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One fear that can haunt us is the fear that we’ve missed an opportunity. The fear becomes even more acute when the opportunity we fear we’ve missed is an opportunity that we believe God has promised us.
That’s the fear that plagued Zechariah (Luke 1:5-13). He and his wife Elizabeth were both PKs (priest’s kids), they were godly people who were upright in God’s estimation. Zechariah was even chosen by God to offer the incense in the Holy Place of the temple. Yet one fear haunted Zechariah: He and Elizabeth were childless.
The Bible says they were well along in years; or as the King James Version more poetically says it, they were stricken with years. This literally means they had moved on—they weren’t in their prime childbearing years any longer.
Zechariah had almost pushed this out of his mind, thinking that he had missed his window of opportunity, when the angel showed up with God’s message to him—
Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…. (Luke 1:13)
Did you notice this phrase: your prayer HAS BEEN heard? The verb tense really makes it say: “The thing you used to pray for—the child you used to believe for, the pregnancy you used to try for—has been heard. But you stopped praying, you stopped believing, you stopped trying to get pregnant.”
Zechariah let his fears speak louder than God’s voice. That’s why the angel called him by name. Zechariah means Jehovah doesn’t forget!
What has God promised you? Are you still praying for it? Still believing for it? Are you still doing what you need to do to see it happen? Zechariah needed to sleep with his wife. What do you need to do? Do you need to go back to school? Make a phone call? Set up an appointment?
If God spoke it to you, He has not forgotten you! Don’t believe the lie that the window of opportunity has closed!
If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. (Habakkuk 2:3)
If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.
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Craig T. Owens 
December 3, 2012 at 1:41 pm
the thing with Zechariah or anyone in the bible is God spoke to them through angel or prophets but in today’s world how would one know what God is speaking? I have met few false prophets. I do what they tell you (eg fast for 80 days) till their prophecy does not come true.
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December 3, 2012 at 3:05 pm
God still speaks to us today. He speaks through His Word (the Bible) which the Holy Spirit makes “personal” to our lives and our situations. You don’t need someone else to “confirm” a word to you.
In Zechariah’s case, I believe that God had already told him that he and Elizabeth were going to have a baby, but it was Zechariah who thought he missed his opportunity. The angel, as God’s messenger, was just reminding him of that promise.
I wouldn’t recommend doing anything someone else tells you. Unless, of course, God had already spoken the same thing to you through the Bible and the witness of His Holy Spirit.
Great question! If you’d like to talk about this more, I would be happy to do so.
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November 17, 2023 at 4:50 pm
[…] No Missed Opportunities […]
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November 4, 2025 at 5:05 am
[…] No missed opportunities […]
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