Elizabeth and Zacharias

Here are just a few thoughts I have about Elizabeth and Zacharias. In Luke 1 it says that both Elizabeth and Zacharias were "righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." They had been unable to have children even though they had prayed for that blessing and were now "well stricken in years." While Zacharias is working in the temple an angel comes to him and tells him that Elizabeth will have a son and that his name will be John.

I have wondered why the Lord sometimes makes some of us wait to receive our righteous desires. Sometimes we are told that if we just made more of an effort or had greater faith that we would receive those blessings. But Elizabeth and Zacharias were faithful. They were blameless before the Lord. They were doing their duty and remaining righteous. Why did the Lord make them wait? I think sometimes there is something that the Lord needs us to learn before we can receive the sought after blessings. Sometimes the blessings are delayed because the Lord is preparing us to be of service to others. I think that this may have been part of what was happening with Elizabeth and Zacharias. Elizabeth was a cousin to Mary, who would be the mother of Jesus. Mary was young, unmarried, and was going to be the mother of the son of God through a miraculous conception. We don't know much about Mary's family, but certainly she would have needed some people to accept and understand her situation. What better place to find acceptance and understanding than from your cousin who has just had a miraculous conception of her own? I think that Elizabeth was uniquely prepared to be someone that Mary could go to. I think that just maybe this was one reason that Elizabeth had to wait for so long to have a child. It was not because she wasn't doing her part. It was not because she didn't have enough faith. The Lord knew that Mary would need someone, so he prepared Elizabeth to help fulfill that need.