[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":81},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fpainful-questions-perfect-delight":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fpainful-questions-perfect-delight-surround":70},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":52,"date":53,"description":16,"extension":54,"image":55,"meta":56,"minRead":57,"navigation":58,"path":59,"postType":60,"publication":61,"publicationUrl":55,"seo":62,"stem":63,"topics":64,"__hash__":69},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fpainful-questions-perfect-delight.md","Painful Questions, Perfect Delight",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"Luke",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":48},"minimark",[13,17,20,27,30,33,36,39,42,45],[14,15,16],"p",{},"Year after year they tried to have a baby, but with no results. They smiled and offered congratulations when other couples announced a pregnancy, but privately they remained deeply discouraged by their inability to conceive.",[14,18,19],{},"Their faith was strong, though. In fact, others looked up to them as examples of godly leadership; and their day-to-day routine revolved around the Lord and his work. The things they could control, they brought into good order under the will of God. But infertility was something they couldn't control; and as the childless years turned into decades, their elusive goal of parenthood grew dimmer.",[14,21,22,23],{},"Privately they wondered, ",[24,25,26],"em",{},"Why does it seem so easy for other couples to have a baby? Why does God grant this blessing to those with far less to offer than we do—to the immature and faithless—or even to couples who don't seem to want children in the first place?",[14,28,29],{},"In a culture where childbearing was simply expected, it was difficult to push the dream out of their minds. Their hair began to gray. Friends their age became grandparents. And just about the time they were coming to terms with their childlessness, someone would make an insensitive comment like, \"So are your children all grown up now?\"",[14,31,32],{},"They thought about women in the Old Testament who were able to conceive. Sarah had her Isaac; Hannah had her Samuel. God answered their prayers; why wasn't he listening now? They remembered David's words in the Psalms about how babies are \"fearfully and wonderfully made,\" woven together in their mothers' wombs. Such an amazing feat—yet God does it every day. Why wouldn't he do it for them?",[14,34,35],{},"Then one day the husband went to work, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him there. \"When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you . . . . And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord'\" (Luke 1:12-17).",[14,37,38],{},"Zechariah and Elizabeth didn't realize it, but their little family was in the middle of something very big. On a grand scale God was unfolding his eternal plan. Their baby, born so late in life to them, was the harbinger of a new day, helping to fulfill God's purpose for the ages. John was the forerunner of the Messiah, the \"voice crying in the wilderness\" calling God's people to repentance and baptism, pointing them to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.",[14,40,41],{},"At the same time, on a much smaller scale God was doing something tender and gracious for Elizabeth and her husband. Gabriel told Zechariah that their son would be \"a joy and delight\" to them. The same baby who was coming to fulfill God's eternal plan would also bring laughter to his parents as they bounced him on their knee and sang him to sleep at night.",[14,43,44],{},"What about all the couples who never get to experience this delight? What about all the ones who want a baby just as badly and pray just as hard, but no angel ever shows up and no pregnancy ever occurs? What about the parents whose joyful delivery or delightful adoption eventually gives way to heartache as they watch their child suffer (or inflict suffering on others)? And what about Zechariah and Elizabeth themselves? What sorrows did they experience as their son lived in the desert, walking a rocky road because of God's call in his life? Did they live long enough to see King Herod imprison and behead their beloved son?",[14,46,47],{},"I don't know the answer to all of this, but I do know the answer is found in the heart of a heavenly Father who knows our needs and cares about our families more than we can understand. He's the God who creates and adopts, who hears and cares and gives and takes away. In all things he is working for our good, until that great day when life's painful questions finally give way to perfect joy and delight.",{"title":49,"searchDepth":50,"depth":50,"links":51},"",2,[],"First Look","2006-09-24","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fpainful-questions-perfect-delight","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fpainful-questions-perfect-delight",[65,66,67,68],"Intergenerational Ministry","Biblical Theology","Perseverance in Suffering","Spiritual Formation","scVShiLsB9S7G0beT7FakQehstM4qOHUa9QybG5JrhE",[71,76],{"title":72,"path":73,"stem":74,"description":75,"children":-1},"Owe No","\u002Farticles\u002Fowe-no","articles\u002Fowe-no","You know the feeling. A bill arrives in the mail and when you see the amount due, your heart sinks. \"Oh no,\" you sigh. \"How am I going to pay for this?\"",{"title":77,"path":78,"stem":79,"description":80,"children":-1},"Paradoxical Parenthood","\u002Farticles\u002Fparadoxical-parenthood","articles\u002Fparadoxical-parenthood","Year after year they tried to have a baby, but with zero results. They smiled and offered congratulations when other couples announced a pregnancy, but in private they felt discouraged because they were unable to conceive.",1790466170447]