Message summary: Joy is the deep-down sense of well-being that abides in the heart of a person who knows all is well with the Lord.

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"In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah"  (Luke 1:5).

Tim is a friend (see his photo below) we first met about 15 years ago when he started working at White Oak Display as a carpenter. He is similar in age to us and had prepared for vocational ministry but, like many, had hurts and disappointments along the way. Yet his faith and desire to minister remained strong and he has followed that calling wherever the Lord has placed him. Often, with great enthusiasm and a bit of animation, he has shared with Brooksyne and/or me a condensed sermon he preached at his church or told us about a message he was teaching the youth or children in his church. Whenever a door of opportunity is open Tim enthusiastically enters.

His victorious steadfastness is an encouragement to both of us. He has come to work with very painful knees and his wife deals with MS, yet he always has a pleasant disposition. I call him a chaplain to the chaplains! He is what we want to be, an encouragement to those around us!

We consider those in our lives like Tim, such as Bob, who for many years deals with debilitating tinnitus. Or Deb, who met her husband in Bible College, but was abandoned to raise their two sons all by herself. Or someone well-known like Joni, who after a 1967 diving accident left her a quadriplegic, but her years have not been wasted, as she has devoted her life to ministry all around the world.

One of the great signs of God's grace working in our lives is having persistent faith and obedience in the midst of pain. Pain in life comes in many different forms. My first pain (unremembered) might have been a stick from a diaper pin since they didn't have disposable diapers when I was a baby and if they had them, I'm pretty sure my very thrifty mom would not have used them! Of course there's physical pain we have all experienced in one way or another. But there's also relational pain, emotional pain and so forth. Everyone has experienced some type of pain in life either for a short period or for some it's lifelong.

The first reference to pain in the Bible was a consequence of Eve's sin impacting all women: "To the woman he said, 'I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children'" (Genesis 3:16).

The final reference to pain in the Bible is in Revelation, a promise we can all anticipate in heaven. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4)

But today's verse introduces a priest named Zechariah. The Scripture goes on to specify that he and his wife Elizabeth were "both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord" (Luke 1:6). What a wonderful commendation to a married couple.

But the next verse surely reveals a persistent emotional pain that had to be overcome. "But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years".

You need to put yourself in their shoes to feel this pain. It was emotional and chronic. It surely put their faith to the test. When they were young they looked around as peers in their age group had children and probably cried out to God "Why us?"

But the commendation in verse 7 is present tense. They continued to trust God even though they were surely deeply disappointed and did not understand. Perhaps they lived with the sentiment of the song, "We'll Understand It Better By And By".

Today we ask you, what is your heartache? What pain is prevailing in your life? It may be ongoing and like Paul you have prayed for it to go away. But God assured Paul His grace was sufficient through the pain. It always has been and it always will be. And it will be for you as well.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13