When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ‘The Lord has done this for me,’ she said. ‘In these days he has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace among the people.’

Luke 1:23-25

The Lord has done this for me . . . He has shown his favour. Astonishing. We serve, believe in, trust, worship, and love a God who does things for us. A God who shows us his favour. How unbelievable is that? The Lord didn’t have to make it possible for Elizabeth to become pregnant. Yet he chose to work out his purposes in this way. He both put another part of his redemptive plan into motion and gave Zechariah and Elizabeth what they’d always wanted: a child. He kept his salvation promise and took away their shame over childlessness. The Lord’s saving actions are both cosmic—enveloping all of creation—and personal—involving actual people in the actual circumstances of their lives.