We can be sure they tried to have children for many years. It was probably always on their minds. It was a desire of their hearts. It was their constant prayer request. They tried, they longed for, and they prayed, but all they heard was silence. Some of you know that kind of heartbreak. Longing for a child. Praying. Waiting. But only hearing silence.

What do you do when God is silent? How do you respond to God's silence? Zechariah and Elizabeth could have reacted in anger and bitterness. Certainly all their friends had little ones running around. They watched their neighbors kids grow up while they grew old. While their friends counted their kids birthdays, Zechariah and Elizabeth counted wrinkles and saw their dreams of a family fade into time.

What do you do when your dream dies? What do you do when tragedy strikes? What do you do when you stand on God's word and nothing happens? Did not God say that He would give us the desires of our heart? What do you do when He does not? You can get angry, bitter and jealous. You can even give up on God.

"But they had no child." Insert your situation here, "But he had cancer." "But they had a divorce." "But they had big dreams that didn't come to pass." Do you know what Zechariah and Elizabeth did? They continued serving God even in the silence.

Nothing had changed except the passage of time. Zechariah and Elizabeth still were steadfast in their devotion to God. Why? They did not let their personal tragedy keep them from loving and serving God. Nothing had changed. They were still right before God. They were still patterning their life after God's Word. They were still worshipping God! They refused to let God's silence become a stumbling block.

But If Not Faith

Sometimes we inwardly long for a faith that will move mountains. Perhaps we should long for a faith that will keep praying when we can't see the answer? How about a faith to be content when you have been dealt a hardship? Or a faith to be satisfied when all around you people are getting the things you desire? How about a faith that will hold to God's word even when years go by? Or a faith to keep serving in the silence? That is faith!

"But if not faith." That is what three young Hebrew men had. You remember their story from the book of Daniel? Daniel's three friends were about to be thrown in the fiery furnace. They were given a chance to recant their confession, but this was not an option for these young men of God. They told the king "our God is able to deliver us, but if not, we will still praise God anyway!" That is "but if not faith."

Job had that kind of faith. Here was a man who lost his home, his family and his health. He lost it all. His friends forsook him. Even his wife! After all that he could say, "though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him!" That is "but if not faith."

There is a certain "Rose-Colored-Glass" theology today that has left many people disillusioned. The godly do suffer. Christians are not immune from life's difficulties and heartbreaks. We serve Him in the tragedies and disappointments of life. We serve Him in our suffering, our sickness and in the silence. Why? Because He is our God! We are inseparably joined to God in Christ! There is a purpose in the silence and the silence won't last forever.