Disgrace. Unfulfilled desires. The struggle to remain devoted to God in the midst of waiting. All of these are hard, yet inevitable, experiences that each one of us must face at times. In this passage we see how God provides hope to two people, Zechariah and Elizabeth, who struggled with barrenness for years though they remained devoted to God and praying for years for a child. Little did they know when they began their earnest praying and painful wait that the Lord would not only eventually give them a child but a child who would serve God’s saving purpose. By removing Elizabeth’s disgrace, the Lord was even working to remove the disgrace of His people.
