During this devotion I learned that not only is our God a God of joy and happiness, but our God is a God of surprises! God sent an angel to Zechariah, whose wife is unable to conceive a child, and told him that his prayers had been heard! And that his wife, Elizabeth, will give birth to a son, and his name will be John. Through John, God gave a signal of His promise that he made a long time ago, the birth of a Savior!

Verses 16 and 17 stood out to me the most in this passage. In these verses, the angel who came to Zechariah tells him that John will turn the sons and daughters of Israel back to the Lord their God! He will soften the hearts of the fathers and mothers to their children and turn them back obeying, righteous children of God in order to get them ready for the coming of a Messiah. I love these verses because it shows me exactly how our hearts should be this holiday season!

Similar to Zechariah and Elizabeth, we all go through struggles and feel as though God doesn’t hear our prayers. God always comes through! In the next couple of weeks, let’s turn our hearts towards Christ and obtain the wisdom of the righteous in order to prepare ourselves for this upcoming season!