God's Timing

God’s timing is often inscrutable. When God surprises us with a twist in our life’s journey, instead of responding with an enthusiastic “Yes!” we often instead murmur “How can this be possible?” or “Why now?”

The bible is full of stories of people like us who doubted the timing of God’s requests and actions. We heard one such story at mass today: Zechariah, who received a message from no less a being than the Angel Gabriel that his wife Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son, was skeptical that such miracle could be wrought. Zechariah had relinquished hope for a son long ago, and he had written a new script for himself and his wife in which they died childless. His mind was so clouded by his own assumptions that he couldn’t fathom the good news when it was proclaimed to him. If God really wanted him to have a son, why didn’t it happen at the usual time, when his wife was in her late teens or early twenties?

It is not surprising that Zechariah was struck mute until the time his son was born—he needed to stop being preoccupied with and expressing his own thoughts so he would have the quiet time necessary to listen and assent to God’s plans and dreams.

As Fr. Duane Roy noted at mass today, “Zechariah teaches us that we have to have hope and speak out our yes.” Even—or especially—when God’s timing leaves us scratching our heads!