“If you stay ready, you will never have to get ready,” says my friend Danny Allen. How can we be sure that we will be ready when the greatest opportunity of our lives arrives? Olympic athletes train for their whole lives for that one moment when they will run or swim or wrestle. A lifetime of preparation comes down to one moment. In some cases, people train and the opportunity never actually comes.
Such was Zechariah’s moment. Perhaps he had dreamed of getting to burn incense in the temple. But unless the lot fell to Zechariah, he might never get that opportunity. Nevertheless, he stayed ready. Years passed. Perhaps the elderly priest’s years of service and life were almost over. Zechariah may have even concluded that his opportunity to worship on behalf of Israel might never come at all. One could serve a whole lifetime and never get to go into the holy area to burn incense.
Elizabeth, too, had been waiting and praying, hoping to have a child. Perhaps, by now, she had given up on that idea. Like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Elizabeth might have chuckled at the thought of giving birth to a child, so late in her life. How could they have known that God was on the move? Four hundred years of God’s people praying and waiting in the silence was about to come to fruition.
One day, Zechariah’s opportunity came. When they drew lots, his name was called. A lifetime of faithfulness culminated in an opportunity to burn incense in the temple. This was Zechariah’s big moment. He was ready, but he was not alone. While he entered the temple, faithful worshipers assembled outside and prayed. They didn’t want to miss their moment.
In the great story of the ages, each of us has a role to play. Our work is to be ready when the moment comes. God may call you to go as a missionary, or to serve in some prominent role in the kingdom. Or your great work may be to pray. Either way, if you stay ready, you will not have to get ready when the time comes.
