Luke 1:18

“And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

Has the Holy Spirit ever told you something and your immediate response was “How Shall I Know?” OK, you probably wouldn’t use King James English, but maybe 

1. “How do I know?”

2. “How is that supposed to happen?”

3. “How can I tell?”

You get the gist: God tells you something incredible, and we immediately question it because we’ve probably never seen it happen before. Seems fairly reasonable, right?? So then, why did Zachariah go mute and was scolded, while Mary was encouraged and given an answer?

Was it because Zacharias was well advanced in years and Mary was a child? Maybe because Zacharias was a priest and Mary was a young virgin? Maybe it was just that Zacharias was trying to comprehend God using his own knowledge/understanding (the word know means to know, understand, perceive, have knowledge of), and was making sense of it in his vast wisdom, not appreciating that Gabriel the Archangel was speaking directly from God. While Mary was only asking about the physical process because she figured her body couldn’t do it, her limitation was. 

The truth is, I don’t know. Wish I did, but I don’t. 

Here is what I will offer: sometimes the Lord will protect us from ourselves. The power of life and death is in the tongue, and Zacharias may have killed this miracle by speaking negatively, walking in doubt, or disbelieving because he could not wrap his mind around this. Sure, he could have remembered Abraham and Sarah, but he was still unable to believe it could happen to them. However, when Gabriel made him mute, he was now experiencing the power, and maybe it was more believable. Regardless, we should be mindful of both situations. When God speaks to us about the incredible miracle He will bring forth in our lives, let’s remember His power, His promise, and His person (He loves you). He will bring it to pass; you don’t have to be mute to believe Him.