Here is today’s devotion to start your day.
Available now at Power, Love & Miracles:
Saints, Sinners, and Scandals, Joseph: The Quiet Strength of Righteousness
A Vision in the Temple: Isaiah. The Bible Unplugged podcast, episode 62
Sunset’s Dawn, Part 11- Eileen Janicek’s death brings Jake and Jen closer
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Scripture: Luke 1:18
“Zacharias said to the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.’”
Reflection
Zacharias was righteous.
Luke says it plainly—he and Elizabeth walked blamelessly in all the commandments of God. He wasn’t a rebel. He wasn’t unfaithful. He was a good man, a devout priest, a servant in the temple. And still, when the angel came with the most incredible news of his life… he doubted.
“How can I be sure?”
It’s a question we all ask, though we phrase it differently: How can I know God will come through? How do I trust again when disappointment is all I’ve known? Doubt doesn’t always come from rebellion. Sometimes it’s born from pain.
Zacharias had prayed and waited. And waited. And waited. When hope finally came, it didn’t land on soil of naive belief—it landed on the hardened ground of years. And that’s where grace does its best work.
God didn’t strike him dead for doubting. He silenced him. Not as punishment, but as preparation.
What if the silence was God’s mercy, not His anger? What if it was space for reflection? For wonder? For the awe that words often tarnish?
Even the most faithful among us have moments where belief wavers. But God still works through our halting yes. He meets us in the pause. And He prepares us—sometimes in silence—for what’s next.
Centering Prayer
Merciful Lord,
I bring my doubts into Your light. You do not shame my questions—You meet me in them. Give me grace to wait through silence, and strength to believe while I search for Your truth. – Amen
Practice for Today
Instead of pushing past your doubts, sit with them. Write them out. Then, invite God to meet you not in spite of your questions, but right in the middle of them.
Journaling Prompt
What promise or possibility feels hard to believe—and why?
Blessing for the Day
You are not disqualified by your questions.
You are not abandoned in your uncertainty.
God is near to the weary and gentle with the slow-to-believe.
Even now, He is preparing you for joy beyond your imagining.
Pray As You Go
Breathe in: Even in silence…
Breathe out: … You are still working