Being Zechariah

Well, God was silent for 400 years (since the Book of Malachi to the New Testament in the Bible) and yet, in the book of Luke, we still have a prophet going to the temple doing ‘temple-duty’. I wonder how it must have felt, being called a prophet but not hearing from God at all and doing all this God-stuff because it was a duty that was passed down by generations. You see, Zechariah is a prophet and has been one of the servants in the temple for many many years, just faithfully doing his part. Maybe as a prophet, he knows that though God is silent, it doesn’t mean that He’s not real or not around.

When God finally sent an angel to Zechariah to tell him that he’s going to be a dad, he panic and freaked out. Ok, maybe it doesn’t help because it was Gabriel the Archangel (I can imagine a great shining fierce looking giant with wings starring down at him, maybe God could have sent a gentle ‘boy-band’ looking angel instead) but you can’t blame Him when suddenly the God that you have only heard off suddenly sent one of His best to give you a prophesy. Anyway, once he settled down, he became doubtful because of all the physical (also, scientific logic) evidence. Well, guess what Gabriel did, he turned Zechariah into a mute (don’t ask me why but my wife said that maybe Gabriel didn’t want him infecting his doubt to other people) and were not to speak again until John the Baptist was born.

Hmm… I think I might be going through a Zechariah syndrome lately. Ever since our move to New Zealand about 7 months ago, God’s voice has been pretty vague to me. Like Mr. Z, I too perform my rightful duty of going to church and attending cell (maybe more like trying to attend cell due to the many cancellations), going for worship practices and attending leaders meetings. But somehow, the spirit of God and the voice of God were never as clear.

Instead, our weeknights have been like a nightly dating time where after we put Ethan to bed at 8pm or so, wife and I will spend time watching TV (24, yes!!! in season 3 now), doing some chores and chatting about all kinds of stuff. Weekends are always fun… now that the weather has turn for a better, we usually bring Ethan to the pool or the park, doing groceries, eating out or meeting up with friends and me playing sports. Also included are my faithful attendance to worship practices and of course, Sunday evening service. Family life has never been so close and strong and Kellie has been complaining less about our lack of communication.

But apart from that, that’s it… it basically sums up our routine life here in New Zealand. Nope, not complaining because it’s comfortable and it’s very complacent. It’s so complacent that I recently learned how to do gardening. I planted some vegetables and herbs at our back yard, and up-keep the lawn, things that I would have never done in KL. I guess Mei-Mei’s reaction sums it all up; “Gosh, you are becoming your dad” (My dad is retired and loves gardening and watching TV).

Apart from 'doing' all the God stuff (reading bible, attending service, etc...) one of the key for spiritual growth is to minister, impact life and get involved in discipleship. I haven't been doing any of those and no wonder my spiritual growth is stagnant. The bible warns us about complacency (it's different from 'contentment') and God specifically says that "no fruits, ooppss sorry, need to cut". It always bugs me, what on earth am I doing here? Sure, life is great and fun now, but there got to be more to that.

I'm beginning to sense that God is speaking something to us as a family but am I willing to give up the comfortable routine? Though Gabriel didn't pay a visit, I'm beginning to panic a little and a little freak out and I also doubt if I'm up to it... I'm turning to be Mr. Zechariah... oh God, please don't mute me...