Today I am struck by the story of Zechariah in Luke 1:5-25. He is in the Holy of Holies. The most intimate place with God. And while he is in there praying- probably for the nation- as the people were standing outside- the angel comes and answers both the request that is spoken and the one hidden in the deepest places of his heart.

In this season of fasting- asking for more of you – for greater wisdom- greater discernment – ears that will hear you in a different way this year – desiring to pull away for more of you – reading this causes me to wonder what else you are working on. Are you working on my secret places? The dreams often unspoken? Are you working there?

Are you working on the hearts of my children and their healing? Are you working on the pieces of my story that still remain broken, or the relationships that still remain fractured? Are you working on the deepest places of desire and dreams that I’ve yet to see fulfilled – but my heart still ponders on days – or my tears fall over on days? Are you working there as well?

I can’t help but think that you are. In seasons of fasting, I pay even closer attention to everything I read – listen to – or encounter. I feel these are days where you are intentional to an even greater degree. Or maybe it has nothing to do with your intentionality and everything to do with my depth of engagement. Whatever it is this is what I hear today in this passage. As I seek you – pray for others and their needs – you are taking care of mine.

I am challenged too – by Zechariah’s doubt. Many great men and women in the Bible doubted. Abraham. Moses. Sarah. Esther. Peter. Thomas. Doubted if you would come through. Questioned if it was really you. Laughed. Sank. So have I. I doubt. I know the promises you’ve given. The secret moments we’ve had when your words have come clear either through the Bible, a devotion, a still small voice.  The prophetic words pondered over the years yet to see fruition. I have heard them and at times I still doubt.

Yet I am reminded once again that you deliver all your promises. Not one falls to the ground. And you also deliver on time. Delays are not denials, the old saying goes. Shoot, most of your delays are probably because of my inability to position my heart where it needs to be in order to be ready to receive.

So, I reposition today Father. I realign. I refocus. I recalibrate. And in all of it I trust you. I trust you’ve got even the hidden dreams. And you are bigger than even my greatest doubts. And just like you did for Zechariah, in your perfect timing, for a purpose that is far greater than me or my desires, or my story, comes the birth of something great that is as John Eldredge would say, “part of a larger story.” A story that I am privileged to play a small role in…may I do it well.