His Name is John

20And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."  ²¹Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.  ²³When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."  ⁵⁷When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.  ⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."  ⁶¹They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."  ⁶²Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

I told you you'd have to wait a couple of days to hear the rest of the story of Hayden's name. His birth story reminds me so much of this biblical account. If you'll remember, I really liked the name Hayden, but I didn't know what it meant. Bill wasn't so sure about it at all. His birth, however, was my most traumatic. He had flipped breach between my 37 and 38 week appointments, but I was hanging out, dilated to almost four - yet not really in labor. We scheduled a c-section for the following morning, agreeing that we would try to turn him first. If he would turn, I would be induced, so he would come right away.

I tried everything in the planet I'd ever heard of on "how to turn a baby", but I only had 24 hours. He didn't turn. So the next morning, two doctors stood on either side of me and bore their full weight into my stomach, pushing against each other and trying to turn him. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Bill was in the corner on his knees, white as a sheet....and he's not the squeamish type.  After all of that, I was wheeled in for a c-section. It was not successful.  I was really out of it. I was hurting, squeamish at the thought of surgery, etc. Bill tried to be helpful in the sense that he was cheerful and encouraging and right there. However, when he flipped the camera screen down for me, so that I could see my uterus sitting on my stomach, that was less than helpful. 

When Bill was handed our precious little boy, the doctor asked what his name was. "Hayden Joel!" he proclaimed. ...just like the story of John the Baptist. I just looked at him. Are you sure? "Yep!"  I was  little concerned. What did it mean? Did we just name him "cloven hoof" or something?  But Bill so rarely makes a decision like that with bold confidence, so I decided it was from the Lord.

Six months later, I was home in Idaho for a visit. My dad and I were in a coffee shop in Hayden, Idaho; and I found a baby name book to look up Hayden. It means "hedged valley"....or a place of nourishment and rest surrounded by protection. It is the exact ministry we wanted to provide for ministers. I was in awe. So what did Joel mean?  I quickly thumbed through the pages and was astounded. "God is willing." Whoa!

So here Zechariah was. He had questioned the angel of the Lord on how he could believe him. He was told He wouldn't talk until it happened since he didn't believe. I tend to think God takes unbelief pretty seriously. If we don't believe Him, He'd rather our mouth stay closed.

But, Zechariah came to believe. He sealed his belief by obeying. When the baby was born, Zechariah said, "His name is John."

He didn't just outwardly obey. He believed in his heart. We know this because of the praise he offered to the Lord. He had not come to believe God gave him a baby, but he believed the purpose God had for his life.

 67His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
 68"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
      because he has come and has redeemed his people.
 69He has raised up a horn[d] of salvation for us
      in the house of his servant David
 70(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
 71salvation from our enemies
      and from the hand of all who hate us—
 72to show mercy to our fathers
      and to remember his holy covenant,
 73the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
 74to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
      and to enable us to serve him without fear
 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
 76And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
      for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
 77to give his people the knowledge of salvation
      through the forgiveness of their sins,
 78because of the tender mercy of our God,
      by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
 79to shine on those living in darkness
      and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Another thought: Elizabeth didn't have the same response as Zechariah did. Often, as wives, we have to wait for God to change the hearts of our husbands. I often have to remind myself that I'm accountable for my own response, not my husband's response. I'm not responsible to change him. I'm responsible for my belief and obedience.

With the kids: Play charades or simply set aside some time of the day where you have you can't talk, but have to use actions and signs to communicate. You could make it last for a whole morning or 15 minutes. Talk about how hard it would be to do that for nine months. You could even spend some time talking about how important it is to believe God and why God silenced Zechariah.