| “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” |
| —Luke 1:25 |
Elizabeth often gets overlooked in the Christmas story. In fact, she had probably been overlooked all her adult life. The Bible says that she and her husband, Zechariah, were:
“… upright people, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.”
Even so, people must have always wondered what she might have done to deserve a punishment like barrenness. She may have wondered the same thing herself.
In the Gospel of Luke account, Elizabeth is described as being: “well along in years.” In our modern time, she might have been considered “middle-aged”—perhaps in her late 40’s or early 50’s—but well past her normal child-bearing years.
While serving his duty as a priest, an angel had come to Zechariah and had promised a child would be born to him and Elizabeth. Though the angel did not come directly to her, Elizabeth soon discovered that the message the angel had brought was true. It was during the days that followed, in the early months of her pregnancy, that Elizabeth became fully aware that the Lord was blessing her with a child.
Elizabeth and Zechariah must have been overjoyed. No longer would they carry the stigma of being childless. Not only that, the angel had promised that their baby would be filled with the Holy Spirit for a special duty, as recorded in Luke 1:17:
“… to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Yet, Elizabeth must have had to grow in her faith and in her trust of God during this strange and fearful period. She needed to trust what her husband shared with her, and have confidence in God, though she most certainly didn’t understand His ways.
Then one day, Elizabeth received a visit from her relative, Mary, who had questions and fears even greater than those of Elizabeth. She too had been visited by an angel, was miraculously pregnant by the Holy Spirit, and had been promised a son. As Luke 1:42 records, when Mary greeted Elizabeth, the baby in Elizabeth’s body moved in her womb, which caused Elizabeth to proclaim loudly:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”
How wonderful for Mary and Elizabeth that God had uniquely scheduled these pregnancies of two women connected by family and during the same period of time. How they must have rejoiced, and prayed, and wondered about what God was doing with them and through them for His purposes.
I surmise that, after her visit with Elizabeth, Mary must have returned home a different person. She had left her home as a frightened and unsure teenager. She returned home a blessed and trusting young woman. God had used Elizabeth in Mary’s life. And, the mutual encounter had been by divine appointment.
Let us consider how God wants to use us in another person’s life. Has He strategically placed us together with someone He wants to bless? Perhaps He has placed us with someone in unusual, but similar, circumstances. We should look beyond our own age group. We should rejoice that God engineers such encounters for us. He is the same God today, who more than 2,000 years ago arranged the mutual blessing and mutual strengthening of two of His choice servants. He can do the same for us today.
