Luke 1:20, 63-64
“But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”
“And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed,and he spoke, praising God.”
In the Bible there are so many cases where, because of unbelief in God's Word, people were disciplined by God. Over and over in OT prophesies like Ezekiel, God says turn from your wicked ways and believe in Me (the One, True God) and I will deliver you, but if you hear my word and do not obey it I'm gonna make you pay so that “then you shall know that I am the LORD.”(Ezk.6:13, 11:10, 12:20, 13:9, 13:14, 20:38, 20:42, 20:44, 23:49, 28:24, 29:6, 29:9, 29:16, 29:21, 32:15, 34:27, 35:12, 35:15, 36:11, 36:38, 39:7, 39:28. just to name a few)
God is passionate about His Word. He knows it is truth and that without it we are hopelessly lost like sheep without a shepherd. And that's exactly why He demands for His children to obey it because He wants only what is good for us (Rom 8:28). On top of that, God is our Great Shepherd and will do whatever it takes to draw us to Himself.
In Psalm 23, we see a great example of the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. In the forth verse, the Bible says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”(emphasis added). A shepherd's rod and staff are typically not considered comforting. When a sheep would go a stray, to teach it to stay with the herd, the shepherd would use his rod to break the sheep's leg. He did this not so much as punishment, even though it would temporarily hurt the sheep, but rather so the sheep would be immobile for a period of time. During this time the shepherd would carry the sheep with him wherever he would go and as a result the sheep would learn to depend solely on the shepherd for survival. The sheep knew that separation from the shepherd would be death. As time would go on and the sheep gradually began to heal and grow stronger, it never left the shepherd's side. Later, when it would sometimes be wandering, fear would nearly paralyze it but looking up and seeing the staff of its shepherd would bring an overwhelming comfort to the sheep.
God is passionate about His children's well-being. He knows that He is our Great Shepherd and that He must discipline us (Heb 12:8). And this is so comforting to know that He loves us enough to do whatever it takes to draw us to Himself.
So Zecharias, in Luke 1 was a righteous man (1:6) and when he doubted the Word of the Lord being spoken to him by Gabriel, God was willing to do whatever it took. He silenced him for 9 months.
Now at first I thought, “Big deal, 9 months...I think I could do that,” but in Zech's case, it was huge. He was a priest currently serving as an intercessor for the people. Silenced, muted, for 9 months...This was a tragedy for him. But look what happens when the prophesy is fullfilled, (v.64) “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed,and he spoke, praising God.”
God did whatever it took to draw Zecharias to Himself and He's gonna do whatever it takes to draw us to Himself so that we will know that He is the LORD and so that we will praise Him from now until forever! Amen.
