Elizabeth
The Joy of Believing
[Elizabeth and Zechariah] were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
Luke 1:6-7 ESV
Elizabeth is a righteous woman who appears to be out of favor with God. She has stopped hoping for a child. She is past praying for a pregnancy. She is old and has spent a lifetime keenly aware of her barrenness.
Shame and reproach in the community, and possibly even in her family, have been her companions for decades. I imagine she has long wondered, “Why?” questioning herself and God many times.
And yet despite the opinions of people around her — God did not forget nor abandon her. Despite what her circumstances told her, she was loved, she enjoyed God’s favor, and she had a key role to play in God’s plan of salvation.
It just took a long time for her see all that clearly.
Even when Elizabeth first became pregnant, she hid herself away, keeping her condition a secret, not willing to expose herself to others.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, …
Luke 1:24 ESV
Obviously with her pregnancy, she began to see the truth and release her disgrace, but I’m guessing it didn’t happen all at once. Maybe during those first five months she spent time pondering her life from this new perspective. Perhaps she evaluated her earlier experiences—of longing, waiting, and then the familiar disappointment—differently now. We do know she felt that her stigma as a childless woman was gone.
… saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
Luke 1:25 ESV
It wasn’t just a baby that was growing in Elizabeth during this time. Her understanding of herself, her confidence in God, her certainty of His goodness, favor, and care for her were growing as well. She had long struggled with personal sorrow and public shame. Now, the very place over which she felt these—her womb—has become a source of prophecy for salvation, as John the Baptist grows there, filled with the Holy Spirit even while inside his mother.
Elizabeth, too, is filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesies, speaking blessings and truth over Mary when she arrives.
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Luke 1:41-45 ESV
What a difference from the years of reproach Elizabeth lived through! She is now rejoicing not only in her own honor and longings fulfilled, but in Mary’s honor and excitement, and in the broader joy of Israel with the coming of their Messiah. Elizabeth sees many reasons for great joy in this strange, miraculous season.
She calls Mary blessed because she believed. Elizabeth recognizes Mary’s faith and trust in God. I wonder if Elizabeth looked back at her own life and wished she could’ve trusted God more, despite the hard circumstances she was walking through? What if she had believed in God’s love and kindness to her, even when she did not get what she was hoping for?
When I look back at the hard places of sorrow, pain, and loss in my own life, that’s what I wonder—what if I could’ve trusted God there, in that space, in a deeper way? I know it wouldn’t change God’s love for me, nor would it mean the hardship would magically disappear.
What I do know is when I can find it in myself to take a step toward God, instead of shutting Him out in fear, anger, and pain, I gain much more than I can imagine. When I bring my despair and anguish to Jesus, when I express my rage and raw grief to the Father, and when I admit my fears and hopelessness to the Holy Spirit, there in the midst of all my brokenness I find God is with me.
Nothing magically changes in my circumstances, and my heart-rending emotions are not erased, but when I take them to God, and allow Him to just be with me in them, something shifts.
As I practice taking it all to Him, over time, again and again, I begin to shift. Because it’s the presence of Jesus in us that makes everything new. When we choose to respond and open our hearts to Him, He comes in and changes us.
We don’t do this perfectly or all the time, but we grow in our practice of it. Sometimes, like Elizabeth, there is a particular area where we have accepted the shame and kept God away. Even then, God is faithful and continues to move toward us, waiting for the day when we will open up to Him even there.
Eventually we find not only peace and healing, but joy. Sometimes, it is the joy of a desire fulfilled. Sometimes it is the joy of being at peace even without the fulfillment. Either way, there is joy.
Consider & Comment Below:
Are you looking back on a lifetime of disappointment, disgrace, or abandoned dreams?
What longings now seem out of reach?
Have you seen God resurrect dreams and fulfill them unexpectedly?
Is there a space in your heart where you’ve shut God out?
Is there a step you could take to let Him in, even just a little?