When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.
One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”
Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”
Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.
When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.” (Luke 1:5–25 NLT)
As a priest, Zechariah would have been well-versed in the history and stories of his people found in the Pentateuch, particularly the history of Abraham, the chief patriarch of the Jews. One of the most well-known stories from his life involves the birth of his son, Isaac. The Lord came to Abraham in the guise of three men. As they were eating a meal provided by Abraham, the Lord told him that within the next year Sarah will have borne a son, even though they were both quite old, and Sarah was far past child-bearing age. In response to this, the eavesdropping Sarah laughed, to which “the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, “Can an old woman like me have a baby?” Is anything too hard for the Lord?’” (Genesis 18:13–14).
Zechariah knew this story; it is one of the foundational points in Abraham’s journey. Yet, when an angel came to him to tell of his own son who would be born in the next year, he echoes Sarah’s questioning: “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years” (Luke 1:18).
While this response displays Zechariah’s lack of faith, it also shows off another lack: divine imagination.
Zechariah simply couldn’t imagine God would work in this way, even though he had done so in the past. He couldn’t imagine the news of his impending fatherhood was true, even though it was delivered by an angel of the Lord. He couldn’t imagine his son would be the one to make the way for the coming of the Lord, even though the Jewish people had been waiting for the Messiah’s arrival for hundreds of years.
Zechariah lacked divine imagination – he forgot there is nothing too hard for the Lord and there is no end to the creative ways in which God makes himself known in our world or invites us to join him.
Children so often spend large portions of their lives with imagination as the central aspect to their play; it even places a big role in helping them learn new concepts and solve problems in innovative ways. Yet, somewhere along the line, too many of us have let the muscle of our imagination atrophy or at least weaken.
Here are some ways you can strengthen your imagination, allowing yourself to be open to new ways of thinking and opening your eyes to the creative ways God works in our world so you might join him:
- Spend some time in prayer, not with any particular agenda but just to be in God’s presence.
- Let your mind wander. Let yourself be bored instead of filling every moment with a podcast, a screen, or a book.
- Read stories. Imagine yourself as one of the characters.
- Find a creative outlet. Coloring, drawing, painting, woodworking, songwriting, baking – anything that results in something you created or contributed to. You need not be good at it; all you need to do is enjoy the process.
Above all, don’t forget we follow a creative God who painted all creation into existence and formed us in his image out of soil; when we take part in creative acts – even when we use our imagination – we are reflecting an aspect of our Creator God that brings him glory.