don’t just pray, work for it. As the author of the book of James in the New Testament said,
James 2:14-17
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
They didn’t manipulate things with their hands but they waited for God’s timing and continued in praying and serving the Lord as they wait. But waiting for God’s timing isn’t really easy, it is usually difficult and sometimes, impossible.
Waiting on the Lord necessitates two key elements: a complete dependence on God and a willingness to allow Him to decide the terms, including the timing of His plan. Trusting God with the timing of events is one of the hardest things to do. The half-joking prayer, “Lord, I need patience, and I need it RIGHT NOW,” is not far removed from the truth of how we often approach matters of spiritual growth and the Lord’s will. To wait on the Lord produces character in the life of the Christian in that it involves patience (see James 1:4). Waiting involves the passage of time, which is itself a gift of God.
When we don’t choose to wait on the Lord, we solicit trouble for ourselves. Remember how Abraham and Sarah did not wait on the Lord for their child of promise; rather, Sarah offered her maid, Hagar, to Abraham in order to have a child through her. The account in Genesis 16 and 18 shows that their impatience led to no end of trouble. Any time we fail to wait on the Lord and take matters into our own hands—even when we’re trying to bring about something God wants—it leads to problems. When we “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33, ESV), we can allow God to work out the rest of the details. (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/wait-on-the-Lord.html)
Patience is a must! Patience is a spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22), and Scripture makes it clear that God is pleased with us when we display this virtue: “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7), for God is good to those who wait for Him (Lamentations 3:25). And our patience often reveals the degree of trust we have in God’s timing. We must remember that God operates according to His perfect and foreordained eternal schedule, not ours. We should take great comfort in knowing that, when we wait on the LORD, we receive divine energy and strength: “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). The psalmist reiterates: “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14). (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/Gods-timing.html)
Reflection
Sometimes, we question God for not fulfilling our prayers immediately. Sometimes, we don’t know if He had said yes or no. We even brag all the faithful things we think we did for God “Lord I always pray and serve you in ministries”, “I always attend the church”, “I don’t neglect meeting with my small group”, “I give a large amount of tithe that nobody can give” and thinking we deserve his blessings, when in fact, we don’t. The question is, how’s your heart towards God? Are you doing things, godly things, just to get what you want? Or are you doing it because you love Him and trust Him that everything is under His complete control and sovereignty? We fail to understand who God really is. We limit Him with our perceptions. Ask yourself, how’s your heart towards the Lord?
Waiting on the Lord involves the confident expectation of a positive result in which we place a great hope—a hope that can only be realized by the actions of God. This expectation must be based on knowledge and trust, or we simply won’t wait. Those who do not know the Lord will not wait on Him; neither will those who fail to trust Him. We must be confident of who God is and what He is capable of doing. Those who wait on the Lord do not lose heart in their prayers: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/wait-on-the-Lord.html)
Our ability to wait on the Lord is largely related to how much we trust Him. When we trust in God with all of our heart, forgoing reliance on our own, often erroneous understanding of circumstances, He will indeed give us direction (Proverbs 3:5-6). “The LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts Him” (Psalm 32:10). To fully trust God, however, we need to know God. And the best way to know Him is through His Word. God’s divine energy is released in our lives through His inspired Word (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The work of God’s Word includes saving (Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 1:23), teaching and training (2 Timothy 3:16-17), guiding (Psalm 119:105), protecting (Psalm 119:114,117), strengthening (Psalm 119:28), and making us wise (Psalm 119:97-100). If we study and meditate on His Word daily, His timing will also become clear to us. (Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/Gods-timing.html)
If you think you’ve been waiting for a quite some time, continue to pray and serve God. He doesn’t want to give something that we think is best, He wants to give us something that’s the best of the best. Let’s always remember, when we learn to wait for God’s promises, we are assured that what we will receive will be more than compared to what we are praying for. As we wait on the Lord, we continue to know Him and be more intimate with Him. Wait on the Lord with hope and expectation. Wait for God’s perfect timing.
Jasper Thoughts 
Just wow! PTL! 🙂
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Thank you! Lam na haha
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